Patrick’s hot start
Allen Patrick has 60 yards on eight carries with 3:20 left in the first quarter, which means he could be headed for a big day rushing. The last time OU played in Tulsa, Quentin Griffin had a career day, rushing 17 times for 237 yards. That was the day Jason White struggled in the 2002 season opener, completing 15 of 26 passes for 126 yards and two interceptions. OU led just 3-0 before breaking away to a 37-0 victory. The next week, White blew out a knee and Nate Hybl took over.
OU that day had a phenomenal rushing game. The yards won’t come that easy tonight, because of TU’s stacked line, but OU could be a little gun shy about throwing, considering Bradford’s early interception. Patrick is on pace for more than 250 yards.
OU’s big advantage
Here’s why Tulsa will be hard-pressed to stay with the Sooners, even if it plays a game for the ages: 4th-and-1 is a passing down. The Hurricane faced 4th-and-1 from the OU 28-yard line and tried a direct snap to linebacker-turned-single wing tailback Chris Chamberlain, who tried to find a hole up the middle and was snowed under for no gain by a host of Sooners. Earlier, TU had a 3rd-and-2, and Paul Smith threw a quick screen for the first down. Tulsa can’t physically match the Sooners up front. When OU has the ball, TU is pressing its defensive backs and stacking the line, which makes the Hurricane susceptible to the big play but thwarts the running game. Tulsa has a wonderfully-constructed offense, but if you can’t automatically make a yard or two when you really need to, victory is difficult.
Best quarterback?
The first volleys have been fired in the OU-Tulsa debate over who has the better quarterback in this game. The first was fired by Tulsa defensive back Roy Roberts. Roberts stepped in front of Malcolm Kelly and intercepted, returning the ball 20 yards to the Tulsa 37-yard line. The second volley was fired by TU quarterback Paul Smith, who directed the Golden Hurricane on a seven-play touchdown drive. Smith completed 3-of-3 passes on the drive, for 50 yards. Smith also scrambled twice for eight yards.
The Bradford/Smith debate heated up this week, with OU fans touting Bradford’s numbers. But Smith obviously is the better quarterback. A savvy senior, who has played a bunch of big games, including a stirring performance two years ago at Owen Field. Bradford has been superb, but when a quarterbac is not rushed, they often can look sensational.
I don’t expect Tulsa to win this game or even take it to the fourth quarter. But I also don’t expect Bradford to make the case that he’s the better quarterback.
Miami makes OU look good
The Big 12 stinks. I think we can officially make that claim, after Texas A&M’s performance in the Orange Bowl against
Miami. The Canes led 31-0 and won 34-17 after letting off the gas. Suddenly, Miami looks like a solid pick for the ACC title. Florida State’s not much. Virginia Tech can’t score. Georgia Tech fell flat against Boston College. Who you going to pick? Maybe Miami.
Which makes Oklahoma look very, very good. The Sooners took apart Miami 51-13, and it’s a good thing for the Big 12. Texas, Missouri, Texas Tech and Kansas have combined to beat only two teams from BCS leagues, Illinois and Ole Miss, neither rising above mediocrity.
A&M and OSU have laid dinosaur eggs. Nebraska was thumped at home by USC. The Big 12 has one, count ‘em one, marquee win in non-conference. Oklahoma over Miami. And it took the absolute failure of another Big 12 foe to let us know that Miami was worth a darn.
Trouble in Austin
In ethics class many years ago, I learned that the most common characteristic of the incarcerated is intelligence. The lack of it. I thought of that upon hearing the story of James Henry, yet the latest Texas Longhorn to run afoul of the law. Henry was charged with assault after police said he admitted to the crime while talking on the phone to jailed ex-teammate Robert Joseph, who was involved in the same incident.
Henry apparently wasn’t aware that jail phone calls are taped and admissible in a court of law. The way it’s going for Mack Brown’s program, perhaps a class detailing such legalities would be beneficial to the Longhorns. Henry is the seventh UT player arrested in recent months, and while Brown defended his program, saying he would put his players’ character up against any’s, forgive me if I’m dubious. The character of some of the Longhorns seems no greater than the intelligence.
