OSU Football: Morning in Manhattan
So, this is what the folks in the Big Ten do every week.
An 11 a.m. game is rare for Big 12 teams — today’s at Kansas State is first one for Oklahoma State, and Oklahoma has yet to play a game that started before noon — but these early starts are great. The smell of breakfast burritos in the parking lots. The chill of the morning in the air.
It’s great.
Now, for a few pre-game thoughts:
* Driving from Oklahoma to Kansas yesterday, I picked up a radio report about this game. The fella called the K-State defense heavy-footed.
Seems about right.
This is a team that gave up 48 points to Nebraska and 47 points to Baylor. Both of those teams have speed on offense, particularly at quarterback, and while OSU doesn’t have a fleet-of-foot signal caller, the Cowboys have a running back that’s more elusive than anyone the Cornhuskers or Bears have.
Look for Kendall Hunter to have a huge day today.
Roy Helu Jr. had 110 yards on eight carries when K-State played Nebraska, and Jay Finley had 250 yards on 26 carries for Baylor. Hunter could go for much, much more. His shiftiness will give the Wildcats fits, and with Justin Blackmon out, the Cowboys might throw it to Hunter more today.
Speaking of Blackmon …
* Props to the Cowboy wide receiver for facing the music earlier this week. Few professional athletes would’ve done what he did after being arrested on a DUI complaint, and even fewer college athletes would’ve done it. Blackmon knew he messed up, and he stepped up and said so.
This isn’t a kid who’s been a troublemaker before, and after this, I suspect we’ll never see Blackmon’s name on the police blotter again as long as he’s in Payne County.
Can’t wait to see him back on the field next week.
* Maybe I should be more worried about OSU’s defense heading into today’s game. This is a bunch, after all, ranked 97th nationally in overall defense. They let Nebraska and quarterback Taylor Martinez go crazy a week ago, and K-State running back Daniel Thomas is an absolute load.
But here’s the thing — the Cowboys made correctable mistakes last week.
Tackling, for example. These guys missed 33 tackles against the Cornhuskers. That meant they were in position to make plays, but in many instances, they tried to blow up the ball carrier instead of wrapping up. That’s correctable. That’s fixable.
If the Cowboy defense had played great and the Cornhuskers had still gone crazy, then I’d be worried. But they didn’t and still only lost by 10 points to a pretty darn good team.
K-State isn’t nearly the team that Nebraska is. That’s why I’m sticking with my prediction from earlier this week.
OSU 41, K-State 31.
Blake Griffin: A hair-raising debut
Oklahoma City native Blake Griffin had a heck of an NBA debut Wednesday night.
(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
His line: 20 points, 14 rebounds, four assists.
I’m not surprised. He was a beast in high school, a beast in college … why wouldn’t he be one in the NBA? He plays hard. He competes. He fights. That he had such a good night after missing all of last year with a knee injury is no shocker to me.
I do have one question, though — what’s with all the hair?
Griffin’s hair was by far the most surprising thing about his debut. He has a full head of hair. Not so sure I’d call it an afro, but give it time, and that’s where it’s heading.
I’m sure Griffin had the look throughout the preseason, but hey, I have a hard time paying attention to Thunder preseason games much less Clipper preseason ones.
Forgive me.
But Griffin having something other than a short buzz cut is a shocking development. About the longest that his hair got during his time at Oklahoma Christian School or Oklahoma was an inch or two long. If you couldn’t see to his scalp, it was rare.
AP Photos.
And now this.
Who does he think he is? Troy Polamalu?
OK, so Griffin’s hair isn’t quite as long as the Pittsburgh Steelers’ strong safety, but hey, Polamalu had to start somewhere.
Maybe Griffin is on his way to looking like Robin Lopez or Anderson Varejao.
Or maybe this is Griffin’s way of showing his independence. I mean, this is the farthest that he has ever been from home. Maybe he used to let his dad cut his hair. If Tommy Griffin was operating the clippers, I bet the cut was bound to be short; he has been completely clean-shaven bald for years.
Griffin does live in Hollywood now.
Whatever the reason for the longer locks, they’re going to take some getting used to. I mean, seeing Griffin dominating in the NBA is easy to grasp. It’s not a surprise.
Seeing him growing out his hair?
That’s going to take some getting used to.
Justin Blackmon’s actions warrant suspension
Justin Blackmon deserves to be suspended.
The crime: stupidity.
The Oklahoma State star receiver was arrested on a DUI complaint early Tuesday morning in Carrollton, Texas. He was stopped in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb at 3:45 a.m. because he was going 92 mph in a 60-mph zone, then he was arrested after an officer determined there was a detectable amount of alcohol on Blackmon.
