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No More Excuses
Published: 11/16/2007 12:52 PM
Last Modified: 11/16/2007 12:52 PM

Talk about an early Christmas present.

The Big 12 winner plays for the national championship.

It is this simple: Can OU play pass defense well enough to win the next three games?

No more talk. No more if this, possibly that. College football, in all its goofiness, has opened its rich arms to the Sooners.

If you can play pass defense worth a hoot, the chance for glory is there.

The truth is nigh.




Reader Comments 21 Total

Nit picker (5 years ago)
Not so fast, my OSU homer and faux sports journalist.
OU could lose to Taco Tech Saturday and beat OSU and win the Big 12 and NOT play in the NC game.
Likewise, Kansas could win out, be the loser to OU in the Big 12 game and get left out of the big party with other one loss teams.
There are many other possible ways to have a NC game w/o the Big 12 winner. You are just to obtuse to recognize it.
Talk about your over-hyping.

Now, of course, you still need to answer for your incredibly ignorant blind pumping of the SEC as the best conference in CFB.
What say you, World Picker about the fact that there is only one SEC team in the top 5 but 3 Big 12 teams in the top 5? Over hyping indeed. The same over hyping you pin on OU groupies??

You should be fired.
Nit Picker (5 years ago)
To: World Picker, OSU homer and SEC pumper:

You have posted your lasted blog celebrating the unfrotunate career ending injury to UO QB Dennis Dixon.
I have been asked by many readers to tell you that you are a sad person when you get so much joy from such a sad event.
WORLDPICKER (5 years ago)
Nit Picker, you're the most boring person in the world.

Obviously, you're terrified that your Sooners and Venables can't play pass D.

If OU wins out, it is in the title game. To win out, it must play solid pass defense. Take your time. Read each word slowly, carefully. Now do you get it?

To win out and play in the title game, OU must play solid pass defense.

Otherwise....

WORLDPICKER (5 years ago)
One more thing, Nit Picker, this is a golden opportunity for you to prove that you're not addicted to the Picks and show that you are capable of moving on to read a comic or something. Please don't use one of your other names. Your nature always shows between the lines.
Mike Jones (5 years ago)
There are alot of people that are orange with envy. Keep dreaming the dream....someday...maybe..in a hundred years....your team will be more than the butt crack of the big 12.
Jim (5 years ago)
OK, now the table is set, the only problem is can OU play on the road? It's obvious that the Sooners have been given a break after the egg-laying in Boulder, win and you're in. Does ANYONE in their right mind believe OU has played a complete game this season? Is their any reason to believe they'll play better in the tortilla-throwing capital of the football world? Stoops has been saying that OU has NOT played like he thought they would as the season progressed, so why get pumped for Nawlins? The Sooners need to beat Tech, Pokie State, and Mizzu to get there. I sure as heck don't want to see the Tigers again, but since the Jayhawks have't played anyone in our solar system that's any good, it's a safe bet that OU won't see them in San Antonio, providing they get there. Let's don't start huggin each other just yet.
WORLDPICKER (5 years ago)
Thank you, Jim, for lending a bit of realism and sanity to a nutty Friday. It is an opportunity unlike another. Stop somebody and play for a national title!
Shrouded Llama (5 years ago)
If any of the three teams win out then they get in. Lose, and its goodnight sweetheart! It's like a mini playoff!

What would suck for the Big 12 (but be right on par with the rest of this crazy year) is if all three of them lose. Let's say MU loses to K-State and then beats Kansas and OU. Who does that put in, West Virgina?

I like it. Every team in the top 15 might still have a chance in this topsy turvey 2007 season.

I want to see a Les Miles vs. Bob stoops National Championship game. It would be a good time. Those guys hate each other.

WORLDPICKER (5 years ago)
You know who has a great complaint?

Arizona State.

OU lost to Colorado. Arizona State beat Colorado.

Period.
Nit picker (5 years ago)
To: World Picker aka OSU homer and SEC pumper

The comics would be a step up from your drivel.

I may be boring, but they aren't my Sooners and I am not terrified. Bemused by World Picker maybe, but certainly not terrified of the outcome of a football game, as World Picker and all OSU homers are.

Now to the OU pass defense as it relates to the Taco Tech game: please recall that in "you know where" OSU did not play a down of defense of any sort against Leach's offense and they still won the game. So, a good pass defense appears irrelevant to the outcome of Saturday's tussle in Lubbock.
Maybe a solid running game that drains the clock and keeps Crabtree et al on the sidelines longer than usual is a key. Duh, Ya think?
Go pick up your pink slip. You're fired.

Ps. If you can't read this, World Picker, ask an intern to read it to you.

Pps. The joke is on you, "NIT PICKER" is actually the alias.
Mike Jones (5 years ago)
Have I walked in on some kinda strange love triangle lovers spat? You two guys make a gay pride parade look like a sewing bee.
Shrouded Llama (5 years ago)
Wouldn't it need to be three people for a love triangle?
Mike Jones (5 years ago)
SHROUDED LLAMA: with the aliases applied to the innuendos I believed triangle to be appropriate. Its all in jest.
JJ (5 years ago)
I have attended games in every Big 12 venue except Lubbock. That will change tonite. I am kind of nervous. My husband has watched a Texas/Tech game there & he said it was a nightmare as a Texas fan even though texas killed tech. We shall see. I watched as an OU fan & also as a neutral spectator at Texas plays & Baylor games & let me say there are alot of OU haters out there. Hopefully a big game from Murray & Lofton will shut em up. Tech's defense is pathetic.
Shrouded Llama (5 years ago)
I knew it was in jest, Mikey.

