Not Pretty But it Is a Win
11/19/2009 10:48:51 PM
Oklahoma State did everything wrong except lose to Colorado on Thursday night at Boone Pickens Stadium.
All that really matters at this late date of the season is winning games.
Oklahoma State did that by bringing on third-team quarterback Brandon Weeden to rescue the Cowboys in a 31-28 victory over Colorado.
Folks will wonder how Alex Cate, who looked completely out of it in the first half, got the start at quarterback. He did not complete any of his nine passes and wasn't even close to completing one.
But, Weeden was cool under the pressure when it appeared OSU's season might get knocked off course by four turnovers.
OSU has shown a lot of resilience this season. It has fought through injuries that cost it most of major playmakers.
On Thursday, it had to fight through an injury that took quarterback Zac Robinson out of the game. Weeden and the defense saved them.
It doesn't matter how they won. It just matters that the Cowboys won.
Perfect Storm Crushed TU
11/16/2009 8:20:35 AM
The crowd at Tulsa's Sunday night game with East Carolina was far closer to 1,700 than the announced crowd of 17,453.
There are a number of reasons why TU's footall attendance has fallen off the edge of the earth in recent weeks. It all adds up to a perfect storm that put an empty Chapman Stadium on national television on Sunday night.
All of the advantages of being on national television are the reasons why schools like Tulsa will play on any day and at any time.
But, there is a down side, too.
Tulsa is suffering through one of its worst seasons in the last seven years. Fans, spoiled by success in Conference USA, won't get excited to go out to a game for a team that is struggling to get to .500 on the year. TU, 4-6, lost its fifth straight game on Sunday night.
In addition, Sunday night is a bad night to attract football fans in Tulsa. It is church night. And, folks have to be at work on Monday morning.
Finally, add in horrible weather. It was cold and wet.
Put all of those factors together and that's when you get a crowd that resembles a Rogers-Edison high school game.
TU athletic director Bubba Cunningham needs to think long and hard before he accepts any more late-season, off-day games just to get on national television.
What can be an advantage can turn into an ugly, late-season game played in a virtually empty stadiuim.
It Is Simple for OSU
11/14/2009 11:27:57 PM
Sometimes football is a simple game.
For all of the talk about spread, no-huddle offenses, for the various blitzes and trick plays, football is still about blocking and tackling.
Sometimes it just comes down to who is tougher.
Oklahoma State was bigger, stronger and tougher in the fourth quarter and beat Texas Tech the old-fashioned way on Saturday night, 24-17.
The Cowboys won because they blocked better, especially in the second half, and they made tackles throughout the game.
Tech's wild offense, which has shocked the Big 12 into an offensive league, was stopped because OSU did the most basic thing in the game better. When OSU had chances to make tackles, it did.
Then, with the game on the line, the Cowboys pushed around the Red Raiders up front.
This game was about toughness and OSU was tougher.
The Case for Keenum
11/12/2009 1:19:36 PM
If I had to turn in my Heisman vote today it would go to Houston's Case Keenum.
There is no rule that says you have to cast your vote for a quarterbackk that plays on a national championship contender.
That has been the trend lately but it needs to change.
Guys don't have to play quarterback. More importantly, the Heisman winner doesn't have to play for a national championship contender.
Yes, I think Colt McCoy of Texas is a great player. He is surrounded by great players.
Keenum is a great player surrounded by good players that he makes better by his play. Keenum is the reason Houston is a top 15 team. McCoy is one of the reasons Texas is a top five team.
Keenum has unbelievable numbers. But, that is not the reason to vote for him.
You vote for him because he has unbelievable numbers and he knows how to win games. He made all the plays to rally UH to a wild victory at Tulsa last week. He's done the same thing in the final minute to beat Texas Tech and Southern Miss.
He engineered an upset at Oklahoma State when the Cowboys were ranked fifth.
In other words, he wins games. As long as Houston wins its remaining games, he'll have my vote. Because he's a great player and a winner.
You shouldn't have to play in the BCS championship game to get a Heisman vote.
Houston Lives on the Edge
11/8/2009 8:03:04 AM
If Houston had beaten UTEP, like it should have, we would be talking about the Cougars in the naational championship hunt.
We would certainly be debating their chances to play in a BCS bowl game.