By Texas law, anyone under 21 years old with any detectable amount of alcohol in their system while driving is considered to be driving under the influence.
Blackmon turns 21 in January.
We may never know how much alcohol Blackmon had in his system, but even if it was a very minor amount, he should be suspended by Cowboy coaches because drinking before he got behind the wheel is only one of the dumb things he did. Driving 32 mph over the speed limit is dumb. Being out at 3:45 a.m. is dumb. Being hundreds of miles from campus on a school night is dumb.
Isn’t this guy supposed to be a team leader?
Listen, I’m all for letting college athletes have a life. If Blackmon and a couple buddies wanted to go to Dallas for the Monday Night Football game, so be it. But that game got over before midnight — though any Dallas Cowboys fan would tell you that it was over long before that — and heck, even if Blackmon and Co. were there as guests of former teammate Dez Bryant, they could’ve gone to the locker room to see him, hung out a bit and still been on their way well before 3:45 a.m.
As it was, they weren’t going to be back in Stillwater until almost 7 a.m. Tuesday morning.
Maybe that’s why Blackmon was driving so fast.
All kidding aside, this was a supremely stupid thing for Blackmon to do. My gut says that he isn’t a kid who’s a dummy — he has transformed himself from just another receiver into the best in the college game, and that takes some mental fortitude — but what he did early Tuesday morning was dumb, dumb, dumb.
Being forced to stay home while his teammates go to Kansas State this weekend might be the way to remind him of that and of the importance of using his head from here on.
A different view of Jim Thorpe
I’m a word person.
No surprise there, right?
While I love a compelling narrative or an interesting tale as much as anyone, it is the photographs in a new book at Jim Thorpe that have caught my attention.
“Native American Son: The Life and Sporting Legend of Jim Thorpe” hit shelves today, and author Kate Buford, who spent Monday at Oklahoma City University, stopped by our video studio to discuss the book. While her research provides the bulk of the book, the photos that she selected for it tell their own powerful story.
There are, of course, the shots of Jim Thorpe during his athletic days, but in his home state, we are accustomed to seeing images of him as a football player, a baseball player and an Olympian.
But photos of him as a Hollywood extra?
There is a striking shot of Thorpe as a Hollywood Indian from 1935. He is dressed in a headdress, a fringed vest and a plaid shirt. It’s not much more than a mug shot of Thorpe dressed for a movie part as an Indian, but he is smiling broadly and his eyes are even twinkling a bit. The compelling thing about the photo is that his softened, smiling face is such a contrast to the stern-looking Thorpe that we normally see from his athletic days.
And what of that smile? Was it genuine or not?
Thorpe, after all, lived such an public life, always being watched, always being pulled in so many directions, that you are left to wonder if he is truly happy in the photo or if he is acting.
There are also some other wonderfully interesting shots of Thorpe in Hollywood. One of him with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. Another of him with Burt Lancaster and director Michael Curtiz. Those aren’t images of Thorpe that we see all that often in Oklahoma.
All of the photos tell offer a fascinating pictorial of Jim Thorpe, telling a story that even a word person can appreciate.
College FB: Lock of the Week
Here’s a goofy tidbit for you — against the spread, I’m trailing Berry Tramel in our weekly staff picks by seven games, but straight up, I’m ahead of my fellow columnist by 11 games.
It’s wacky.
So is my recent run picking locks. Two weeks ago, Florida couldn’t hold home turf in The Swamp against LSU, and last week, Oregon State went to Washington and lost to a Huskies team that I’m still convinced isn’t as good as the Beavers. And so, I’m on a two-game losing streak and now have a 3-4 record this season in picking locks.
I’ve got to get back on track, so I’m going with a lock that I’ve felt strongly about for more than a week.
OU at Missouri.
I love the Sooners’ chances this week in Columbia. This is a team playing so well right now. They overcame those road woes of a year ago with a win at Cincinnati, then overcame their Texas problem with a win against the Longhorns, then did what good teams do to inferior opponents by shutting out and dominating Iowa State a week ago.
The mojo is strong.
I know it’s strong in Columbia, too. The Tigers, like the Sooners, are undefeated. No one expected them to be unbeaten and untied at this point. No one expected them to be quite this good.
Thing is, I’m not ready to deem Missouri a great team just yet. Yes, its defense is better than years past. Yes, its offense continues to get the job done. But right now, the Tigers’ marquee win is at Texas A&M. While winning in College Station is always tough, these Aggies aren’t very good. I didn’t buy into the Texas A&M hype before the season, and I’m glad that I didn’t. The Texas A&M defense is so-so, but its offense doesn’t even reach that level.