I'm just playing too.
WSmith (5 years ago)
(Note: this is being written on the Sunday morning following the OU meltdown.) I'm no fan of the Picker, but occasionally, he makes a valid point. And his comments about Brent Venables are, sadly, valid. Venables couldn't coach a stray dog to a plate loaded with raw beef. The OU secondary covered no one last night and seemed incapable of doing so. I was on the phone with a number of past Sooner players (defensive guys) during the game and they were both mad as h*ll and sick at heart. And Stoops' failure to install highly-touted Keith Nichol after Bradford was pulled signaled one thing: capitulation. It should have been clear to anyone - an especially to the coaches on the sidelines - that Halzle couldn't do the job (it's comparable to putting in a relief pitcher who proceeds to fill the bases with walks and/or singles and then leaving him in for the remainder of the game. Stoops and company blew this one.
MIKE (5 years ago)
Apparently pass defense DOES matter, but only when you have an offense as incapable as OU's when Bradford is not in the line-up. Here's the true killer though: RED ZONE SCORING. Or the lack thereof. How many times did OU line up inside the 20 and only get a field goal at most out of it? They had the game in reach with 5 minutes left in the 4th quarter and they couldn't put the ball in the endzone 2 different times when they were inside the 20! End of story.
Doug F. - Meridian (5 years ago)
I am sure the mOUrons have quite a bit to say on this subject: Hello mOUrons (JOJO, JASPER, LUCKY, AMUSED, Brian, Mike, Mike Jones, bring your sister Kim (assuming Kim is female and don't forget NIT WIT the chicken sh8t and any I forgot) that are always so quick to dump on OSU after another Gooner victory.

I am waiting for you to spOUt off about OU being robbed and then of course followed up by your history and tradition lessons. Oh never mind you mOUrons are probably busy having a meeting on strategy on how to get through this week after that Tech loss that I told you was coming. OU had to finally go on the road and play another capable opponent and shatter you mOUrons dreams of playing for another NC title.

You all should be thanking Tech for saving your team from the embarrassment that OU no doubt would have faced in such a game. You all might want your team to stick with maybe going to the Fiesta Bowl and face another WAC team this time Hawaii(Maybe you all can win that one this year unlike last year). Since I know how much you all like talking about the past.

Hey fellas bring all of that history and tradition with you this Saturday. I am sure OSU will just rollover for the "OH MY GOSH WE ARE THE SOONERS!!" not likely but hey it's worth a shot.

Before a whole bunch of OU fans get bent out of shape, mOUrons it is a special term and is reserved for some elite OU fans.

Here let me give you the definition:

mOUrons - persons who are notably stupid or lacking in good judgment who may or may not of graduated from OU, and who are fans (bandwagon or not) of OU sports (mainly football) that when challenged about OU's failures on the field of play this year(insert year here) refuse to accept that OU got beat or didn't play well or any # of other facts or truths about OU 1) become agitated to the point where they feel they have no other recourse but to begin giving an OU football history and tradition lesson to the reading or listening audience despite their best attempt they never can seem to convince their reading or listening audience that they are inferior to the "OH MY GOSH WE ARE THE SOONERS" 2) become agitated to the point where they feel they have no other recourse but to attack a persons character, spelling, paragraph structure, punctuation (or lack there of) and so on (on blogs or article comments) or another teams(insert any school here) fans, that schools history and tradition (or lack there of) in football, and then blindly say that NC?s in other sports don?t count because they are not in football, and if that doesn?t work they will begin to attack the other schools (again insert any school here) coaches, faculty, and staff all the while apparently not realizing that they live in a glass house and should be careful about throwing stones.

If this definition fits you or offends you then you are a mOUron and should then just read this and go sulk and cry about OU's failures or successes on OU articles or blogs. It will save you a lot of time and frustrating moments as your team and you take a bashing all because you choose to be a mOUron. OU SUCKS!! GO COWBOYS!!!
Gene (5 years ago)
Mr. Picker, I have never seen a situation so succinctly stated as what you did here. You have a magic way with words. All OU had to do was beat two teams that are strangers to the concept of "defense". The truly sad fall-out from this might be Boren not being able to justify another gigantic bonus and Stoops will have to get by on his meager salary. Ouch!
Joe (5 years ago)
Well, um, no they couldn't play pass defense well enough. But Wilson learned his lesson. The best defense against the pass is a running offense. Should have handed off 40 times. They will against OSU. Will pound the living bejerkus out of that shoddy OSU D.
Tom (5 years ago)
Do people think the World Picker is someone other than the Picker? I've known the Picker for over 30 years and he bleeds Sooner Crimson and despises OSU (still the "Aggies" to him). Understand the nature of sarcasm-it is usually directed to those we love.
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Out Pick The Picker

The Picker began entertaining – and infuriating – sports fans in 1993. Each week during football season, he writes about his picks of college and NFL games in his Thursday Sports column. He's never afraid of sharing his opinions about the game and the personalities who play it. Readers have a chance to go against him each season in the Outpick the Picker contest. He welcomes the competition.

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