COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 8: Homecoming in Norman
My weekend was uneventful. Didn’t leave town. Didn’t even go out to dinner Friday night; we hosted a Sunday School class party that was a smashing success. Pristine weather, good company, Trish the Dish’s fabulous salsa and good grilling by my son-in-law, just home (for good) from Iraq this week.
Saturday, I actually parked south of the stadium for the first time in several years. Someone gave me a pass - I almost never have one - so I could park south of Lindsey Street in one of those campus lots.
I was amazed at how little traffic there was. Now admittedly, I was there more than three hours before kickoff, but I drove Porter to Classen to Lindsey to Jenkins. The corner of Lindsey and Jenkins, right there on the southeast corner of the stadium, was less-congested than on a Tuesday afternoon.
Later I did a radio bit on the Sports Animal, and we got word of a major traffic tieup on I-35 (imagine that; I-35 backed up on game day) and Jim Traber started telling everyone to get off and go Sooner Road into east Norman.
Which is solid advice. But there are several ways to get to Norman from OKC. I suggested Sunnylane from the East and Western Avenue from the West. Traber thought I was crazy, but I don’t take it personal. He doesn’t know any better.
When I got to the pressbox, Jeff Latzke from the AP said he always takes Western, and I got an email after the game from another guy who says he always takes Western.
Western is the old football road. It’s a fine way to avoid the traffic. And avoiding traffic is the key to a successful journey.
TEN BIGGEST WINNERS OF THE WEEK
10. Shonn Greene: The Iowa tailback has run for at least 100 yards in all eight Hawkeye games this year but cracked the 200-yard barrier in a 38-16 rout of Wisconsin, rushing for 217 yards and scoring four TDs as the revived Hawkeyes moved to 5-3.
9. Dan Hawkins: The Colorado coach earned the respect of his team and his fan base by benching his quarterback son (Cody) in favor of freshman Tyler Hansen.
8. Florida State: Seminoles once ruled the ACC and might again. A 26-17 victory over North Carolina State put Florida State in a four-way tie for the Atlantic Division lead.
7. State of Texas quarterbacks: Five of the week’s top 10 passing games came from Lone Star quarterbacks. Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell threw for 450 yards, Rice’s Chase Clement for 444, Houston’s Case Keenum for 404, SMU’s Bo Levi Mitchell for 365 and North Texas’ Giovanni Vizza’s for 362. And that doesn’t include a certain Texas Longhorn.
6. Paul Johnson: His first season at Georgia Tech has been odd, topped by a 10-7 victory over Gardner-Webb on Oct. 11. But Johnson has the Yellowjackets at 3-1 in the ACC, the best record in the league, and G-Tech has three conference home games left.
5. Mike Stoops: The Arizona coach’s job status is much stronger after a 42-27 victory over California that lifted the Wildcats to 5-2. Now USC comes to Tucson in a battle of Pac-10 quad-leaders.
4. TCU: The Horned Frogs removed all doubt about their prowess with a 32-7 thumping of Brigham Young that knocked the Cougars out of BCS contention.
3. Terrelle Pryor: The Ohio State freshman would be only the eighth-best quarterback in the Big 12. But he’s a budding star in the Big Ten after leading the Buckeyes to a 45-7 rout of Michigan State and figures to be a major player in the sport for at least the next three years.
2. Al Groh: The Virginia coach seemed on his last leg after a 1-3 start with three blowout losses. But now the Cavaliers have won three straight, including a 16-13 overtime upset of North Carolina, and are in the ACC race.
1. Colt McCoy: The Heisman is his to lose after an amazing performance against Missouri; 29 of 32 passing, for 332 yards and two touchdowns.
BOYD STREET PARADE
I never before had witnessed the OU Homecoming parade. But my son-in-law and daughter were going to the game and wanted to take my granddaughter to the parade. So I tagged along.
My assessment: poor production. The floats and entertainers actually were solid, but the parade was way too spaced out. Half a block apart, sometimes. If this is Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, fine. You can handle sitting there waiting. But let’s get moving on a college homecoming parade.
With that said, the floats were fun and the band was totally cool. Watching the Pride of Oklahoma walk by literally 15 feet from you is like watching a football game from the sidelines. Totally new perspective.
For one thing, the marching of a band is totally underrated. The musicians have to take these tiny little steps, sort of like moving furniture, carrying a sofa or something that blocks your knees and you have to baby-step it. Same with the trombonists. Definitely not easy to do.
Also, I never noticed, but the tuba players don’t wear hats. I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.
But the band is totally cool. I love marching bands and OU has a good one.