OU is much, much better on both sides of the ball, particularly on offense. And hey, if the Texas defense struggled against OU’s up-tempo offense, I can definitely see Missouri struggling with it.
So, I’m picking the Sooners not only to win but also to cover the 3 1/2-point spread.
OU 24, MU 13.
Lock it.
Talkin’ Sooners, Cowboys, big games
The nice folks at 104.5 The Zone in Nashville asked me to come on their afternoon drive-time show Thursday. They had lots of questions about Oklahoma and Oklahoma State.
What do you know? I had just as many answers for them.
Take a listen.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Justin Blackmon for Heisman?
Less than two months ago, I stood talking to Justin Blackmon after an Oklahoma State football practice about how this Cowboy offense didn’t have a superstar receiver.
Now, I have the sophomore wideout on my Heisman Trophy ballot.
What Blackmon has done this season has been as amazing as it has been unexpected. Heck, even if we’d have all known that he was going to be the star receiver in this new-fangled offense, we’d still be impressed by the numbers, by the impact.
Blackmon leads the nation in receiving yards with 955 and in touchdown catches with 12.
If not for Hawaii, he’d be the leader in both categories by a mile. But Hawaii’s Greg Salas is on his heels in the receiving yards category with 910 while Hawaii’s Kealoha Pilares has only one less touchdown catch. Besides Blackmon and Salas, no other receiver in the country has even 800 yards receiving. And besides Blackmon and Pilares, no other receiver has touchdown catches in the double digits.
That Blackmon is so far out in front of everyone else in the country in both categories is a big-time statement.
And hey, it doesn’t hurt either that every time he steps on the field he seems to one-up himself. A couple weeks ago, he had a career-high 13 catches and a career-high 190 yards at Louisiana-Lafayette. But just when you thought he couldn’t do anything more jaw-dropping, he went to Texas Tech last week and bested his career-high in yards with 207.
Who knows what he’ll do Saturday vs. Nebraska?
Truth is, what he does then could really catapult him into the Heisman conversation.
This week, I was the only voter in the HeismanPundit.com straw poll to have Blackmon on my ballot. He was third behind Boise State quarterback Kellen Moore and Auburn quarterback Cam Newton.
My ballot has changed nearly every week this season, so who knows what players I’ll have on it next week or even at the end of the season when it really matters. But right now, I felt like Blackmon deserved a spot. He’s been not only outstanding but also extremely important to the Cowboys’ 6-0 start.
Coaches comparing him to Michael Crabtree doesn’t hurt either.
Just two months ago, we had no idea if Blackmon would be the Cowboys’ go-to receiver, much less a Heisman Trophy dark horse.
Guess I was talking to the superstar receiver that day after practice in August, huh?
Picking the All-Big 12 QB? It’ll be Bedlam
College FB: Lock of the Week
Really, Les Miles?
Really?
So, I picked Florida to win and cover last week against LSU. The Gators were at home in The Swamp, where they are always tough. The Tigers were looking vulnerable after a gift-wrapped victory from Tennessee. Their offense was struggling to score, too.
But then, of course, LSU has the luckiest coach in the world.
So you know what happened — LSU not only covered the 7 1/2-point spread but also won in Gainesville.
And just to rub my face in it a bit, the Tigers won with their offense. LSU scored 33 points, a season high.
So, my season record for locks drops back to 3-3.
But with my win-one-week, lose-the-next-week trend continuing to pick up steam, that means this week should be a win. And I’ve got a can’t-miss pick.
Oregon State at Washington.
The Huskies, ballyhooed in the preseason, are 2-3 so far this season. They lost to Brigham Young in the opener, got drilled by Nebraska, then lost by double digits to Arizona State. Those are decent teams, but the Washington offense that was supposed to be amazing under the direction of quarterback Jake Locker has been something of a fraud. Fourteen points against Arizona State. Seventeen against BYU.
Not good.
Oregon State, on the other hand, has been impressive. The Beavers have already played three top-10 teams this season, and after hanging tough with TCU and Boise State, they finally scored a win against one of those highly ranked teams a week ago. They went to Arizona and won 29-27.
I like this Oregon State team — a lot.
Add in the fact that the Beavers have won their past six games against the Huskies, and I like them even more. As only a 2 1/2-point favorite, I’m picking them not only to win and cover but also to be my lock of the week.
Oregon State 38, Washington 31.
Lock it.
Pop a cork for the Texas Rangers
