TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Wednesday, February 10, 2010 | WIRELESS
CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBER SERVICES | SIGN IN SIGN OUT | MY PROFILE PAGE | MY ACCOUNT

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on RSS
Sports Extra!
Follow us on ...
OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL




SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS
    Sports Editor
Mike Strain
Sports Columnist
Dave Sittler
The Picker
Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA



Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark

State teams continue success

 
By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist
Published: 10/20/2008  2:03 AM
Last Modified: 10/20/2008  4:38 AM

 FINALLY, Tulsa is where it belongs, in the polls with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.

You would have to go back to 1945 to find a time when all three were ranked at the same time, but never have the three appeared so capable of winning on any Saturday.

Oklahoma and Oklahoma State are both in the midst of the BCS title hunt, while Tulsa continues to win big and win votes.

Another sweep by the state's three teams over the weekend sets up even bigger games down the line.

Oklahoma State, fresh off another surprising defensive gem in the victory over Baylor, will be the first to jump on the national stage down the homestretch of the season when the Cowboys face top-ranked Texas this week.

"They are big, strong, fast guys that make plays," OSU coach Mike Gundy said in his teleconference Sunday. "They've always had that."

Tulsa continued its lopsided run through Conference USA running and passing by UTEP in a wild game that would have made TU's offensive pioneer Glenn Dobbs proud.

And, Oklahoma rebounded from the loss to Texas by holding off Kansas in a game dominated by offense, keeping its hopes alive in the BCS chase.

The three state schools are now 20-1. In the ninth week of the season, all three can legitimately talk about BCS Bowls.

The Golden Hurricane is running up some remarkable offensive numbers, including nearly 800 yards against UTEP. The perceived lack of respect for TU is probably more of a reflection on its schedule and conference. TU is doing plenty to get noticed. Tulsa broke away from a wild first quarter for the rout.

Now, TU gets a Sunday night date with Central Florida, another probable rout, before the trip to struggling Arkansas.

Unfortunately, future TU opponents are doing little or nothing (Arkansas lost again and Houston barely escaped at SMU).

Oklahoma's primary objective these days is to keep winning. There's nothing the Sooners can do about what happened in Dallas. All they can do is keep winning and hope they get some help against the teams above them. Certainly, Oklahoma will have chances to impress voters. The Sooners still have two top 10 teams ahead on the schedule.

Fixing a defense that leaked in the second half against Texas and early against Kansas is a top priority.

"Some parts were good," Stoops said Sunday. "Some parts still need polish."

But improvement in the run game was a welcomed result of the victory over Kansas.

"We certainly executed better," Stoops said.

Then there's the Cowboys.

Most expected OU to contend for a spot in a BCS game. And, many believed the schedule gave Tulsa a great chance to go unbeaten.

But, you'd be hard-pressed to find many folks who believed OSU would find itself squarely in the hunt for the BCS big game this late in the season.

Yet, that's exactly where OSU is. A victory this week would put the Cowboys in the middle of the discussion.

"We've just continued to get a little better each day and each week," Gundy said.

But, winning in Austin against the top-ranked Longhorns is no small task.

Of course, there wasn't a shortage of national experts, especially those on ESPN, who figured the Cowboys wouldn't survive against Baylor.

Now, O-State finds itself a huge underdog again this week and there will be few, if any, national experts who believe they will have a chance at Texas.

"They've been handling it (national attention) fairly well," Gundy said. "We've not had a lot of distractions."

The Cowboys thrived as an underdog at Mizzou. And OSU seems to be fine with escaping the hype.
By JOHN KLEIN Senior Sports Columnist

Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark


COMMENTS 
      Add your comment Show: Most Recent Comment First

4 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
Report Comment Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you.  -- Web Editor Jason Collington
 

 
Report Comment
tomintulsa, Tulsa (10/20/2008 8:32:23 AM)
Hey Lester J Miles. You never had the Cowboys ranked this high!!

Report Comment
Dave in Houston, Houston (10/20/2008 2:12:14 PM)
OMG...if Tulsa makes a BCS game before OSU...
Report Comment
JLMO, Owasso (10/20/2008 7:29:33 PM)
Dave in Houston - What are you, a 12-year old girl?
Report Comment
Dave in Houston, Houston (10/21/2008 1:44:07 PM)
Eveyone's a "keyboard toughguy" these days
 

 
Add Your Comment 
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.

 
Post Your Comment
 



Home | About Tulsa World | Advertise With Us | Privacy | Usage Agreement | FAQ and Help | Contact Us | Today's Headlines
Copyright © 2010, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.