NFC showdown Sunday
It’s only September, but the NFC championship preview could be staged Sunday at Soldier Field. Through two games, Dallas and Chicago clearly have been the two most impressive teams in the NFL’s inferior conference. New Orleans has been a bust. Philadelphia is 0-2, too. Seattle is wounded and might finish in a four-way tie in the NFC West. The other 2-0 teams in the NFC — Green Bay, Washington, San Francisco and Detroit — all have flaws and aren’t great picks to even make the playoffs, much less reach the NFC finals.
It looks like Chicago and Dallas are the best to challenge the AFC giants. Chicago has the great defense but has quarterback Rex Grossman hanging around its neck. Dallas has a high-octane offense, so long as Tony Romo’s magic holds, but its defense is a little shaky. Neither team seems capable of winning Super Bowl. But they are the NFC’s two best bets to reach football’s ultimate game.
Who to pick? I’ll go with the Bears. Chicago’s defense is good enough to win most games, especially at home. Make it 17-14.
In the South of Alabama
Amazing weekend. Absolutely amazing. I saw two college football games in a 22-hour span. Both games stunk, but I saw them both. I toured sacred ground in Alabama, Ground Zero of the civil rights movement. I made it from Birmingham’s airport to OU’s Campus Corner in 4 hours and 40 minutes, with a stop in St. Louis, a plane change in Kansas City and game-day traffic once I hit Oklahoma soil.
A Friday night trip to Troy, deep in the South of Alabama, offered a special chance to relive some of the most important events of the 20th century. They say time stands still in the South, and it certainly did last weekend.
16TH STREET
Oklahoma’s history ranks with any state’s in uniqueness; Oklahoma’s story is unlike any other’s. But Alabama’s story is profound, too. History, both recent and ancient, drips through the state like dew off those magnificent pine trees that dot the landscape. In Birmingham, me and Miss Saigon (Andrea Cohen) drove downtown and parked in front of Kelly Ingram Park, which sits across the street from the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, which sits across the street from the historic 16th Street Baptist Church, where on Sept. 15, 1963 — almost 44 years to the day from when we were there — Klansmen set off a bomb that killed four girls attending Sunday School.
We parked at a meter and discovered the dangdest thing. A 10-hour time limit; 21/2 hour each quarter. There were three hours left on our meter. Told you time stands still. We walked through the park, named for the first American sailor killed in World War I, which in 1963 served as a staging ground for civil-rights demonstrations. The park has been rededicated into a civil-rights memorial, with several sculptures dedicated to the heroes of the movement. A boy being attacked by a dog, under the direction of a peace officer. Water cannons, which public safety commissioner Bull Conner ordered turned on to turn back demonstrators. An inscription “Segregation is a sin” written upside down. I asked Miss Saigon why upside down; she didn’t know.
We had walked only a short distance around the edge of the park when a man sped up on a bicycle and stopped. He asked if we had found our answer, then proceeded to tell us the story. The Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, the leader of the Birmingham civil rights movement, had been arrested, beaten and hung upside down in the Birmingham jail. With his dripped blood, he sketched out the words “Segregation is a sin” on the floor of the cell.
Laron Bonds didn’t stop with that story. He gave us an audio tour of the park, explaining the significance of each statue and each sculpture. Bonds, probably 45 years old and wearing shorts and a T-shirt, delivered his history lesson in the rhythmic sing-song voice of a skilled orator. His only variance was every few minutes, when he would stop and say, “I love this stuff.” Bonds urged us to go across the street and tour the church, calling it holy ground. When he was through, he asked how he had done. Excellent was our honest answer. I knew what was coming next; our drive-by historian was going to ask for money. And he did. I gave him a $5 bill and considered it money well spent.
We walked over to the church, down the steps where you could still see the cracks from the bomb, and entered a nondescript fellowship hall. A Coke machine stood off to the side; a little gift ship, with water bottles and T-shirts, had been set up in a room. The ground didn’t seem so holy. But a hallway was adorned with some large photos that were among the most moving I’ve ever seen. A guide took us up the stairs into the sanctuary, along the way showing us how the church had been reconfigured since the bombing. In the sanctuary, the guide showed us the only stained-glass window that survived the blast, depicting Jesus leading children, except the face of Jesus had been destroyed.
