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OU won the Big 12 South with a 6-2 conference record in 2002.  That’s nothing new in the Big 12 Conference, where less-than-gaudy records regularly have won a division.In the South, 6-2 won in 1996 (Texas), 1997 (Texas A&M), 1999 (Texas) and 2002 (OU). In the North, 6-2 won in 2000 (Kansas State), 2003 (Kansas State) and 2006 (Nebraska); 5-3 won in 2005 (Colorado) and 4-4 won in 2004 (Colorado).

But it could happen in both divisions this season.I ranked Colorado as OU’s fourth-toughest game of the conference season, behind Texas, at Texas Tech and a home game against Missouri. In retrospect, the CU game obviously was tougher than Mizzou, not that the Tigers still couldn’t pull an upset.

But if OU beats Texas, there’s no assurance the Sooners will sail through the rest of the season, particularly the way they played in the Rockies. And if Texas beats OU, there’s even less chance. The Longhorns have only two home games the rest of the season, and neither are gimmes: Nebraska and Tech. They’ve already played Kansas State (and lost) at Royal-Memorial Stadium, and in odd-numbered years, they give up a home game against the Sooners to play in Dallas.

Could this be the year one of the other South schools break the Sooner-Longhorn stronghold? Doubtful, but possible. Tech wouldn’t be in bad shape had it won at Oklahoma State nine days ago. If Tech could stay within a game of OU, the Red Raiders could host OU in late November with the title on the line.

But Tech already has a loss and goes to Columbia and Austin. The Raiders could win both places, but it also could lose both. OSU’s victory over Tech energized the Cowboy season, but State still plays a rough road schedule. At A&M, at Nebraska, at OU.

Here’s the plan if you’re a Cowboy fan. Split the next two weeks at College Station and Lincoln, then sweep the Kansas schools when they come to Stillwater. Neither assignment is easy. Between the Kansas schools is Texas at Boone Pickens Stadium. OSU has a horrid history with the Longhorns, but Texas is playing very poorly. If OSU could somehow go 3-2 in those five games, then win at Baylor, it would be 5-2 going to Norman for a Bedlam finale and the division likely would be on the line. Even under that scenario, the Cowboys’ hopes don’t look strong, because the Sooners seem to have re-established their Bedlam dominance at Owen Field.

But this much is true. This makes for a lot more interesting Big 12 race than if OU and
Texas had won Saturday and were playing Saturday for what everyone believed was going to be the conference championship game.

Colorado football seems in good hands. The Hawkins hands. Coach Dan and quarterback Cody engineered Colorado’s 27-24 upset of OU on Saturday, and the rally from a 24-7 deficit could be a defining moment for the Buffaloes.

Dan, in his second year in the Flatirons, and his staff clearly outschemed Bob Stoops and Co.  A Colorado offense that hadn’t done much this season butchered the Sooner defense in the second half. Here are some sobering numbers.Colorado rushed for 32 yards on 26 carries against Arizona State, which is no defensive juggernaut; discounting two sacks, CU gained 48 yards on 24 carries, a 2.0 average.

A week later against Florida State, which IS a defensive juggernaut, the Buffs rushed for minus-27 yards; throw out sacks and CU’s numbers aren’t much better  —  23 carries, minus-12 yards. Think about that for a minute. On average, Colorado literally couldn’t get back to the line of scrimmage trying to run on Florida State.

Yet against OU, the Buffs got stronger and stronger. CU’s rushing yards by quarter: 7, 40, 70 and 44, 161 in all. Dan Hawkins found holes in the Sooner defense and exploited them, courtesy of tailback Hugh Charles, who gained 110 yards on 24 carries.

Call it an extension of the Boise State curse. Dan Hawkins put together the Boise State team that stunned the Sooners 43-42 in overtime in an epic Fiesta Bowl last January. He handed over that team to Chris Peterson, who did a splendid job coaching. But make no mistake, that was Hawkins’ team.

Now Hawkins has torpedoed OU’s national title hopes, and his son was a major reason why. Cody Hawkins, according to Colorado officials, is just the ninth player to quarterback a Division I-A team with his father as coach. I was critical of Dan Hawkins’ selection of his son as QB; a redshirt freshman quarterback on a team that figured to struggle seemed like a recipe for dissent and revolt.

