Broyles Will Return

  Oklahoma's standout wide receiver, Ryan Broyles, will return to play for the Sooners again in 2011, according to The Oklahoman.

The Sixth Time's The Charm

Maybe now Bob Stoops and the Sooners can stop answering questions about their BCS bowl woes after taking down Connecticut 48-20 in the 2011 Fiesta Bowl on Saturday night.  Oklahoma finally lived up to the massive point spread that was expected of them coming into a Fiesta Bowl matchup and won a BCS game after five straight losses.

  Landry Jones had a fantastic night, passing for 429 yards and three touchdowns.  He completed his first 12 passes.  (Actually, he completed his first 13, if you count the pass complete to Connecticut’s Dwayne Gratz, who returned it for a touchdown.)  With this big performance, Jones has surpassed Sam Bradford’s mark for passing yards in a season.

  Jones found six different receivers with his 34 completions.  Ryan Broyles led that group with 13 receptions for 170 yards and touchdown.  Like OSU’s Justin Blackmon, there is much speculation about the receiver’s future in college.

  Senior running back Demarco Murray closed out his Sooner career in style with 25 carries for 93 yards.  Although he didn’t quite reach the 100-yard milestone in this game, he did cross the goal line for a touchdown, which was his 50th career touchdown.

  The Sooners kept the UConn offense out of the endzone.  This extended the Huskies’ offensive struggles, who have now gone over eight quarters without an offensive TD.  UConn got points from Gratz’ pick six and Robbie Frey’s 95-yard touchdown on a kickoff return.

  With as much youth as Oklahoma has returning for the 2011 season, many people are already pointing the possibilities of the Sooners playing for a national title again in a little over a year.

Bedlam 2010

#1 > Oklahoma Sooners 47, Oklahoma State Cowboys 41 Nov. 27

  We’ve remembered a lot of great games from 2010, but since this site has a specific emphasis on sports in Oklahoma, of course this has to be the top game on our list.

  It was the third of three games from Thanksgiving weekend that really seemed to be worth listing in a Top Ten.  This Bedlam matchup had more pre-game hype than any Bedlam game since OU was No. 2 and OSU was No. 3 back in 1984, although a lot can be said for the amount of talent that was suited up for both teams in 1987.

  The two teams went back and forth with eight scores, four apiece, throughout the first three quarters, with the scored tied at 24-24 at the end of the third period.  It was in the fourth quarter that things really got wild.

  The Sooners really won the game with their ability to convert on third down.  They picked first downs on seven tries on third down late in the third quarter and through the fourth.  This was especially big on the 17-play drive that culminated in a field goal early in the fourth that ultimately gave OU the lead for good.  The two teams would score 40 points in the final period that featured a 76-yard TD pass, an 86-yard TD pass, and an 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

  Landry Jones outdueled Brandon Weeden in passing yards, 468-257, but the majority of the stats for the game showed equality for both teams.  (Incidentally, Jones' 468 passing yards is an OU record, tied with Sam Bradford.)  Each team had three interceptions.  Weeden was picked off midway through the fourth quarter, when the Cowboys were still within one score of taking the lead.  But the signature play of the game was when Broderick Brown leapt up at the sideline and knocked an errant pass from Jones back inbounds to Shaun Lewis to complete the interception.

  The Sooner win put both teams at 10-2 and for the season, also tied with Texas A&M.  BCS ranking gave OU the Big XII South championship and the Sooners defeated Nebraska 23-20 in the Big XII title game.  Oklahoma State would go on to dismantle Arizona 36-10 in the Alamo Bowl and claim the school’s first-ever 11-win season.  We’ll find out tomorrow whether OU stop a five game BCS Bowl losing streak in the Fiesta Bowl against Connecticut.

