Texas on top again
A crazy day of college football brought upheaval in the polls.
Ditto for the Heisman polls.
My ballot for the HeismanPundit.com/Orlando Sentinel straw poll changed as much this week as it has all season. Chase Daniel, who had moved to the top for a couple weeks, fell like a rock. Colt McCoy, who wasn’t even on my ballot until a week ago, zoomed to the top.
The Texas quarterback took over the top spot in the overall balloting, too, receiving nine of the 10 first-place votes.
Four of the top five spots are held by Big 12 players, including Sam Bradford at No. 2, and eight of the dozen players who received votes are from the conference, too. That includes Oklahoma State running back Kendall Hunter and wide receiver Dez Bryant.
You can see all of the poll at www.HeismanPundit.com.
Here’s a look at my ballot:
1. McCoy: He had a huge game on an even bigger stage, going 28 of 35 for 277 yards against Oklahoma. He looks like the real McCoy.
2. Bradford: Can’t pin the Sooners’ loss on him. He threw five touchdown passes against the Longhorns. If the Sooners can get back on the winning track, his Heisman hopes will remain alive and well.
3. Graham Harrell: I can’t ignore the Texas Tech quarterback anymore. He threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third against Nebraska. He also hit a big pass in overtime that moved the Red Raiders to the 1-yard line, where they punched it in and scored the game-winner.
4. Hunter: The OSU tailback had a big game against No. 3 Missouri. With 154 yards, he put himself square in the Heisman cross-hairs. Have another big game next week at Texas, and who knows how high the little man could climb.
5. Daniel: Can’t ignore his three interceptions against the Cowboys. A couple of them looked like poor decisions, and Heisman Trophies are won and lost by what you do at crunch time.
Local shines on East Coast
A couple springs ago, Leigh McCoy was selected as the top female high school scholar-athlete by The Oklahoman and our friends at the Jim Thorpe Association.
Now, she is putting that excellence on display at Harvard.
McCoy is the leading scorer on the Crimson’s field hockey team. The Casady graduate has scored six goals and notched two assists in the team’s first 11 games.
She had a particularly important stretch earlier this month. She scored one goal and set up a second one in a 4-1 win against Vermont. A few days later, she had another goal and assist in a 2-0 win at Brown.
For her performance, McCoy was named Harvard’s COOP student-athlete of the week.
Chalk up another student-athlete award for McCoy.
Want to know more about McCoy? Check out her bio at www.gocrimson.com.
OSU victory gets better with time
More than 24 hours have passed since Oklahoma State’s stunning upset of Missouri, and frankly, it’s still pretty stunning.
Not that the Cowboys won. That part has definitely sunk in. No, the thing that gets me is how they won.
Watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below:
If you’d have asked anyone before the game for an upset formula, just about everyone would’ve said that the offense needed to have a big day. And even more than that, one of the Cowboy stars would’ve needed to have a career day. Surely, Dez Bryant or Kendall Hunter or Zac Robinson needed to do something spectacular. Maybe Bryant needed 200 yards receiving or Hunter needed 300 yards rushing. Perhaps Robinson needed to throw for 300 or rush for 100 or both. Or maybe another Cowboy needed to do something out of this world. Maybe it would be Keith Toston or Damian Davis.
But in the end, OSU didn’t have anyone do anything super special. Sure, Hunter had 154 yards rushing and Robinson threw for 215 yards. Yes, Davis had a couple touchdown catches.
Plenty of guys had nice days, but no one had an eye-popping, jaw-dropping day. And still, the Cowboys beat the Tigers.
OSU didn’t need that career day from someone to pull the Saturday shocker.
The reason? The Cowboys are stout.
They could’ve gone to Missouri and won because they used a bunch of trickery or because the Tigers made a bunch of unforced errors, but that isn’t what happened. OSU won by simply doing what it does. It ran its offense and played its defense.
No more.
No less.
That makes what the Cowboys did Saturday all the more telling. They didn’t need to do something spectacular to beat the No. 3 team in the country. They just needed to do what they do.
And right now, what they can do is pretty darn impressive.
Something to chew before OSU-MU
How long will Gary Pinkel be at Missouri?
Not so long ago, that question was asked in regards to the coach’s job security. The Tigers struggled the first few seasons under Pinkel, and many wondered whether he might be shown the door.
Now, his future in Columbia is in doubt because he’s become such a hot commodity. The Tigers are roaring, and Pinkel’s stock is rising.
Could someone come and snatch him away from Missouri?