But I was wrong. Cody Hawkins has been a solid quarterback, and he came up big against the Sooners at Folsom Field. Hawkins’ fourth-and-goal touchdown pass to Tyson DeVree brought Colorado within 24-17 early in the fourth quarter, and Hawkins directed two other scoring drives in the period.

His numbers weren’t gaudy: 22 of 36 for 220 yards, two TDs and two interceptions, and even Hawkins’ fourth-quarter stats were merely solid, 5-of-8 passing for 49 yards. But Hawkins made his plays count. Colorado’s future seems in good hands.

Sorry for the lateness of this week’s dispatch from the College Football Road. It’s been a crazy week. On rare occasions, I’ve covered two college football games in a weekend. Heck, one day, I did a doubleheader on a single Saturday. Oct. 19, 1996, OSU-Iowa State in Stillwater, with a 1 p.m. kickoff, then Tulsa-Brigham Young with an 8:30 p.m. kick. Long, long day. But fun. Loads of fun.But last weekend, I covered two college football games for the second straight week. OU-Tulsa on Friday night, OSU-Texas Tech the next day, following the OSU-Troy/OU-Utah State double dip. You know the big story of the week, and it’s been well hashed. Here’s a treat for you: I won’t rehash. We’ll talk football or highways or food. We’ll try to have some fun.

               Apartment Living

The University of Tulsa has really redecorated its campus  —  the football stadium is next on the project list  —  and the darndest thing is the apartments on the grounds of Chapman Stadium. A new apartment complex sits not 50 feet from the stadium elevator, and its back end is on the stadium grounds. The bottom floor of the apartments serve as concession stands, with windows opening to the concourse. Really unique, unlike anything I’ve seen in college football.

Chapman  —  the old Skelly Stadium  —  remains a relic in need of upgrade, but I still love the architecture of the east side. The blue and gold facade has a WPA feel to it, even though it was built in 1930, before the Works Progress Administration began throwing up buildings all over America. The west side of Chapman looks like the old Lewis Field, an erector set. But that simple east side is a wonderful site.

Now, for the really strange phenomenon, and one I really never got an answer for. Where were all the lights of Tulsa? Looking out beyond the stadium  —  north, east and south  —  there were hardly any lights in the neighborhoods of Tulsa. It was like looking at a small town at midnight, not a metropolis at 10 p.m. on a Friday night.

           BY THE NUMBERS

Tulsa was a crazy-numbers game in the first half, then settled down. OSU-Tech was a crazy-numbers game that never settled down. My favorite numbers from the weekend:

* 301: TU quarterback Paul Smith’s passing yards WITH 9:33 LEFT IN THE THIRD QUARTER. By the next day, that number didn’t seem so wild, but Smith was on pace to throw for 507 yards against the Sooners.

* 6: Catches for TU receiver Jesse Meyer in the first half alone. Meyer entered the game with 11 catches in 15 career games but Meyer finished with seven catches for 114 yards against OU.

* 130: Allen Patrick’s first-half yards, on 16 carries, in the first half against Tulsa.

* 21-21: Both OSU and Tech scored three touchdowns in the second quarter alone.

* 62: Combined first downs. 33 for Tech, 29 for State. That’s a first down every 58 seconds.

* 5-of-12: Tech’s third-down conversions. Think about that. Tech made 33 first downs and 28 times didn’t even need third down.

* 47.3: Average length of punt, both teams. The teams combined for only four punts but kicked it well when they did. Maybe fresh legs matter.

* 233: Receiving yards for Tech’s Danny Amendola, which wasn’t good enough to be the game’s best. Teammate Michael Crabtree had 237 receiving yards. That’s 470 receiving yards out of two passcatchers.

* 2: Sacks by OSU. And Mike Gundy says the Cowboys hit Tech quarterback Graham Harrell only three other times. So that’s five times out of 69 passing plays where the Cowboy pass rush made its mark. No wonder Tech scored 45 points.

* 6: Plays by OSU of 20 yards or longer. The Cowboys also had five of at least 25 yards and four of at least 33 yards.

* 45: Points by the losing team, the second-most in college football this year. The most? BYU in a 55-47 loss at Tulsa. 

