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Election Day? One Vote For T.J.
Published: 8/18/2008 9:44 AM
Last Modified: 8/18/2008 9:44 AM

All summer, the Tulsa World's sports department has asked readers to decide the answers to all sorts of football-related questions, like who is the best quarterback in the history of TU, OSU and OU?
Because David Rader is a former University of Tulsa head coach, I pitched the TU question to him. This is what he said:
"I am biased, but I think T.J. (Rubley)."
Why?
"The numbers that we put up and the games he won his senior year," Rader said.
"I think Gus (Frerotte) was right there with him, but what is going to be the differentiator? TU has had so many good quarterbacks. What makes him better than (Jerry) Rhome in my opinion? Or Billy Guy (Anderson)? Jeb (Blount) was really good. Steve Gage was really good. Gus was really, really good. Paul Smith was really, really good. I think you draw them out and probably it would come down to the big games that were won and the bowl games that were won, it would have to come down to T.J. and Rhome, I would think."
Rader said it seems like sacrilege not to say Jerry Rhome, a Heisman Trophy runner-up in 1964, because Rader grew up watching Rhome and was coached a little bit by Rhome.
In the interest of full disclosure, Rader said he is high on Rubley because he coached Rubley, who guided TU to 10 victories and an upset of Texas A&M as a senior. Of course, Rader also coached Frerotte.
"Gus has played longer in the NFL than any football player that has ever played at the University of Tulsa, so he is really good," Rader said.
"But we didn’t have the big wins (under Frerotte). We had some good wins, but we didn’t have the big wins. The potential for the NFL, Gus was the best and he has proven that. But the time they are in school, a lot has to do with the team they are around and the games that they win.
"I thought in ‘89, when we had a bowl season there, I thought T.J. did some really good things to help us win six games that year and really gave us a chance to help us beat Oregon.
"I can’t even remember who quarterbacked the (TU) Gator Bowl team, (and) the Henry Frnka teams. Those guys (Rubley and Rhome), I think you have got to do something to differentiate. I take those two guys. To me, put it this way, I don’t think anybody has been any better than those two guys."



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Tulsa World sports writer Jimmie Tramel is a former class president at Locust Grove High School. He graduated magna cum laude from Northeastern State University with a journalism degree and, while attending college, was sports editor of the Pryor Daily Times. He joined the Tulsa World on Oct. 17, 1989, the same day an earthquake struck the World Series. He is the OSU basketball beat writer and a columnist and feature writer during football season. In 2007, he wrote a book about Oklahoma State football with former Cowboy coach Pat Jones.

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