Check out this story from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Even though it seems likely that Washington will come after Pinkel, who did a stint as a Husky assistant, one of the Missouri beat writers told me this week that Pinkel has said he’s tired of rebuilding programs. He’s said he’s not inclined to do that any more, and Washington would definitely require renovation.
Actually, that’s being too generous. Washington is a project that needs to be gutted, maybe even bulldozed and rebuilt entirely.
More from The Q&A: Duke Robinson
Oklahoma left guard Duke Robinson is known best for his football prowess.
His hair is a close second.
Robinson has a head full of long, thick dreadlocks. They have become his signature look, much like his OU predecessor Davin Joseph.
Here’s more from my Q&A with Robinson:
Jenni Carlson: Tell me about your hair, the dreads.
Duke Robinson: I had it ever since I started playing football. It gave me personality, a demeanor, so I kept them.
JC: Any chance you cut ‘em, change ‘em?
DR: I might change the swag up a little bit, but I think I’ll let ‘em grow a little bit more.
JC: If you cut it all off, people wouldn’t recognize you.
DR: I’d be low-key.
JC: You could dye it.
DR: The tips? I had, like, gold at first when I got here, but I cut ‘em off.
JC: You’re all GQ.
DR: I’m stylish. (Smiles.)
Is that really Les Miles?
Just saw the strangest thing — Les Miles in a low hat.
Everyone in these parts knows the former Oklahoma State coach’s signature look. Whether in his old job with the Cowboys or his new gig at LSU, he always seemed to wear those ball caps with extremely flat, high fronts.
Around headquarters, those lids spawned a nickname for Miles.
The High Hat.
In any event, I happened to catch some footage of Miles’ post-practice interview Thursday, and I did a double take. Seeing Miles in the more, um, well, normal hat made him look a bit like a football coach from the 50s. He looked a little bit what I imagine Bo Schembechler looked like in his early days at Michigan.
I almost expected the camera to pan down and catch of glimpse of old-school canvas Chuck Taylor’s or something.
You can check out video of Miles here.
He happened to be talking , by the way, about some comments that stirred controversy earlier this week. LSU defensive tackle Ricky Jean-Francois said the Tigers would be going after Florida quarterback Tim Tebow, trying to knock the Gator gunslinger out of the game in their big showdown Saturday.
“The idea that he would hit him and hit him hard is something that every quarterback in this league, including ours, is going to have to deal with when it comes to Saturday,” Miles said.
He continued, “We want to get to the quarterback, but we want to get to the quarterback every week. It doesn’t make a difference if it’s Florida’s quarterback or Auburn’s quarterback or whoever we play.”
Listen, I didn’t have a problem with Jean-Francois’s comments. Of course the Tigers want to get to Tebow. Every defensive player wants that every week, every play. Most just don’t say it.
Jean-Francois was being honest, saying what every defensive player is thinking.
Hard to criticize a guy for that.
The difference in the OU-Texas game
For all the hype and the hoopla, the pomp and the pageantry surrounding the Red River Rivalry, Saturday’s game is going to come down to an extremely un-sexy factor.
Offensive line.
Check out my latest video commentary or continue reading below:
Is there anything less jazzy, less exciting in football?
Probably not.
But is there anything more important in the latest renewal of the Oklahoma-Texas rival?
I don’t think so.
The Sooners have arguably the best offensive line in the country. One former OU player I recently interviewed called it an NFL line. Truth is, Duke Robinson and Phil Loadholt probably could’ve been drawing NFL paychecks this season had they decided to leave school early. Brandon Walker, Trent Williams and Jon Cooper are no slouches either. All three of them could be pros some day, too.
Listen, I understand the weapons that the Sooners have. Sam Bradford. DeMarco Murray. Juaquin Iglesias. Manny Johnson. Jermaine Gresham. The list goes on and on.
But it all starts with the offensive line.
If the Sooners don’t have this offensive line, I doubt they’re running the no-huddle. For as good as Bradford and Co. are, you don’t run a difficult scheme without a seriously talented offensive line.
That’s what OU has.
Give Texas this — it has its best defensive players on the line. Defensive end Brian Orakpo and nose tackle Roy Miller anchor the Longhorn line. But these guys aren’t world beaters. And it takes something pretty special to bust through the Sooner line.
Texas is going to have to bring pressure from its linebackers and its secondary if it wants to get to Bradford. Then, of course, he can make them pay with quick passes. When you don’t have a defensive line that consistently bring pressure against these Sooners, you’re going to struggle. The Longhorns don’t have that, and they’re going to struggle.
I understand that there are more intriguing things to talk about in Saturday’s game. The national rankings. The Heisman candidates. The stadium changes. Even the coaches.