            TEN BIG LOSERS FROM WEEK 4

10. Utah: After a rout of UCLA, Utes lost a 27-0 clunker to Nevada-Las Vegas. OU-ex Tommy Grady was ineffective at quarterback, and Utah fell to 0-2 in the Mountain West.

9. Ralph Fridgen: The Maryland coach was the toast of the ACC in 2001 when he took the Terrapins to their first league title in 16 years, but after three straight double-digit win seasons, Maryland won just 19 games the last three years, and after a 31-24 loss at Wake Forest, Big Ralph is 2-2 in 2007.

8. ESPN Friday night: The OU-Tulsa telecast apparently was a train wreck. A profanity uttered by sideline reporter Joe Schad and an insufferably-long discussion about Notre Dame.

7. Nebraska: a 41-40 victory over Ball State was bad enough, but did you read what Tom Shatel wrote in the Omaha World-Herald: the best team didn’t win. Ball State hasn’t had a winning record since 1996.

6. Houston Nutt: The beleaguered Arkansas coach fell to 0-2 in the SEC after a 42-29 loss to
Kentucky.  The Hogs’ schedule is so easy  —  games against North Texas, Chattanooga and Florida International still await  —  but Nutt needed a big year to wipe away the bad taste of 2006 scandal. Not going to happen.

5. Mike Leach: Texas Tech lost a game and defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich lost his job, but Leach lost some credibility with his in-season firing. Leach’s offense is a big part of the defensive problems at Tech, and now Leach gets to go looking for another coordinator to work under very difficult conditions.

4. Mid-American Conference: The MAC is 3-22 vs. BCS-level teams this year, with victories over Iowa
State (twice) and Minnesota. Ball State could have given the MAC one of its biggest trophies ever,
Nebraska, but squandered a nine-point lead in the fourth quarter.

3. Regis Philbin: The big Notre Dame fan delivered one of the goofiest pre-game pep talks ever, telling a Friday night pep rally that “I’m tired of Michigan State coming in here and beating us.” Didn’t sound like the kind of speech that would inspire anybody. Too bad, Regis. Michigan State wins again.

2. Steve Kragthorpe: Louisville has been the nation’s biggest bust, at 2-2, with losses to Kentucky (ouch!) and Syracuse, which had proven to be one of the nation’s worst teams.

1. Dennis Franchione: Bad enough to lose at Miami, but to get down 31-0? A&M still must play at Norman, Lubbock, Columbia and Lincoln. The clock ticks on Franchione. 

            MOVE THE INTERSTATE

Driving to Stillwater the other day, we had a great lament. Why couldn’t I-35 have been curved to go past the outskirts of Stillwater? The interstate is 17 miles west of Stillwater and runs on a mostly straight line to Wichita. But curve that thing over to near Stillwater, and you could run it north to Ponca City, then up to Ark City, Kan., before curving back into Wichita. That way, I-35 runs past three good-sized cities, instead of none between Guthrie and Wichita. That would cut 15 minutes off the drive to Stillwater.

I suppose this is an idea that is 50 years too late. 

            TEN BIG WINNERS FROM WEEK 4

10. Kyle Wright: Bobby Reid, let this be a lesson. Wright, the Miami quarterback, lost his job to Kirby Freeman but apparently didn’t pout, won back the position and now has Miami prospering. Don’t look now, but Miami could still win the ACC.

9. Virginia: Cavaliers opened with a disheartening 23-3 loss at Wyoming. But since then, UVa has gone 3-0 in the ACC, including a 28-23 win over Georgia Tech, and now gets non-conference foes Pitt, Middle
Tennessee and UConn. Virginia could be 6-1, 3-0 in mid-October.

8. Tulsa: Golden Hurricane lost 62-21 but showed America that Paul Smith is a heck of a quarterback and that TU is the best team in Conference USA. Tulsa is C-USA’s only team with a winning non-conference record.

7. Ron Zook: The deposed Florida coach is getting some things done in Illinois. Winning at Indiana is no big deal, but the Illini played Missouri tough in St. Louis and is 3-1. With home games against Penn State and Wisconsin the next two Saturdays, Zook  could make his mark in the Big Ten.

6. Dennis Erickson: Arizona State coach is a little shady, but there’s nothing little about his winning. The Sun Devils beat Oregon State 44-32 and could be 7-0 when they host California on Oct. 27.

