Hard to call some of the achievements of the state schools in the "ho-hum, by-the-way category" -- for example, OU football's seven national championships mean quite a bit. I think a lot of states, including Texas, would like that. Granted, not all of that took place "IN" Oklahoma, but a lot did, including much of the 47 game winning streak and the Game of the Century.

I agree with the rest and enjoy the slight at the Red City, but I think your credibility on the issue would be helped if you would try to stay somewhat objective -- the overstatement cats a show on your objectivity. I thought you were about busting the homers?

TAB would argue with a wall.

What the picker is saying is right on. Nothing in this states sports past comes close to Tiger winning the PGA in Tulsa...on a national scale. After all...Tiger is without a doubt the most popular sports figure in the world. Let's put that argument to rest.

I see you have UT favored by 2 at this point. The last line I saw had the game at pickem. No matter...Texas probably deserves to be a slight favorite if the game were played tomorrow. If Paul Thompson were returning (in other words...if OU had a known quantity at QB), I'd favor OU slightly.

The Sooners will have one of the top 5 OL's in the nation...and they are deep. WR Kelly is a star. The TE's (Wilson, PLEASE use these guys for something other than a good block on the stretch play) are the best trio in the game. The RB position is deep and very talented. The defense must improve its ability to get off the field on third down (which includes rushing the passer and actually running with deep WR's). Stoops claims the LB's are awesome...but thin at the position. He also claims that Wolfe is practicing better than any player he's had at safety (REALLY???), which when combined with Smith and Walker, makes perhaps the best secondary in football.

Having typed all that, I'd say the DL and the QB will make or break OU's season. Until we see how the QB plays versus Miami on game two...and as the picker aluded too...how OC Wilson will CREATIVELY use all those offensive weapons, then the OU-UT game is a coin toss. I have a bad feeling that Stoops will play conservative versus the Canes since the game is in Norman. I hope not. Even this massive OL won't beat that kind of talent if the sequences are run, run, pass, punt.

For those of us with clear memories though, it's nice to see the Sooners' name once again mentioned as a title contender before the season begins.

Testy, testy dear Picker. Did Al Esbach and Deano rub off on you this weekend? I'm pretty sure "The Game of the Century" was a sporting EVENT. It was not in "the ho-hum, by-the-way category." A brick wall wouldn't make that kind of overstatement. But you did.

Picker, you're all wet. Yeah, it's true that Chung Ya in Beijing has never hear of OU football, but then again, he's never heard of Tiger Woods, either. The vast majority of the civilized world (criteria for civilized? the ability to read and write and the disinclination to devour one's neighbors...) knows neither golf or American football. In fact, the vast majority of mammals on the planet barely fall within the aforementioned definition of civilized (have you driven from Lewis to Harvard on 15th St. lately?). Golf ain't a sport, Jack. It's a distraction practiced as well by octogenarians as by the young. It requires little stamina (now you're going to mention the heat at Southern Hills...how many fat, out-a-shapers did you see in the gallery besides the golfers on the green?) Point being, anyone can shag a spheroid around somebody else's lawn. While on the other hand, Oklahoma football is a superlative endeavor responsible for a record that ...are you listening...will NEVER be surpassed. Just because Sandy Koufax's records are not recognized by Mercyzn Stanislowski in Lodz doesn't mean they are not of major import. Please, please get off of your golf soapbox. You're boring us.

SuperBlogger and TAB, it's good to see like minds getting together.

What do you mean get off golf, I just picked the OU - Texas football game, were it to be played today.

Quick, you guys go put on the Sports Animal radio network, they're going to rank which Big 12 has the best underwear. Looks like OU wins again!

SuperDuperSoonerBlogger...I am a HUGE OU fan, so keep that in mind before reading on. You honestly believe OU football is comparible with Tiger Woods in the national/world scale of sports? Not even close. Did this weekends PGA get the attention of more Oklahomans than an OU football game would? That MIGHT be arguable. But I guarantee you that the PGA would gather more eyeballs on Tulsa from around the nation and the world than on Friday night when the Sooners come to Skelly. That's a fact.