REALITY RANKINGS
Our rankings based not on what anyone thinks teams might do, but based on what teams have done:
1. Texas: Halfway through a Big 12 gauntlet.
2. Penn State: Could stake a claim for No. 1 with win at Columbus.
3. Alabama: Beware the holy war at Tennessee.
4. USC: Mike Stoops could help out his brother win an Arizona upset this week.
5. Oklahoma State: Strange enough, Cowboys play well in Austin.
6. Florida: Don’t discount Gators from title race.
7. Ohio State: Buckeyes will climb quick with a win over Penn State.
8. Utah: Utes get TCU and BYU at home.
9. Georgia: Plays at LSU on Saturday night .
10. Oklahoma: Continues a three-game stretch against the Big 12 North.
11. TCU: Turns out, the Frogs are pretty danged good.
12. Texas Tech: We’re about to find out how good are the Red Raiders.
13. Boise State: Fiesta Bowl rematch, anyone?
14. Georgia Tech: So far, the best of a bad lot in the ACC.
15. Vanderbilt: Close loss at Georgia might have been Commodores’ finest moment.
OLD FRIENDS
Like I tell you every week, one of the best things about going to games here, there or anywhere is seeing people you know.
Saturday, I got a special treat. Walking around the parade, down Asp, Rod Maynard hollered at me to say hello. Maynard is a principal in Hobart and the subject of one of my all-time favorite stories.
When I was 14 playing little league baseball, a 13-year-old joined our team in Norman. He was from Laverne, in northwest Oklahoma, but came down to spend the summer with his grandparents.
Turns out he was a heck of a ballplayer. The thing I remember about Rod is that he hit a home run over the fence at Reaves Park and missed home plate while we celebrated. The other squad noticed, appealed and he was out.
But we had a good time, won the city championship and I never played baseball again. Danged curveballs had entered my world.
Anyway, I never saw or heard from Rod Maynard again. Then about six years ago, I was asked to speak at Hobart’s all-sports banquet.
I almost always accept such invitations, and so to Hobart I went. A lovely family hosted me for an hour or so, then took me to the high school. Where I was introduced to the baseball coach. Rod Maynard.
I recognized him immediately but he didn’t recognize me, at least not as the scrawny first baseman from the summer of 1975. So I didn’t say anything.
Until my speech. When I told the story of taking care of little things. Attention to detail. Touching every base. I told the story of a little league teammate who knocked the ball out of the park but didn’t get his shoe on home plate.
Then I delivered the kicker. Well, his players had a high time of that, and Rod made the connection that this writer from Oklahoma City was that goofy kid from Norman, and we all had a good laugh.
It was good to see him again.
TEN BIGGEST LOSERS OF THE WEEK
10. Wake Forest: The Deacons were as good a pick as any for best team in the ACC. Then came a 26-0 loss at Maryland that throws the Atlantic Division into upheaval - a four-way tie for the lead at 2-1, with Wake, Florida State, Boston College and Maryland.
9. Larry Fedora: The Southern Miss coach is implementing his tried-and-true offense the way he did as coordinator at Oklahoma State - immersion. But there are growing pains. Southern dropped to 2-5 with a 45-40 loss to Rice, and Fedora will learn that offensive gurus get no pass for a 45-40 defeat when they are the head coach.
8. Stanford: Jim Harbaugh’s Cardinal had a chance to lead the Pac-10 outright, leading UCLA by four. But the Bruins went 87 yards in the final 2:23, getting a 7-yard TD pass from Kevin Craft with 10 seconds left to win 23-20. Stanford dropped to 3-2 in the Pac-10, leaving USC, Oregon, Arizona and Oregon State in a four-way tie for the league lead.
7. Connecticut: The Huskies had a chance to go 2-0 in the Big East. But a 12-10 loss to Rutgers, which hadn’t beaten a I-A school all season, exposes UConn as a Big East pretender.
6. Ron Prince: The Kansas State coach let down his team in a 14-13 loss at Colorado. The Wildcats trailed 14-6 in the third quarter, then scored a touchdown. Prince ordered an extra point kick instead of a two-point conversion. In a defensive game, which this certainly was, when you get a chance to tie on a conversion, you take it. Always.
5. Virginia Tech: The ACC’s last hope for a marquee team lost 28-23 at Boston College. In four seasons in the conference, Virginia Tech has lost only two road games. Both at Boston College.
4. Tim Hiller: The Western Michigan quarterback threw for 471 yards, the day’s best total, and has numbers to rival Sam Bradford (314 yards a game, 25 touchdowns). But Western lost to Central Michigan 38-28 in a battle of Mid-American teams unbeaten in conference play, and Western slipped to third place in the West Division.
3. Javon Ringer: So much for the Heisman candidacy of the Michigan State tailback, after a 67-yard day against Ohio State.
2. Brigham Young: The Cougars were mid-major pioneers, but since the advent of the BCS, Utah, Boise State and Hawaii have reaped the bounty. And BYU won’t reap it this season, after a 32-7 thumping at TCU.
1. Missouri: Down 35-3 at halftime? Chase Daniel’s Heisman hopes and Mizzou’s status as a national contender all went poof in less than 30 minutes at Texas.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment