OSU Football: Mrs. Weeden, is that you?
A week ago tonight, I had the good fortune of watching the Oklahoma State-Arizona game with Melanie Weeden.
The wife of Cowboy quarterback Brandon Weeden has a perspective like no other, and I wanted to share her unique story with our readers. She was nice enough to oblige my request.
As we hashed out details of the evening ahead of time, she told me that her seat in the family section had been selected in advance. Usually, as players’ families pick up their tickets at the will-call window, they just receive the next seats in the section. The athletic department might start handing out the tickets in front first or they might start in the back or they might start somewhere in the middle. It just depends. That means that where she sits usually isn’t known.
The difference in the Arizona game?
ESPN was considering sending its sideline reporter into the stands to interview Melanie, so the network wanted to know where she was sitting.
She was given an aisle seat — seat 50, row 8 in section 209.
I found her there, and because the row was pretty packed and because everyone stood up most of the time anyway, I was mostly in the aisle. But when Ty Weeden, Brandon’s brother, decided to go find some friends, it opened some space on the row. I hung with Melanie for about three quarters, and most of the time, I had a place to sit during timeouts and a place to stand where I was out of the aisle.
The seat?
You guessed it — seat 50, row 8 in section 209.
Now, if you’ve seen Melanie, you know that she has long brown hair and is about 5-foot-6 or so. And if you’ve seen me, you know that I have long brown hair and am about 5-foot-5.
Earlier today, I got a message via Twitter from Melanie.
“Ha!” she wrote. “A guy interviewing Brandon from ESPNU asked him a question about his wife taking notes at the games! He must have seen you in my seat!”
Me: “Please don’t tell me the guy asked that on live TV!”
Her: “Ha! No, I think they’re shooting stuff to play during the TU game. I’m sure B looked at him like he had 10 heads. He knows me better than that!”
At least they didn’t show “Mrs. Weeden” taking notes during the live broadcast last Thursday.
Whew!
EJ Manuel: Running quarterback? Maybe not
Florida State University's EJ Manuel out runs Florida's Ahmad Black for a first down in the fourth quarter of an NCAA college football game which Florida State won 31-7 on Saturday, Nov. 27, 2010, in Tallahassee, Fla.(AP Photo/Steve Cannon)
Frank Alexander has seen as much of Florida State quarterback EJ Manuel in the past week as any player.
The Oklahoma defensive end’s take after watching hours and hours of film in preparation for Saturday’s showdown in Tallahassee?
“He’s an athletic guy,” Alexander said, “but I think he prides himself on pocket passing.”
Passing?
Wait. Isn’t Manuel supposed to be this great dual-threat quarterback? A completely different player and wholly different challenge than Seminole quarterback Christian Ponder was a year ago?
Alexander admits that Manuel is different than Ponder.
“He’s more stable back there,” Alexander said of Manuel. “He doesn’t get rattled as fast. If he sees a blitz, he’ll step up in the pocket and still try to make a throw.
“With Ponder last year, he’d get rattled … he’d take it and run. He’d pull the ball down and run. I think EJ Manuel wants to be a great pocket passer.”
Sooner defensive coordinator Brent Venables backs that up.
“Christian would pull it down a lot more than Manuel,” he said. “They have design QB runs. They have the option and everything else.”
But just taking off?
“He doesn’t get antsy like Ponder would get antsy,” Venables said.
Those assessments of Manuel may fly in the face of just about everything you’ve been lead to believe about the Seminole quarterback, but the numbers back them up. In Florida State’s first two games, Manuel has completed 66.7 percent of his passes for 581 yards and six touchdowns.
His rushing numbers?
He’s only carried the ball 10 times for 30 yards.
Not exactly Michael Vick stuff.
“From the film I’ve watched on him, whenever he had the opportunity to run, he didn’t run,” Alexander said of Manuel. “He’d scramble a little bit and look for an open man to throw the ball.
“I feel like he can run all day. He’s a big guy, a real athletic guy. I feel like he can get out there and run. But I think he wants to let the world know that he can be a passer, too.”