For the rest of the weekend, I thought often of Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson and Cynthia Wesley, the girls killed at Sunday School. They would be in their 50s today. Their families have lived without them for 44 years. A clock that was in the church the day of the bombing remains. Its time is frozen forever at 10:22, when Sunday School ended forever for four Birmingham girls.
TEN BIG LOSERS FROM WEEK 3
10. Dave Wannstedt: The Pitt coach was 11-12 his first two years, without a signature win. A road win at a Big Ten school would have jump-started the Panthers, but Pitt fell short at Michigan State 17-13, and another mediocre season looms.
9. Georgia Tech: YellowJackets weren’t a crazy pick to run the table. Their road games are Notre Dame, Virginia, Maryland, Miami and Duke. That means their toughest games were at home: Boston College, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Georgia. But Tech didn’t even scale the first hurdle; BC beat the ‘Jackets 24-10.
8. Phil Fulmer: Since winning the 1998 national title, Tennessee hasn’t won an SEC title and has won its division only twice. And after a 59-20 thrashing at Florida, it’s not likely to happen this year, either. Tennessee is not a revolving door for coaches. The Vols have had four coaches since 1963. But Tennessee did fire Bill Battle in 1976 to make way for Johnny Majors. Fulmer’s 16 years in Knoxville could be coming to an end.
7. Mike Stoops: After a 29-27 home loss to New Mexico, a fourth straight season without a bowl bid seems likely for
Arizona. Stoops is 0-2 vs. the Mountain West this season. To even be eligible for a bowl, ‘Zona must go 5-4 in the Pac-10, but 6-6 didn’t get the ‘Cats in last year and probably won’t this year. And how is this team going to go 6-3 in conference? At Cal, at Oregon State, at USC, at Washington, at Arizona State. Not going to happen.
6. Kirk Ferentz: I never did know why the Iowa coach was considered such a plum; why he always was mentioned as an NFL candidate and why Iowa was willing to pay him so much money ($2.8 million per year). After a 15-13 loss atIowa
State, Ferentz now is 3-6 against the Cyclones. It’s one thing to get beat by Dan McCarney, but Gene Chizik’s sorry team? Iowa played Iowa State on the same turf, Jack Trice Stadium, where the Cyclones lost to Kent State and Northern Iowa.
5. TCU: Six quarters ago, the Horned Frogs led Texas 10-0 at halftime and smelled a Sugar Bowl bid. Since then, they’ve been routed by Texas (34-3 in the second half) and lost in overtime at Air Force, which means they probably won’t even win the Mountain West Conference and might struggle to make any bowl.
4. UCLA: The Bruins were wonderfully positioned to make a deep run, perhaps host Cal on Oct. 20 in a battle of unbeatens. Then, who knows? But UCLA produced a clunker in Salt Lake City, losing 44-6 to Utah and previously-unproductive backup Tommy Grady. Now seems like same old UCLA.
3. Phil Bennett: Forget Lloyd Carr. Dead Man Walking best describes the SMU coach, whose team was spanked at Arkansas State 45-28. Talk around the Park Cities is that SMU big daddies already are circling to entice a big name — Gary Barnett? — to coach the Mustangs.
2. Mike Cassity: The Louisville defensive coordinator, and ex-OSU coordinator, is a holdover from Bobby Petrino’s regime, but you wonder how long new ‘Ville coach Steve Kragthorpe will go with such sorry defensive performances. 42 points given up to Middle Tennessee; 40 to Kentucky. This reminds of Jimmy Johnson taking over Howard Schnellenberger’s staff at Miami in 1984 and suffering through miserable defense. Those ‘Canes ended the year by giving up 42 points to Maryland, 47 to Boston College and 39 to UCLA. And Jimmy very soon got his own guys in there.