But, why Houston is not on the BCS radar was on display at Tulsa on Saturday night.
The Cougars won a sensational game with a dramatic comeback, 46-45.
However, the way Houston won is why they aren't on the national radar.
The Cougars continually live on the edge. They needed last-second victories to beat Southern Miss last week and Texas Tech earlier this year.
They have struggled to just about all of their victories.
It makes for very entertaining games. The victory over TU was one fo the most entertaining games in this state in years.
However, the close fits lead to skeptics.
Not me. I'd vote them in the top 10. They know how to win games.
How they won at Tulsa on Saturday was nothing less than a miracle.
Texas Gave OSU No Chances
10/31/2009 10:50:10 PM
Oklahoma State never gave itself a chance against Texas.
The Longhorns made sure the Cowboys would not a Halloween surprise.
Texas, playing flawlessly the past two weeks, cleared what should be its last big hurdle on the way to the national championship game.
Colt McCoy put his name back in the Heisman race as the Longhorns dominated Oklahoma State, 41-14.
It was Texas at its best.
Oklahoma State needed the Longhorns at something less than their best.
And, OSU needed to be nearly perfect. Instead, OSU played poorly and got what it deserved, a lopsided loss.
If you play poorly against a team capable of winning a national championship, you're going to get hammered.
That's what happened. OSU played bad. Texas played good.
So, you get the expected result.
Dez, OSU Need to Move On
10/30/2009 7:32:01 AM
Dez Bryant's recent behavior, going off to Dallas for a media interview, is just the latest incident that leaves people baffled.
He was apparently advised that was not a good idea.
Of course, he was apparently told hanging out with a former NFL star wasn't a good idea, either.
Of course, he was apparently also told not to lie to NCAA investigators.
Bryant obviously won't listen to anyone with good advice.
So, it is time for Oklahoma State to move on. The Cowboys have done a very good job without him.
Sure, the Cowboys would be better with him but that isn't going to happen.
So, OSU needs to move on and try to beat Texas without Bryant.
Bryant should be in Stillwater supporting his teammates. But, if he isn't, because he's jogging with some former NFL players, then so be it.
Zac's Level of Play Raises Cowboysl
10/25/2009 3:28:30 PM
The quarterback is so important in college football, especially with the spread offenses, that often a team rises and falls with its quarterback.
With so many injuries, and the suspension of super wide receiver Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State desperately needed Zac Robinson to return to the form he showed last year if it wanted to make a run.
Just in time, Robinson has returned to look perhaps better than he ever has in his career.
He's moving around the pocket like he used to, capable of avoiding a big rush, and he is deadly accurate with his throwing.
His mobility may serve him well against Texas on Saturday. The Longhorns are terrific up front on defense, like always.
Oklahoma couldn't gain an inch running the football against Texas.
The guess here is that OSU will have more success running against Texas but it will be a struggle.
Thus, Robinson's accuracy and being able to avoid the rush could be huge in OSU's hopes of upsetting Texas.
OSU Hitting Its Stride at Perfect Time
10/24/2009 3:38:35 PM
Oklahoma State's season has been full of injuries, suspension and somewhat disappointing performances.
But, the Cowboys have surged forward, facing down their adversity, and now find themselves right where they wanted - a Halloween showdown with Texas in Stillwater.
OSU played its best game of the season, a 34-7 rout at Baylor, on Saturday.
If gives hope that a season that seemed to be headed the wrong direction is now back on track.
They've had to do it with a handful of new heroes. Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter, the preseason stars, missed yet another game.
But, the way OSU has handled this season has to be encouraging. There has been no hanging of the head. No shutting it down.
OSU has fought through and now has a chance to play Texas with plenty on the line - just like they had hoped it would be.
Play Calling Did Not Cost Tulsa
10/22/2009 5:01:17 PM
There will be much debate in the coming days about the plays that are being called at Tulsa.
Well, it wouldn't matter who is calling the plays if you can't run the ball inside when you need and you can't protect the quarterback.
Tulsa has been good on offense in recent years not so much because of the plays called.
It has been good on offense because it had a line that could give its quarterbacks some time to throw passes.
It is hard to blame play calling when your quarterback gets sacked five times by a team that had just four QB sacks in the previous six games.