Advantage, Sooners.
Against offenses that have a true dual-threat quarterback, OU has had its struggles over the years. Just look at last year’s games. Against option-running quarterbacks from Utah State and Air Force, OU had two of its closest calls of the season, winning those games by a combined 10 points. Nebraska quarterback Taylor Martinez also gave OU fits in the Big 12 championship game, when the Sooners squeaked by the Huskers by only three points.
Now, I’m not saying that the fact that Manuel is more pocket passer than dual-threat guy means the Sooners are going to roll to an easy victory in Tallahassee. But Manuel being more of a passer gives the OU defense an advantage.
Sure, Manuel may burn the Sooners on a run or two, but every quarterback does that from time to time.
OU is preparing for him much like it’s prepare for Brandon Weeden at Oklahoma State or Ryan Tannehill at Texas A&M.
“With not having a threat of him running, you can be a lot heavier on your rushes,” Alexander said. “When you have a running quarterback, you’re always taught as a defensive lineman not to run behind the quarterback. With him staying in the pocket, that’ll make our rushes a lot more efficient.
“I feel like we don’t have the big threat of him running.”
I’ll say it again — advantage, Sooners.
Scholarship for Dom Whaley? Get ‘er done
Another week, another Oklahoma running back transfer.
Last week, it was Jonathan Miller who decided to leave the Sooners for a school closer to home and a program with more playing time for him.
This week, it’s Jermie Calhoun. The former Parade All-American never became the standout that folks expected he would be, and frankly, with Dominique Whaley’s recent emergence, Calhoun had to see that his opportunity to play had shrunk even more.
Speaking of Whaley, how ’bout a scholarship for the walk-on?
I know he’s had just one game for the Sooners, but listen, there’s little reason to think that what we saw from Whaley against Tulsa is some sort of aberration. The guy is legit. Now, I’m not saying he’s going to score four touchdowns this weekend at Florida State, but by all accounts, he’s every bit as good as the scholarship running backs that the Sooners have, if not better than them.
So, why not get him on scholarship?
With Miller and Calhoun leaving, it looks like the Sooners have scholarships available.
I’m actually awaiting an email from the OU compliance office about how that all works when players leave during the semester. Does their scholarship become immediately available? Or is there some sort of waiting period before another guy can get that scholarship which counts against the Sooners’ maximum of 85?
But even if there is a waiting period, why not go ahead and promise Whaley a scholarship? Give him the peace of mind that a scholarship is on its way? Even if he never has another multi-touchdown game for the Sooners, he’s earned as much. He earned it on scout team last year. He earned it in the spring. And he definitely earned it this fall.
Heck, the Sooners have 17 kickers on campus who are on scholarship. No reason Whaley shouldn’t be.
OK, OU might not have 17 kickers on scholarship, but it has a bunch. And I promise, Whaley has done way more for the Sooners than a vast majority of those guys.
Last week after practice, Whaley was talking about his life as a walk-on, and he was asked if he’d had to get a job to help pay his way through college. He said that he’d worked the Subway that used to be located near the corner of Lindsey and Jenkins but that he wasn’t working right now.
As he was talking about finances and how difficult it was to make ends meet as a walk-on, a look of realization came over Whaley’s face.
“I need to get another (job) soon,” he said.
No, what he needs to get is a scholarship.
He deserves it.
***
UPDATE, SEPT. 14, 9:48 a.m.
Just wanted to update everyone on the scholarship count at OU.
Spokesman Kenny Mossman said that scholarships cannot be re-awarded until the following academic semester even if an athlete leaves the team. That includes players who leave school or stay at OU.
In the case of Miller and Calhoun, Mossman tells me that both of those players are still on campus. And because of the Academic Progress Rate, an NCAA formula that tracks players’ academics and penalizes teams with too many players who are lagging behind, I’m sure OU wants those guys to finish the semester strong. Keep the grades up. Leave the school in good academic standing.
So, where does that leave Whaley?
Without a scholarship still.