1. Officiating: It’s one thing to blow a call, ala OU-Oregon. Incompetence, we can deal with it. Amputation can deal with that. But when a disease spreads throughout the body, there’s little way to treat it. And a disease is spreading through college football, having already afflicted the pros. That’s the proliferation of pass interference penalties. Alabama beat
Arkansas 41-38 Saturday because the SEC crew got flag-happy in the final minute. Arkansas was whistled for two interference penalties in Bama territory in the final minute. The first call seemed shaky; the second was outrageous. The second call, in the end zone, basically told defenders they weren’t allowed to play defense. That’s the same attitude that permeates the NFL. At least in college, the pass interference isn’t a death penalty, it’s only 15 yards. But that doesn’t make Houston Nutt feel any better today.
BISCUITS & GRAVY
We stopped in Montgomery for the history, but we got an added bonus. Driving around town, I kept seeing signs for baseball parking. I didn’t know what kind of baseball they could mean. I didn’t think Montgomery had a team in the AA Southern League, and I was quite certain there was no low-level minor-league ball in Alabama.
So we followed the trail to near the banks of the Alabama River. On the corner stood a sign proclaiming this the site of a Confederate Military Prison, where in 1862, 95 years before the world met Rosa Parks, almost 200 Union soldiers died under harsh conditions. On the same corner sat the old train depot, which had been converted into a beautiful ballpark, Riverwalk Stadium, and where the Montgomery Biscuits call home. Montgomery indeed was in the Southern League, rejoining in 2004 after a long hiatus, as the affiliate of the Tampa Bay DevilRays. Fact is, the Biscuits were the defending Southern champs and had played a home game the night before in the Southern finals.
The ballpark was spectacular, sort of a mini-Brick, and we were smitten with the nickname. Biscuits, What a splendid name for a Southern squad. Among the sponsors with ads on the outfield wall was Mary B’s Fresh-Bake Frozen Biscuits. Miss Saigon bought a shirt; Mike Baldwin bought a shirt and cap. I bought a baseball displaying the Biscuits logo, complete with a smiling biscuit. My wife started me a baseball collection years ago that has grown to impressive status.
Minor-league baseball in non-metropolises has an allure unlike that in big cities. Game 4 of the Southern League championship series was played Saturday night in Huntsville, Ala., (the Biscuits went on to win the title Sunday), and Montgomery mayor Bobby Bright announced he had chartered a bus for $1,400 for fans to attend the game. The first 45 people who showed up at 3 p.m. Saturday could ride free to Huntsville.
Biscuits is the kind of homey nickname a major-league franchise never would use. Not cool enough, not hip enough. It got me thinking. What are the 10 best nicknames in minor-league baseball? Here’s my list:
10. Hickory Crawdads: Just what a Carolina League team ought to be called.
9. Tucson Sidewinders: Here’s hoping thePacific Coast League team has a Kent Tekulve or Dan Quisenberry from time to time.
8. Toledo Mud Hens: An oldie but goldie in the International League.
7. Jupiter Hammerheads: Sharks are cool, but Hammerheads are even cooler for this Florida State League franchise.
6. Savannah Sand Gnats: South Atlantic League team sounds very pesky.
5. Montgomery Biscuits: Here’s hoping they serve gravy at the concession stand.
4.Vermont Lake Monsters: New York-Penn League team drips with possibility.
3. Mesa Solar Sox: Love any kind of Sox, but in the Valley of the Sun, this Arizona Fall League franchise hits a home run.
2. Auburn Doubledays: Wonderful play on words for this New York-Penn League team. Abner Doubleday didn’t invent baseball, but it’s fun thinking he might have.
1. Lansing Lugnuts: No pretension for this Midwest League team.
MISSING THE COLONEL
I get misty-eyed when I think of the salad days with Howard Schnellenberger at OU. He was a terrible choice for the Sooners and did a horrible job, but his honesty and insight are rare in college football these days. Schnellenberger believed in sharing information about college football. Believed in discussing football.
Coaches today don’t want to talk football with the media, which means they don’t want to talk football with you. Bob Stoops has grown more and more obstinate with the media, but he’s far from the only coach with that attitude. Most questions are considered too stupid or too intrusive.
But Schnellenberger liked talking football. He would discuss strategy and personnel and trends. Last week, before the OSU-Florida Atlantic game, here’s a couple of quotes he gave to OSU radio man Robert Allen:
“It’s good when teams strike a blow for the have-nots of the world,” Schnellenberger said. “It makes this game of football much more of a democracy than a communistic kind of a situation. I like to think it’s the American way to rise up and do well for yourself.”
On the big upsets by Boise State and Appalachian State: “While it gives all I-AA teams, and teams like us in the minor leagues of Division I, hope for a victory over some of these traditionally great teams, my feeling is it will make it that much tougher. Now that it’s been done, every Notre Dame, every Miami, every Oklahoma or Oklahoma State, all the great teams across the country will be more nervous and prepare harder and be more conscious of what the results from that type of loss would be.”
There’s more meat on that bone than anything we’ll get all season from Stoops or Mike Gundy. We miss you, Colonel.
KING COUNTRY
Montgomery matches Birmingham in civil-rights history. The city where Rosa Parks refused to move to the back of the bus, and where a young pastor of the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church organized a boycott of the buses, has honored the soldiers who 50 years ago staged an honorable fight. The Civil Rights Memorial, created by Vietnam Veterans Memorial designed Maya Lin, was closed for maintenance. But the Civil Rights Memorial Center was open and sobering, even before entrance. A security guard stood on the street, waiting for visitors. He escorted us into the center, where we had to pass through metal detectors.
All for good reason. In the center is a melted clock, showing 3:47, pin-pointing the exact time on July 28, 1983, when Klansmen torched the offices of the Southern Poverty Law Center, sponsor of the memorial and visitor center. 1983 doesn’t seem like that long ago.
In the center, we viewed a 17-minute film, “Faces in the Water,” telling us about the 40 martyrs honored in the Memorial. The memorial takes its theme from Martin Luther King Jr.’s words, “UNTIL JUSTICE ROLLS DOWN LIKE WATERS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS LIKE A MIGHTY STREAM.” Not all the 40 martyrs are black.
After we left the center, we drove past the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church and its parsonage, 309 S. Jackson Street, where the King family lived in 1957. Not as sobering as the Birmingham park, but enriching and inspiring and gut-wrenching.
TEN BIG WINNERS FROM WEEK 3
10. Vanderbilt: The over-matched Commodores of Bobby Johnson beat Ole Miss, not a big feat for most, but now are 2-1 and still can dream about Vandy’s first bowl game since 1982.
9. Bobby Bowden: With no offense and playing in a tough environment, Florida State seemed ripe for defeat at Colorado. Of course, the Buffs have no offense, either, and Florida State won 16-6, and the Seminoles still have a chance at a decent season. The ACC is down; it’s a conference ripe for the picking. Only Clemson and Boston College are undefeated after three weeks.
8. Tulsa: In what might have been the most entertaining game of the week until the Browns upset the Bengals, the Hurricane outlasted BYU 55-47. With quarterback Paul Smith directing a great offense, TU is set for a special season, and
Oklahoma comes to T-Town this Friday.
7. Ohio State: All the trendy pickers said go with Washington last week; the Buckeyes drilled UW 33-14. They weren’t fancy under Jim Tressel and never are. But never count out Ohio State as a title contender.
6. Hal Mumme: New Mexico State hasn’t won more than six games in a year since 1967. But Mumme has brought hope to
Las Cruces. The 2-1 Aggies played New Mexico tough (a 44-34 loss) and beat UTEP 29-24 Saturday night. Mumme’s offense — he invented Mike Leach — causes headaches for any foe, beginning with Auburn this Saturday.
5. Southern Cal: Trojans are way better than Nebraska, but still. Lincoln is not an easy place to play, and the Trojans steamrolled to a 49-31 victory; 42-10 after three quarters. Maybe SC is as good as it’s been billed to be.
4. Rich Brooks: Brooks coached Oregon for 13 years before getting the Ducks into a bowl game and building the foundation for the solid program now in Eugene. He got Kentucky into a bowl in Year 4, with an 8-5 season last year, and now has knocked Louisville from the top 10 with a 40-34 classic. This guy can coach.
3. Duke: The Blue Devils snapped a 22-game losing streak, winning 20-14 at Northwestern, one of seven road games for Duke this season. Heck, Duke might even find some more wins. It plays at Navy this week and at hapless North Carolina Nov. 24.