Some might question why Tulsa went to inside runs almost exclusively late in the loss to UTEP. That is worthy of debate. Yet, if you block the second worst defense in major college football (ranked 119th out of 120) then we aren't talking about the reasons for the loss.
It would seem TU's offensive woes are more about personnel than the plays being called.
A Cargo Van, the Border Patrol and Coyotes
10/21/2009 9:37:38 AM
The only vehicle available for rent in El Paso on Tuesday was a cargo van. A hail storm last month wiped out the rental car inventory in El Paso.
So, we ended up with a cargo van (just two seats but plenty of space in the back a stripped out van for someone to sit on the floor).
Driving a cargo van north from El Paso will get you what you expect - a stop by the border patrol. A quick look through the van and we were on our way.
Then, we went to dinner at Cattlemen's Steakhouse in the mountains about 30 miles from El Paso. The restaurant tosses the steak scraps in a yard just outside a big picture in the dining room. So, as you dine, you can watch coyotes come up from the desert and get the steak scraps in the yard.
That's what is great about travel, even if it includes a stop by the border patrol. New experiences.
OSU, OU and TU Need Wins
10/18/2009 3:29:05 PM
All three local college football teams need to win games this week that would appear winnable.
Only Oklahoma faces a team that could be trouble. OU goes to Kansas and the Jayhawks have looked like a top 25 for much of this season until last week's loss at Colorado.
But, if OSU wants to stay on course for a showdown with Texas, the Cowboys will have to win on the road at Baylor. The Bears are much improved but this is the kind of game that top 15 teams win.
Plus, TU should be well aware of the danger of UTEP. UTEP beat Houston and Tulsa has never had much luck at the Sun Bowl. Yet, again, teams that want to win Conference USA need to win road games against undermanned teams like UTEP.
OU's Defense Once Again Keeps it Close
10/17/2009 4:47:23 PM
Close isn't winning but the Oklahoma defense has played well enough give OU plenty of chances to win the three games it has lost this season.
It happened again on Saturday in the 16-13 loss to Texas.
On most days, holding Colt McCoy and the Longhorns to 16 points would be enough to win.
But, the Sooners, once again without the injured Sam Bradford, do not have the type of offense to generate enough points against decent defenses.
In fact, OU ran for a -16 yards against Texas.
The team that runs best in this game usually wins. That was Texas.
But, if OU's defense continues to play well, it will take some offensive improvement for Oklahoma to win some tight games.
And, it would appear there are some tight games in the future for Oklahoma.
Give Boise State Some Credit
10/16/2009 1:05:19 PM
It has been popular among the so-called national experts to downgrade Boise State because it beat Tulsa by only seven points.
Given the way Tulsa played, and the mistakes made by Boise, the 28-21 victory by the Broncos should be considered a positive for Boise.
Instead, the national experts are using the close game as a reason to say Boise doesn't deserve to be ranked in the top 10 and certainly not considered for a BCS bowl game.
Their reasoning is simple. Oklahoma, with two losses and ranked 20th, beat the Golden Hurricane 45-0.
Well, there are differences. Oklahoma was at home. If this game had been played at Boise, the outcome might have been somewhat different.
In addition, Tulsa played very poorly against Oklahoma. The Golden Hurricane played very well against Boise.
Tulsa deserves some credit for playing Boise so close. The Golden Hurricane coaches did a magnificent job of figuring out a way to move the ball against a defense that was dominating the game on the line.
So, instead of talking about how bad Boise is, perhaps someone shoudl give TU some credit.
TU Will Have to Be at Best
10/12/2009 1:08:48 PM
Tulsa will have to play better than it has all year if it hopes to have any hope against Boise State.
The Golden Hurricane has a terrific opportunity to gain some national attention in a Wednesday night game against the Broncos, ranked fifth in the nation.
Tulsa is capable.
But, TU has not played well in these kind of games in recent years.
Earlier this season, the Golden Hurricane played poorly in a loss at Oklahoma when the Sooners were playing without Sam Bradford.
A similar Tulsa performance against Boise State will result in a similar blowout loss.
One should assume Tulsa will play much better at home, especially given the importance of this game. If so, TU will have a chance to pull off one of its bigger upsets in recent years.
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