But as I said before, if I were the coaches, I’d be telling this guy that a scholarship was on the way. I’d promise him that help once I had a scholarship to give him at the start of the spring semester.
Listen, I understand that plenty of Sooner walk-ons have gone longer than Whaley before they’ve gotten a scholarship. Trent Ratterree and James Winchester come to mind. And while it might cause some hurt feelings in the locker room if Whaley was awarded a scholarship, I suspect it might cause more hurt feelings if he isn’t. If he’s out there running the ball 20 times a game, getting whacked by defenders pretty much every time he does, what kind of message does it send to the rest of the guys that one of the workhorses of the offense isn’t on scholarship?
Whaley deserves that scholarship, even if he can’t get it until the spring.
OSU-Arizona: Watch the Battle Up Front
Talking about the offensive line isn’t sexy.
But when Jody Oehler interviewed me yesterday on his drive-time sports radio show in Tucson, the Arizona offensive line was a big topic of conversation.
(You can listen to the entire segment below; it’s always interesting to hear what media from the other team’s market wants to discuss.)
The Wildcats have a brand new offensive line. They lost every last starter from the team a year ago, so they are breaking in a bunch of newbies to protect quarterback Nick Foles, who has shown he can throw for a bunch of yards.
But as Cowboy fans know well, the OSU defensive line is the most up-in-the-air area on this team. The Cowboys lost both of their starters on the interior, and both depth and talent are big questions.
The OSU front did well in the opener, and they did so without much blitzing or stunting. Cowboy defensive coordinator Bill Young said after the game that he went vanilla. Three- and four-man fronts. Limited blitzing. You have to think he’ll throw out some different things against Arizona.
You also have to think Arizona’s offensive line, albeit inexperienced, will be better than Louisiana-Lafayette’s.
The battle between Arizona’s offensive line and OSU’s defensive front is definitely worth watching tonight.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Boren’s Pac-12 Comments Still Causing a Stir
When Oklahoma president David Boren stepped out late last week and indicated that the Sooners were focused on heading to the Pac-12, it caused shock waves in these parts.
Apparently, the reverb is still being felt.
I went on The Barnhart and Durham Show this morning. The sports talk show airs on 790 The Zone, the big sports station in Atlanta, and it pairs two of the South’s bigger sports media personalities, Tony Barnhart and Wes Durham.
(You can listen to the entire segment below.)
The guys couldn’t get over some of the things that Boren had said last Friday. And truth be told, it was truly shocking how much Boren shared after being practically mute on the Big 12 brouhaha up until that point.
But as I told Tony and Wes, I think Boren and Co. have simply grown weary of trying to play peacemaker. A year ago, they worked hard to keep the Big 12 together when Nebraska and Colorado decided to split. They did their darnedest to make the league viable for the long term. They pledged their allegiance along with the nine other teams to do everything in their power to keep the league together.
Recent events, though, have shown that everyone else wasn’t as committed.
Texas started The Longhorn Network, and even though ESPN is calling the shots for TLN, the network just keeps pushing limits and pushing buttons. Just when things would simmer down, it would stir things up again.
Texas A&M wanted to bolt a year ago, but even though it said it would work to keep the Big 12 together, there was always a feeling that the Aggies had their eye on the door. Now, they’ve not only turned the knob and opened the door, but they’ve also got one foot out.
Amid all of this, I suspect OU tired of trying to hold together teams that seemed to be doing everything in their power to push away their conference brethren. Why keep fighting for the Big 12 when so many are fighting against it?
No doubt Boren surprised many with his comments. Probably even frustrated some folks, too. But it’s safe to say no one is more frustrated than Boren, frustrated that the Big 12 seems destined to dissolve, frustrated that all of OU’s efforts have been for naught.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Remembering Lee Roy Selmon: Close Bond Went Beyond Brothers to All Selmon Siblings
Only a couple weeks ago, Lucious Selmon was inducted into the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame.
No doubt he was excited about the honor.
But he was more excited about having all eight of his siblings there to share the night with him.