2. The Sun Belt Conference: Before last weekend, the Sun Belt was 0-13 in non-conference games. Then Troy routed Oklahoma State. Arkansas State popped SMU. And the Howard Schnellenbergers beat Minnesota 42-39. It was Florida
Atlantic’s first victory over a BCS-league foe. Minnesota looked “at this as a major recruiting trip for them,” Schnellenberger said. “This probably didn’t help them too much.”
1. Sylvester Croom: In his fourth year at Mississippi State, Croom’s record is 11-26. But he has a knack of costing coaches their jobs. In 2004, Croom’s Bulldogs beat Florida 38-31, hastening Ron Zook’s departure. In ’06, Mississippi State won 24-16 at Alabama, sealing the fate of Mike Shula. And Saturday, the ‘Dogs shockingly won at Auburn 19-14, which probably won’t cost Tommy Tuberville his job but will make him squirm. Croom has three winnable home games remaining — Gardner Webb, UAB and Ole Miss. So if Mississippi State can find another win somewhere, Croom could land his first bowl game.
GOOD EATS
Airport food has come a long way. Twenty years ago, airport food offered little variety and high prices. But that’s changed. Most airports have all kinds of choices, at a decent cost. A little higher than you’d pay on the outside, but not by much.
Thursday morning, we had a pre-dawn flight to Houston, then on to Birmingham. At Houston Hobby, Miss Saigon tried the vegetarian breakfast burrito from Pappasito’s, a Texas-based Mexican chain that’s one of my favorite stops in
Dallas. You can’t believe the size of that burrito. For $4.29, $4.79, something like that, she got a burrito you had to hold with both hands. It could have used a big helping of meat — I ate the last quarter of it — but still, what a deal in an airport.
I like to eat at local spots when I’m on the road. I can get the chains back home. But I have little background in
Birmingham, and though Miss Saigon interned there while a student at Northwestern, she didn’t have a strong opinion on where to dine. So after Mike Baldwin flew in Thursday afternoon, we went to dinner at Landry’s Seafood House, which is not a local joint but qualifies because we don’t have one in OKC.
I’ll eat seafood anytime, and the closer to the ocean, the better. Four hours north of the Gulf is better than seven hours north of the Gulf. I had a grilled seafood platter and again was amazed at why anyone eats fried fish. Talk about covering up the taste. Friday, on the way to Troy, we lunched at the Montgomery Brewing Co. in the old warehouse district. I had a shrimp po-boy, which indeed is fried and I remembered why people eat fried seafood. Very tasty. Just not as good as fish that’s grilled.
GRIPE OF THE WEEK
OU could have kicked off its Utah State game any time it wanted. The Sooner brass chose 2:30 p.m. It chose wrong. In mid-September, OU should play night games if possible. The temperature is better and the atmosphere is better. Earlier kickoffs are better for the sportswriters, who have deadlines, and the players, who don’t want to sit around all day. But the majority of fans, who pay the freight, prefer night kickoffs.
I LOVE LUCY RERUNS
On the road, you get some strange down times. Friday morning, I had four hours between wakeup and pushoff from the Residence Inn in south Birmingham. I worked most of the morning, but I work with the television on, and you can only watch so many cycles of SportsCenter.
I caught a rerun on ESPN Classic, a sports trivia show called Stump the Schwab, and I recognized one of the contestants. Brian Sandalow interned with The Oklahoman over the summer after graduating from Mizzou. Turns out, he filmed the show before he came to Oklahoma, but he never told me about it, and we lunched together several times at Falcone’s. Anyway, the Sandman won, beating two other guys off the street, then taking out the Schwab in what was received as a huge upset. It sort of restored my faith in America’s youth. Here is a sharp kid with lots to brag about, yet he didn’t. At least not to me.
But the Sandman was not the best viewing experience I had in Birmingham. On one of my channel surfs, I caught the final 10 minutes of an “I Love Lucy” rerun. I hadn’t watched a Lucy rerun in years. Probably decades. When I was a kid in the ‘70s, the reruns were on but I wasn’t that big of a fan. That has changed. Thirty years later, and more than 50 years after the episode first ran, the comedic genius of Lucy still holds.There’s really nothing like her on television today. Today’s television dramas are better than ever, but today’s television comedies are laughably unlaughable. The comedies of the ‘70s were the best ever. “All In the Family.” “M*A*S*H*.” “The Bob Newhart Show.” And the hip classics of the ‘80s and ‘90s — “Cheers,” “Seinfeld” — were a riot.