5. Fake field goals: LSU’s no-look toss on a fake field goal against South Carolina is an old Bob Stoops special. Fake punts can be sniffed out from two kilometers away, but fake field goals always catch us by surprise.

4. Connecticut: The Big East has five unbeaten teams, none so surprising as the Huskies, who won 34-14 at Pittsburgh last week. UConn gets Akron this week.

3. Michigan: Can anyone say Rose Bowl? Lloyd Carr has resurrected the Wolverines with victories over Notre Dame and Penn State. Not vintage Irish or Nittany teams, but still. Michigan is back on its feet after an 0-2 start.

2. SEC: You can argue that the SEC plays the best football. But here’s what the SEC did last week: play the best football games.  Georgia 26, Alabama 23 in overtime. Florida 30, Ole Miss 24. LSU 28, South Carolina 16. Kentucky 42, Arkansas 29. That’s some good football for a single Saturday.

1. Wofford: We hailed Appalachian State for its upset at Michigan, but then Appy State lost 42-31 at Wofford, and now the Southern Conference mantel is worn by the Terriers. Beware, Wofford. Furman awaits this week, and the Paladins want to wear the glass slipper.

         NAVIGATING THE BROKEN ARROW EXPRESSWAY

I had an uncle who drove trucks for a living, all over America, and once said he found no traffic worse than what he encountered on the Broken Arrow Expressway.

I thought of that last Friday, when I faced a perilous mission. Radio duties for KREF until 6 p.m., then leave the Buffalo Wild Wings in south Broken Arrow and make it to the pressbox at Tulsa U. by kickoff. I made it with 16 minutes to spare.

First, we mapped out the route quite well. Get off the Broken Arrow as quickly as possible. The Broken Arrow would take us right by campus but would throw us right into the traffic. So instead, we took the Broken Arrow to 169 North, which hooked us up with I-244, which circles the north side of Tulsa. We got off 244 at Memorial and drove down Admiral to Harvard Avenue, north of TU.

I knew parking near the campus would be gone. So my cousin Jimmy, who writes for the Tulsa World, had arranged for me to park at another cousin’s son’s house, about a mile north of TU. There, my aunt met us and ferried us closer to campus. She drove us to within two blocks of the stadium, where we got out and joined the throng clogging 11th Street in front of the stadium.

Made it for the national anthem thanks to great planning and great family.

Florida’s Tim Tebow leads the latest Scripps-Howard Heisman Trophy poll. I don’t know which is sillier; the Tebow part or the poll itself. A Heisman poll in November seems a little shaky. A Heisman poll in September is ridiculous. These guys have played two or three games, often against teams barely giving scholarships, and yet we’re starting to align the Heisman candidates.

Which is how you arrive at Tim Tebow in the lead. The Florida quarterback, I’m sure, is a fine ballplayer. But the new trend to bestow the Heisman on the quarterback of one of the elite teams is bogus. If Tebow was quarterbacking
Mississippi State, playing just as well as he is with Florida, he wouldn’t get a sniff of a vote in Scripps-Howard. Or in the real Heisman voting come December.

The real question is if premature surveys like Scripps-Howard are producing contenders like Tebow. You can see how it would happen; early September, you vote for a name you know, and suddenly that name gains momentum. So scrap it. Both the Scripps-Howard poll, and the Tim Tebow campaign.

Things are getting nasty in Seattle. The Sonics file for arbitration; the city files a lawsuit. You would think this guarantees one thing. The Sonics are leaving. We just don’t know when.

Can you imagine the ice age if the Sonics win their suit and the Sonics are forced to stay at KeyArena into 2010? They very well could be a ghost franchise. Owners totally uninterested in working with a city that just took them to court; a city that knows it is losing its basketball team. This coming season seems bad enough. Civility seems to have broken down. A major disconnect exists between Seattle and its NBA franchise of 40 years.How could Seattle possibly come up with an arena deal under these circumstances?

When working together, there was no progress. When talking through third parties, under threat of relocation, there was no progress. And now, at out and out war, how can there any progress? 

Lost in the what’s-wrong-with-Bobby Reid talk and the Mike Gundy tirade against Jenni Carlson is this: OSU now plays its best quarterback. Zac Robinson can’t make all the throws that Reid could make, but he makes enough, and he tops it with excellent running ability.