The offensive line definitely isn’t the sexy part of Saturday’s game, just the most important.
Something other than football
In case you need something other than football this week, here’s a fun nugget.
Steve Kime will be running in the Tulsa Run for the 10th consecutive year dressed as Forrest Gump. He has the Nike shoes, the khaki pants, the plaid shirt and the “Bubba Gump” hat. He even carries a box of chocolates, too.
All along the 9.3-mile route during the Oct. 25 race, Kime will be accepting donations and pledges for Special Olympics Oklahoma.
I had the good fortune to write about Kime a year ago, and the Oklahoma City resident is a good-natured, fun-loving guy who wants to do something good for Special Olympians.
Want to help him?
Contact Special Olympics Oklahoma at (918) 481-1234 or (405) 670-3456 or visit www.sook.org.
How big is this week? Let us count the ways
Oklahoma City’s first major-league sports franchise plays its very first game Wednesday.
OK, OK, so it’s an exhibition, but still, it’s a game.
Crazy thing is, that isn’t the buzz. Not even close.
Watch my latest video commentary or continue reading below:
That, my friends, is how big this week is for sports in Oklahoma. Even the Cliff’s Notes version is impressive. Oklahoma v. Texas. Oklahoma State at Missouri. Tulsa goes for 6-0. And oh, yeah, those Thunder guys open exhibition play.
Who has it any better than that?
No one, that’s who.
These are the headiest of days for college football in a state that has a storied gridiron history. All three Division I-A teams in the state are undefeated. Oklahoma is ranked No. 1 in the land. Oklahoma State is ranked 17th, its highest poll position in quite some time. And Tulsa should be ranked after blowing out its first five opponents.
Then, there are the opponents this week. OU faces Texas in a game that’s always intense. But with both ranked in the top five, stoking national championship dreams and trotting out Heisman Trophy candidate quarterbacks, the stakes are as high as they’ve ever been. OSU goes to Missouri to face the third-ranked Tigers. It’s a showdown of high-powered offenses. Chase Daniel and Jeremy Maclin in the gold, Zac Robinson, Dez Bryant and Kendall Hunter in the orange. The game could end around sunrise. We’ll try to get something into your Sunday paper about it.
Those couldn’t be any two better match-ups. And as if the football gods hadn’t blessed us enough, they made sure that the games were far enough apart for folks to watch both. OU-Texas kicks off at 11 a.m. while OSU-Missouri goes at 7 p.m. Even fans who are attending either game will have a chance to see the other on TV.
It should make for a beautiful, wonderful week. After all, everyone is going to spend these next few days thinking about these game, talking about these games, wondering about these games. And if the games actually live up to all the hype, well, then, all the better.
And, of course, there’s the Thunder. Remember those guys? They have their first exhibition game Wednesday, then play again Friday and Saturday.
So, my fellow sports fans, enjoy the week.
How could you not?
More from The Q&A: Kyle Busch
Kyle Busch is known as many things, chief among them being one heck of a race car driver and being a villain on the NASCAR circuit.
But being a brainiac?
Check out more from my Q&A with the NASCAR star:
Jenni Carlson: You graduated high school early with honors. Does that mean you’re a brainiac?
Kyle Busch: A little bit, if I can remember anything I used to learn in school. I sort of threw it all away when I got out of school. But I guess when I was there I was kinda smart.
JC: Did you have a favorite subject?
KB: My favorite subject was probably math. Just being able to work with numbers.
JC: Did that carry over to racing any?
KB: If was going to be an engineer, probably, but I think the biggest math during a race is addition and subtraction. How many laps you’ve run and how many laps are left.
JC: If you’d have gone to college, any idea what you’d have studied?
KB: I probably would’ve looked at something in sports … whether it be football or baseball or something like that. If I had to concentrate on my education, probably being an engineer or some sort.
JC: What if you hadn’t been into racing? Would there have been another sport?
KB: I think so. For me, I like playing sports and watching sports.
JC: Did I read somewhere that you surf?
KB: When I get out to the coasts or even
JC: Back to racing for a minute. Your brother, Kurt, won the Cup in 2004. Do take any knowledge from watching that?
KB: Not really much this year. Back in the year when he was going for the championship, I was going for my championship in the Nationwide Series, then the Busch Series. I missed out, but he was able to win it. It was a fun time and a great year, but just wish our luck this year was sort of like my brother’s. You’ve gotta have good race cars, but when you have good luck on your side, too, it tends to help.
JC: Any brotherly rivalry about that? Kurt ever give you a hard time?
KB: That doesn’t happen, thankfully. I’ve got a little more time to try to get mine.
