Sports Extra - Blogs - Gameday Instant analysis

OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | THUNDER | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL

@TWSportsExtra

HOMEPAGES

SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS

FOR THE RECORD

Scores, statistics and standings for local and national sports.

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

Search the World's archives

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US

Editors
Michael Peters
Sports Editor
Patrick Prince
Asst. Sports Editor
Columnists
John Klein
Sr. Columnist
John E. Hoover
Columnist
Writers
Eric Bailey
OU sports, Big 12 sports
Guerin Emig
OU sports
Jimmie Tramel
OSU sports, ORU sports
Kelly Hines
OSU sports
Bill Haisten
TU sports, Thunder
Barry Lewis
High Schools, Drillers
Mike Brown
High Schools, Shock
Kelly Bostian
Outdoors

BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

Buy a published photo by clicking the "Order this Picture" link on the photo. For a full-color page reprint, call 732-8198 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday-Friday or order online.

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Learn more about the site.

Gameday: Instant analysis
Published: 9/18/2011 5:14 AM
Last Modified: 9/18/2011 5:14 AM

Here are four things we learned from an incredible night and morning of college football in Tulsa.

1. Never be surprised
Once you think you've seen it all, you realize you haven't. In one of the oddest sports scenes I can remember, Oklahoma State and Tulsa kicked off at 12:15 a.m. Central time Sunday morning after a three-plus hour weather delay. It reminded me a little of the 1980 Houston-Texas A&M college game that kicked off just after 10 p.m. in the Astrodome, the earliest the game could start because of the stadium changeover necessary after Houston and Philadelphia played Game 4 of the National League Championship Series that afternoon.
We finished putting out Sunday's Tulsa World, then headed to Chapman Stadium for the final three quarters. It was that kind of night. We saw people smoking in the stands, a man sitting in his stadium seat with his dog and several unpleasantries among fans who might have stuck it out too long. It's something I won't soon forget.

2. Money and TV rule all
Maybe I'm cynical, but I would wager that money had something to do with why OSU and TU kicked off just after midnight Sunday morning. Obviously TV started this mess, scheduling a game to start at 9:10 p.m. Central time in Tulsa. Then Mother Nature conspired against things, whipping a storm through town right at kickoff. I would guess Tulsa preserving its largest gate of the year figured into the final decision to play rather than cancel the game.

3. It's tough to know what to make of the game itself
I'm not sure that anything that happened on the field at Chapman Stadium on Sunday morning can be fairly analyzed. OSU continues to look explosive on offense, but its defense was dismal -- although it was a 31-6 game at one point. Tulsa played most of the game without G.J. Kinne, and until the extent of his knee injury is known, it will be hard to get a feel for how big a setback this was.

4. Oh by the way, No. 1 OU won
What an amazing turn of events it took in Tulsa to overshadow the game of the night in college football. OU gutted out a 23-13 win over Florida State in the night's prime time showdown. The Sooners were the better team for much of the night, but nearly frittered the game away with a shaky offense and one terrible play on defense. In the end, OU did what No. 1 teams do -- find just enough to win against a formidable opponent in hostile territory. There are still 10 more to go in the regular season, but this was a pretty big one.

Reader Comments

5 Total

Show: Newest First

Learn About Our Comment Policy

Dr. Strangelove (last year)

"We saw people smoking in the stands, a man sitting in his stadium seat with his dog and several unpleasantries among fans who might have stuck it out too long."

Sounds like the OSU games I remember in Stillwater back in the 80's, haha!

RoyRogers (last year)

Why Not...it's LATENITE TV!

RoyRogers (last year)

Next year...OU/OSU will be playing about this same time!

NateS (last year)

Roy is correct, this was one late game. If OU/OSU head to PAC-? they will play late games on a regular basis, Gundy and his staff will be rolling in to stillwater ever sunday at 530 am on their way home. IS that really what we want as fans?

mgpeters (last year)

I think the number of late games in the Pac 14, 16, whatever is overstated.
OU and OSU would play six to seven home games each season and none of those games would happen after 7 p.m. That leaves five to six road games, and I would doubt more than one -- and at most two of those games each season -- would be played past 7 p.m. local time.
Go look at USC's schedule right now. Of their 12 games, only two are scheduled to start past 9 p.m. Oklahoma time.

5 comments displayed

To post comments on tulsaworld.com, you must be an active Tulsa World print or digital subscriber and signed into your account.

To sign in to your account, go to tulsaworld.com/signin.
To activate your print subscription for unlimited digital access and to post comments, go to tulsaworld.com/activate.
To purchase a subscription, go to tulsaworld.com/subscribe.

The Editor's Desk

Tulsa World Sports Editor Michael Peters has nearly 20 years of daily newspaper experience. A 1993 graduate of Texas A&M, he worked at papers in Bryan-College Station, Texas, Beaumont, Texas, and Galveston, Texas, before joining the Houston Chronicle as High School Sports Editor in 2008. While in Houston, he coordinated coverage of the 2008 Texas Class 5A state football championships and the 2011 NCAA Men's Final Four.

Follow Michael Peters on Twitter

Subscribe to this blog

2/2013	1/2013	12/2012	11/2012	10/2012	9/2012
8/2012	7/2012	6/2012	5/2012	4/2012	3/2012
2/2012	1/2012	12/2011	11/2011	10/2011	9/2011
8/2011	7/2011

Your bookmark will appear on your Profile page. Please give it a title, and short description so that visitors to your page will understand where the bookmark leads.
Bookmark Title :

Bookmark Text :