Scrambles and options and quarterback draws, Robinson uses them all to gobble up yards and move the chains. Robinson is a better runner than Reid, which doesn’t seem like it ought to be so. Reid is bigger and faster. But Robinson has instincts and the desire to run. Robinson gained 116 yards on 13 carries against Texas Tech, giving OSU just its second 100-yard rushing quarterback since 1977. The Cowboys gorged Tech for 366 yards. It’s very difficult to lose a ballgame in which you rush for 366 yards, though OSU came close.

Gundy has had a brewing quarterback controversy for several games, dating back to last season. Why was Robinson in at the end of the Bedlam game last season? Now we know. Coaches thought he gave them the best chance to win that game.OSU is all-in on that idea. No quarterback controversy in Stillwater. Zac Robinson is the man. 

OSU-Texas Tech is a tennis match. This game is all about breaking serve. Any possession in which a touchdown is not scored is a lost serve. OSU broke Tech in the second quarter, forcing a Red Raider punt. That’s how OSU got up 21-14. Tech broke back by intercepting Zac Robinson’s deep ball — Jamar Wall did the honors — with 1:28 left in the half at the Tech 14-yard line. Naturally, Tech went 86 yards in 10 plays, without facing a third down. That leaves us 35-28 at halftime.

I don’t blame OSU for throwing deep. The Cowboys were on their 45, and it was worth a shot. I don’t understand throwing deep to Tommy Devereaux. The next time Devereaux makes a big play will be the first time. Throw to Adarius Bowman. Throw to Dez Bryant. Throw to Brandon Pettigrew, for crying out loud, who hasn’t seen a ball come his way all day. But don’t throw to Tommy Devereaux. On the interception, the play basically was a jump ball. Wall leaped; Devereaux didn’t try to make a play.  Turns out, because of OSU’s total inability to play defense, it was a huge, huge turnover and a huge, huge turnaround.

The decision to go with Zac Robinson is looking better and better. Zac just scrambled 48 yards for a touchdown to give OSU a 28-21 lead, and Robinson is doing two things better than Bobby Reid did. He’s running better. And he’s running more. We kept waiting for Reid to tuck it and run; waiting and waiting and waiting. Reid never really would pull the trigger.

Robinson doesn’t wait. He dropped back to pass on 3rd-and-20, almost immediately saw open field and did not hesitate. He darted past the line of scrimmage and seemed capable of making the first down. Then Robinson made a move, zigging past a couple of Tech defenders, and Robinson saw that there was bigger bounty than a first down. He turned on the jets and spurted past a couple of more defenders to zoom into the end zone.

This is the kind of assertive play OSU lacked when Reid quarterbacked. I liked Reid as a QB; I thought he was pretty good and could be better. But he’s in his fourth year on campus. Waiting for potential to develop can hamstring a program. There seems to be no waiting when it comes to Zac Robinson.

Kendall Hunter just danced his way to a 46-yard touchdown run off a draw play, and I swear, I thought it was Dantrell Savage until Hunter got to the goal line. Savage has been spectacular so far, with 60 yards on eight carries and a bunch of darting, where-did-he-go runs. But then along comes Hunter (69 yards on five carries) who does the same kind of dancing. A few things about that:

1. These guys aren’t Barry Sanders. I don’t mean to infer that they are. But both are very good.

2. Hunter really isn’t Savage. Savage can run pretty darn good inside. We haven’t seen that out of Hunter yet.

3. Tech couldn’t tackle a dummy on the practice field. But that said, OSU’s tailbacks look very good. The Cowboys should keep running the ball. They’ve got 135 yards on 16 carries. That moves the chains and the clock, and that’s the best recipe for beating Tech.

This game is coming into focus. OSU’s offense looks good. Tech’s offense looks good. OSU’s defense stinks. Tech’s defense stinks. And neither team’s fans have distinguished themselves. Tech’s contingent up from Lubbock is well below Big 12 standards. Less than 2,000 I’d say. Most Big 12 teams draw 4,000 or so, and Texas or Nebraska will get much more than that. Of course, OSU fans haven’t turned out, either. Perhaps still smarting from the loss to Troy, pockets of empty seats dot the north side of Boone Pickens Stadium. This crowd will come in under 40,000.