More Sweet Sixteen, Big XII

The conference went 1-2 on Friday. Oklahoma defeated Syracuse to avenge a Tournament loss in 2003, while Kansas had its 9-game NCAA winning streak stopped by Michigan State.
With deference to Kansas, this little blog is about OU. Man, they looked good. The Syracuse zone was totally ineffective against the Sooners' outside game, Tony Crocker in particular, and didn't fare much better against Blake Griffin on the inside. Griffin had yet another 30 point outing and Crocker's 28 kept Oklahoma in control throughout the night. As a matter of fact, the only thing that even slowed Griffin down was the underside of the backboard on a ferocious dunk late in the contest.
For as much hype as Syracuse had been getting late in the season, they looked completely outmatched in this one.
And so, two Big XII teams remain. We'll see if the conference can get one or maybe two entries in the Final Four.

Enjoying the Ride

You know, it's not every season that you get to see a player the caliber of Blake Griffin wearing the uniform of the team you cheer for. Watching #23 on Thursday and Saturday has been special.
Blake has brought the level of play at Oklahoma up two or three notches. He has maintained his composure in the face of very difficult situations. And he makes the incredible (The Dunk) and great shots seem like they are just a walk in the park.
61 points, accompanied by 30 boards, in two games in the NCAA's is not something done by just anyone. And Blake does it with class.
And for all of the fans who are tired of seeing Blake's parents in the crowd and hearing all of the talk about what B. Griffin is doing every second of the contest, I'm really not sorry for you. Now you might have a sliver of an idea of what it was like to watch the National Championship game with the continual commentary revolving around TimTebow (one word).
But I'm not bitter. Really.
I'm just enjoying the ride this year as long as it will go.

Observations and Ruminations

What have we learned this week?

► The next time that you hear that a conference might put 10 teams in the NCAA tournament, go ahead and laugh out loud. Not just the lol version, I mean actually embarrass the person that said it by Laughing Out Loud! It’s probably not going to hurt that person’s feelings anyway because they are most likely from the East and the clear East Coast Bias that would allow them to make such a reality-abandoned statement will filter out any pain that being laughed at might cause another human.
No, the Big East did not get 10 teams in the Tournament. They got 7 in. Not bad, but not 10. And that’s OK and appropriate. The Big East is good league, but no conference is that much better than the others, even with the principle that the Committee uses in disregarding conference affiliation. Sorry to all of you northeastern media-types. No matter how much you campaign for the Big East throughout the regular season, the Selection Committee is still in control. Thankfully.
Now, having said all that, the fact that three of the four #1 seeds coming out of the Big East – well-deserved.

► The #2 seed given to Oklahoma (albeit in a very tough subregion) is proof that the Committee does consider many factors. The injury sustained by Blake Griffin made a huge difference in the Sooners’ win-loss record at the end of the season. Here’s to hoping that OU lives up to the faith of the Committee and makes it to at least the Elite Eight, and in doing so shuts up Seth Davis, who doesn’t give them a snowball’s chance against either Syracuse or Clemson.

► In women’s basketball this season, Southeastern and Central are incredibly evenly matched. Period. Yeah, that’s all I have to say about that.


From my vantage...

First United Bank Center (Home of the West Texas A&M Aggies) – OTA rating 9 out of 10

Goodbye #1 Seed, #2 Seed, ...

71-70. The Cowboys defeated the Sooners in the Big XII Tournament. OU fans have already said Goodbye to a #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament next week, but now can say Bye Bye to a #2 seed and probably #3 as well.

Observations and Ruminations

What have we learned this week?

► Oklahoma is the hottest team in the country. There was no question as to who was the better team on Saturday night. The Sooners were far superior on offense and on defense. Even the special teams managed the game when they needed to. The bottom line of 65-21 really doesn’t even do the game justice. You really had to watch it to understand the total domination of one team over another.
Sure Texas is still ahead in the BCS rankings, and maybe rightfully so for now, due to the Longhorns’ win in October. But OU is the hottest team in the country. Let’s see what happens this weekend.