But what’s funny today? There are no great comedies, and the people who could make us laugh because they had comedic talent — Lucille Ball chief among them — are gone. Funny is a lost art.
TROY STORE
Troy, Ala., reminded me of Starkville, Miss. That’s not necessarily a good thing. Truthfully, Troy reminded me of Hugo, the Oklahoma hometown of BCS guru Richard Billingsley and my pastor at Lakeside Church of God, Rocky Pettyjohn. Troy seems like an old town that no doubt revolves around the university. Troy had a sort of town square, but not particularly charming. Nothing at all like Oxford, Miss., about as quaint of a town square as you’ll find.
In Troy, same as Starkville, it was hard to find a real downtown, which makes me wonder if there is one. And if there are nice parts to either town, they are well-hidden. Which is entirely possible. In the South, all kinds of things are hidden. The university seemed OK. Not as picturesque as most southern campuses; about like Ole Miss, I’d say, which was a big disappointment. But Troy’s athletic facilities were very nice. Movie Gallery Stadium has an awful name but is a nice football arena. Its address reminded us of where we had been earlier in the day. George Wallace Drive, named for the
Alabama segregationalist governor.
But this much is clear. Troy has seen the last of major-conference foes coming to this corner of Alabama. Missouri came in 2004 and went home a loser. Now OSU. No BCS-league school will give Troy a shot. Which is a shame. College football’s biggest problem is the exhibition nature of September. Occasional showdowns, but mostly arranged games that mean automatic victories for the home team.
Schools like Arkansas and Nebraska and Florida are glad to host Troy, but no way would they drive down George Wallace Drive for a game. Salute OSU for having the guts — or the lack of common sense — to play at Troy. Troy is well-coached, has a solid stable of talent and a quarterback, Omar Haugabook, who is skilled and savvy. There is no reason for OSU’s offense not to have scored a ton on Troy, but Troy’s offense can move the ball on most anybody.
So like I said in the Saturday Oklahoman, the Cowboys shouldn’t be ripped for losing to Troy. But the manner in which they lost is inexcusable. Disorganized. Lackluster. Sloppy.This was not the loss at Louisiana Tech in 2002, or the loss at
Houston in 2006. This was a beatdown in which Troy took it easy. The Trojans quit playing after three quarters, with a 41-10 lead. If Troy had kept its foot on the gas, this could have been a 55-17 final, with Troy totaling 700 yards.
The game finally sped up a little in the fourth quarter. The first quarter lasted 58 minutes. The second 54. The third 51. The game lasted three hours, 53 minutes. Told you time stood still. Something has got to be done about the length of college football games. They are 25 percent longer than they were 20 years ago.
One thing became apparent in this game. The Cowboys need Dantrell Savage, who now has missed two straight games. Their shifty tailback is more valuable than either Zac Robinson or Bobby Reid. Put Savage back in the lineup, and OSU is much better regardless of who quarterbacks.
How good is Savage? He’s so good, out of high school he signed with Troy.
THE FOOTBALL ROAD
Never before had I driven to Norman for a football game. I’ve lived in Norman since 1968, so any excursion to Owen Field, I already was in the belly of the beast. Not so, Saturday. I landed at Will Rogers at 12:25 and was off the plane by 12:30. I needed to make Campus Corner by 1:15 to at least get in one segment of the KREF pre-game show. I had two options, and I-35 was not among them. I considered going down Western Avenue, the old football road, as it was called in the days before the interstate. Western becomes 60th Avenue in Norman and swings around connecting to Robinson. I thought that would be relatively open until I got to Norman, then I wasn’t sure.
Or I could go I-240 to Sunnylane and go south into East Norman. That’s the route I chose and it worked great. Traffic was relatively light going down Sunnylane, and I always can navigate around East Norman, no matter the traffic. I drove virtually unimpeded to Campus Corner and even talked my way into a parking lot.