Yeah, picker, the two coordinators need to pull their weight this season. I don't doubt their intensity or ability to teach these athletes football...but Wilson and Venables have made questionable calls in the past two years. I'm not saying they aren't really good coaches, because I love the situation the Sooners are in these days. But I can pick out a few mistakes they've made recently. Course, they're human and thus will err. But some very bad decisions have been made in some critical situations.

Here's two from last year on defense. Versus UT (I know...OU outgained the Horns by 100 yds and had many TO's...but still) on a third down and long from the OU 20-something yard line, DJ Wolfe comes up in tight in man coverage on Limus Sweed. No safety help...and DJ hadn't played well all year at the time. The young Horn QB throws the easy fade TD to the huge WR Sweed for a TD. Bad defensive call. Here's the other. It's 4th and a mile against Boise St. in Tempe...WITH LESS THAN 20 SECONDS LEFT. The hook-and-ladder was run to perfection, but every Sooner defender ran right at the WR who caught the pass. Noone stayed home to protect the goal line. With over a minute to go, sure...go after the guy and keep him from making the first down. In that situation though, the 1st down meant nothing! Only a play or two was left anyway. I'd have put at least one safety at the freaking 5 yard line and told him not to move unless he was keeping a Boise player from scoring.

I know, hindsight is 20-20. Players need to make plays, that is my strong belief. But coaches need to put these players in position to succeed.

Jeremy: At some point, we need to talk about what will be a successful season for OU.

Last year, numerous bozos said OU's season could be considered a success. I said bull. So we should talk about it now.

Texas and a bowl game are the set in stone majors for OU, right? OSU is right there. And, depending on the flow of the conference stuff, another major could show up.

OU has to beat Texas, OSU and win its bowl game for THIS season to be considered a success, correct?

And, with the best offense in the country, OSU has to beat 7-5 to have what is considered to be a successful season?

Tulsa? Eight-four is a serious success?

I'm not sure TU can go 8-4. I would argue that's a success, though -- it wasn't all that long you deemed them unworthy of a pick. Is it a resounding, best of the best season? No. But it sure beats the heck out of where they were.

Similar argument for OU football. Greatest season ever? No -- that happened only seven times. But last year was nice for fans, given everything that went wrong. A conference championship is a conference championship. Sure beats the heck out of how bad they were about 10 years ago.

Picker...your last post was accurate on how I see OU football as being successful. I'll point out, though, that every season is different.

Let's take last season for example. When Bomar and Quinn were booted, and PT had to move back to QB, the nation and the state didn't give OU much of a chance to get to a BCS game. I know I didn't. I thought last season was a good year, which I'll call a successful year. To me, winning the Bog 12 Title makes any season successful. I actually agree with Stoops in this area. You can't win all the marbles until you win the Big 12 (at least, most of the time). You might recall that we argued about this some time ago. Just because OU lost to Texas and its bowl game didn't make last year a bad year. It wasn't great either. Do I want to beat Texas. Absolutely...into the ground.

This season the expectations are high. The Sooners have much returning talent on both sides of the ball. Not winning the Big 12 Title would be disappointing. This would likely mean a Texas loss. Looking ahead to 2008, the returning QB and even more returning starters will definately set very high expectations. I'd say winning a BCS bowl is the bottom line for a good year in 2008. I heard that since the BCS was formed, only ONE BCS game has been won with a freshman QB!!! This can't bode well for this year.

Another factor here is my age. I grew up during the late 70's and 80's...when OU ruled. My early adulthood (and thus my years as an "educated" OU fan) was spent watching a bad product under terrible direction in the 90's. I guess the bad decade in Sooner football is still too fresh in my memory to call 1, 2, or even 3 loss seasons "bad years".

UT-Norman will beat big brother UT-Austin 28-27 and Stoopr will receive another million dollar raise. You heard it here first.

By the way, does anybody else think that Viking Peterson is no gimmie star in the NFL? His first scrimmage, he was punished.

...and yeah, Peterson looked quite average, if that, last weekend. Anyone who expects him to come out with a red 'S' emblazoned on his jersey will have to do some quick readjusting in their thought processes. Will he be good in the long run? If he holds up physically, I think so.