► Abilene Christian is the Division II counterpart to the Sooners in that they are also their division’s hottest team. The only difference is that the Wildcats are still undefeated. And they are coming off the first of two rematches in the playoffs. ACU beat West Texas A&M 52-35 in the regular season, but that was nothing compared to the record-setting 93-68 beatdown in Shotwell Stadium on Saturday. 93-68??!! Are you kidding?
I had a chance to see Billy Malone, Bernard Scott, Johnny Knox, and company in person this season. They were ranked #4 in the country then and then I said that I would like to see any three teams in DII that are better than the Wildcats. I still would. I don’t believe that such a team exists in 2008.
The big rematch comes this weekend when ACU faces Northwest Missouri. Abilene dispatched the then-#3 Bearcats 44-27, back in August. Take note: the biggest game in Texas this weekend doesn’t involve Longhorns, Aggies, or Red Raiders.

► The face paint and ridiculous make up and hairdo sure do look a lot better when your team is winning. It just looks really dumb when your team is getting beaten 65-21, and you can’t do a thing about it. Isn’t that right, Brandon Carter? (#76, Texas Tech OL)


The Soapbox

I know that I waited a week for this one, I just didn’t have the time to write last week. So here goes…
Why should I care whether or not Donovan McNabb knows the rules about overtime in the NFL and when games are allowed to end in a tie? Does his blazing ignorance of his own game make those rules somehow invalid?
McNabb has been in the League for 10 years. There was a tie six years ago in 2002. (Pittsburgh vs. Atlanta, 34-34) Did he not keep track of any schedules or scores during this time? Was he in his own little world in Philadelphia and no other of the teams in the NFL mattered to him? And it’s not like when he was in college, where there are over 100 teams in DI alone. There are only 32 teams in the NFL! This makes for, at MOST, 16 games per week; and even less when teams have byes. This is not hard to keep up with.
And, of course this is only for the regular season. There was a classic game back in 2004 when Carolina and St. Louis and fought through regulation and the first overtime and couldn’t settle it. A second extra period was needed. It was Jake Delhomme to Steve Smith for 69 yards and the score, which ended the fifth-longest game in NFL history, 29-23 F/2OT. Did he forget about this game, too? It was a contest that was even more recent and incredibly exciting.
So, even bypassing these two games, (which clearly meant nothing to the star QB of the Eagles) McNabb seems to be dismissive of the fact that ties have happened in the NFL numerous times. This really isn’t even what bothers me.
A] It is his apparent disdain for the ending of a ballgame, when he did not know the rules.
Win the ballgame Big Guy in the sixty minutes that you have and you won’t need an extra 15 or more. And then you won’t garner for yourself a stage to show that you haven’t learned any lessons from Abraham Lincoln: It’s better to be silent and thought a fool…
B] It is also that the media seem to have become enablers to the knowledge-challenged quarterback. Many outlets have played his comments over and over again and seem to be trying to spark debate as to whether or not there should be ties in the NFL now.
You should be having this conversation now? Now? If you didn’t like the rule, did you all collectively think that it would go away or that every ballgame until the end of time would from Steelers/Falcons on out end within 75 minutes? Why does an ignorant, albeit frustrated, second-tier QB push your buttons to decide that this issue really warrants revision?
If you really need to change the rule (and give the Rules Committee members something to do, and therefore justify them being on this committee), do it because it needs to be done. [Quite frankly, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with a tie in the regular season. If a game is hard-fought and after a reasonable amount of time (75 minutes, including a sudden death period!), end it and go on to the next matchup.] Just don’t alter the rulebook just because someone who has been around long enough to know what he’s talking about finds a venue to dispel that notion.

Possibly back on the air

After being gone (on Southeastern trips) and being preempted (for early OU broadcasts) we’re finally back on the air this weekend. Texoma Sports Weekly is set to be back at its usual time – Saturday mornings at 10 am on KSEO 750 AM.
Of course, this is all subject to another early OU kickoff...