I don’t understand the thousands of people who drive into the abyss of I-35. Oh, I guess I understand it. They don’t know how else to go.
Sooner schedule opening up
OU’s schedule just keeps getting easier and easier. Tulsa being a notable exception. TU’s 55-47 victory over Brigham Young late Saturday night cements the Golden Hurricane as a solid football team. The same can’t be said of many other future Sooner foes.
OU goes to TU’s Chapman Stadium for a Friday night game this week, and Tulsa figures to put up more of a fight than OU’s first three foes. The Hurricane will be fired up for the in-state opponent that gets a huge slice of the media coverage in Oklahoma. But beyond Tulsa, the road is opening for the Sooners.
Texas keeps struggling; a three-point win at Central Florida, UT’s third straight difficult game though none of the foes come from a major conference, certainly didn’t build confidence among the Burnt Orange. Nebraska, a potential Big 12 title game opponent, was barbequed by USC. OSU, always a threat to stage a Bedlam uprising, is getting worse by the week.
Only two 2007 OU opponents have played to expectation: Texas Tech and Missouri. Both are 3-0; Tech had a close scrape with UTEP but is consistently competitive, and Missouri has done what it’s supposed to do.
Not since the Bud Wilkinson heydays has an OU season seemed so likely to be unscathed.That is good news for the Sooners. Unless the BCS gets dicey. Unless OU’s schedule has to be compared to another team’s. No way the Sooners will come out ahead the way they did in 2003 and 2004.
OSU questions abound
The 41-23 loss at Troy leaves OSU with red faces and unanswered questions. Many of them at quarterback.
1. If this job is now Zac Robinson’s, what to do with Bobby Reid? This is a team woefully shy of wide receivers, running an offense that requires many wide receivers. Could Reid move to flanker? Who knows if he can catch? And could he adapt quickly? Donovan Woods moved to defense in late September 2005 and didn’t really catch on until when, this year?
2. Speaking of Woods, do you realize Gundy now has benched two straight quarterbacks with decent records? Woods was 10-5 as a starter, with road wins at Pasadena, Columbia and Boulder. Reid is 9-11 as a starter, but that includes 1-4 in 2005, when the Cowboys would have been hard-pressed to win Big 12 games even with John Elway quarterbacking. The Troy game seemed to indicate OSU’s problems are not quarterback-centric.
3. OSU’s most valuable player clearly seems to be Dantrell Savage. The quick little tailback was hurt and missed the Florida Atlantic and Troy games. Maybe it doesn’t matter whether Reid or Robinson quarterbacks, so long as Savage plays. Here’s how good Savage is. When he came out of high school, he was so good, he signed with TROY.
4. I like Larry Fedora, and I like his offense. But it’s not getting the job done. Troy’s offense looked the way OSU’s offense is supposed to look. Unpredictable. Dictating pace. All kinds of weapons. Excellent run-pass quarterback directing the operation. And now the Cowboys take a step back by turning to Robinson, who will have a learning curve.
5. Vance Bedford was not the problem on defense. I don’t know why everyone is always so quick to dump the coordinator when the defense leaks. The Cowboys need better players on defense; doesn’t really matter who coaches them.
Crazy numbers at Owen Field
Crazy halftime numbers at Owen Field:
13: Carries by OU tailbacks, out of 42 plays. The Sooners definitely haven’t gone vanilla.
141: Yards by OU tailbacks. That’s 10.8 yards per carry. And DeMarco Murray had a huge run, probably 40 yards, wiped out by a holding penalty.
412: Total yards by OU, on 42 plays. That’s 9.8 yards per snap. Utah State is averaging 2.3 yards per snap.
0: Punts by OU. Utah State has punted five times, but isn’t let Reggie Smith get free for returns.
72: Percent completions by Sam Bradford. The guy obviously is in an horrific slump, having brought an 83.3 percentage rate into the game.
8: Catches for Juaquin Iglesias, for 123 yards. Iglesias also has a 29-yard touchdown run on a reverse. If the Sooner coaches let Iglesias play much in the second half, he could have the greatest game in OU receivers history.