I was reminded of that this weekend at the news of brother Lee Roy’s massive stroke. Family members raced to the Oklahoma legend’s bedside on Friday after he was found unconscious and rushed to a Tampa-area hospital. They dropped everything they were doing and got there as quickly as they could.
I pray all eight of the Selmon siblings got there before Lee Roy died on Sunday.
Much has been written and said over the years about the Selmon clan. They were raised on a farm by God-fearing parents. They went to church together. They did chores together. They laughed and cried and did pretty much everything together.
That bond is still strong today.
And not just between Lucious, Dewey and Lee Roy. Everyone knows about the three football-playing Selmons, the defensive linemen who played side-by-side-by-side for the Sooners and created one of the most fearsome fronts that college football has ever seen. Their bond was obvious on the field, and in the years since, it’s been even more obvious off the field.
But the truth is, all of the Selmons are as tight as Lucious, Dewey and Lee Roy were.
As I stood talking to Lucious before the festivities got under way on the night of the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame inductions, I asked him how many of the Selmon siblings would be in attendance.
“All nine,” he said.
All nine?
“All nine,” he confirmed with a smile and a twinkle in his eye.
He told me proudly that they needed three tables just to hold all the family members. You could see on his face and hear in his voice that he was pleased as punch that his induction was cause for an unofficial Selmon family reunion.
When he spied brother Dewey coming through the door, Lucious broke into a huge grin. The men bearhugged and started swaying back and forth, almost dancing together out of the joy of being together.
And here’s the thing, I suspect Lucious would’ve acted the exact same way for any of his siblings. Elmer. Charles. Chester. Shirlene. Joyce. Margaret. Dewey. Lee Roy. Any of them would’ve gotten the same love.
It is obvious — family is paramount to the Selmons.
That’s why I hope all of the siblings made it to Florida before Lee Roy died. The pain that they’re feeling now can’t be diminished, but maybe, just maybe, the first balm in their healing is that they were able to be together again one last time.
Broncos and Horned Frogs and Ducks, Oh My!
The start of the college football season is almost here, and you know what that means.
Picks!
Yep, nothing signals the start of the season like the start of our picks grid. It will appear every Thursday in The Oklahoman and on NewsOK, and if all goes as planned, I will write about some of my picks here on my blog every Friday.
So, without further ado:
Tulsa at Oklahoma
OU, 45-17
Had Tulsa receiver/returner Damaris Johnson not been suspended indefinitely a week ago, I might’ve given the Golden Hurricane a fighting chance. He adds another weapon to an already dangerous offense, and he is a dangerous returner, something that Sooner teams of the recent past have struggled to contain.
But without Johnson, there’s no way Tulsa goes to Norman and even keeps it close.
Plus, the Sooners have a little extra motivation from Golden Hurricane coach Bill Blankenship. He made some comments at Conference USA media day that he thought he had the best college quarterback in the state. Not Landry Jones. Not Brandon Weeden. G.J. Kinne. I wrote at the time that it was a bad idea to anger defensive dobermans like OU has.
Well, Blankenship’s comments are not only bulletin board material at OU but also highlighted bulletin board material. I saw it with my own eyes, a newspaper clipping tacked to the board right outside the Sooners’ locker room.
Sooners in a walk.
Louisiana-Lafayette at Oklahoma State
OSU, 52-14
Say this for the Ragin’ Cajuns — they gave the Cowboys a run for their money a year ago.
But that was last year. In Lafayette.
This game is in Stillwater, and in a season opener where the home team also has a huge talent advantage, that does not bode well for Louisiana-Lafayette. Compounding its problems is the first game for a new coaching staff.
Yes, OSU is breaking in its own newbie, offensive coordinator Todd Monken. But when you’ve got veterans like Brandon Weeden, Justin Blackmon and the Cowboy offensive line, any missteps that Monken has along the way won’t be quite as bad.
Pistols will be firing. A lot.
TCU at Baylor, Friday
TCU, 34-24
What a great Friday night game. After last night’s mish-mash of bad games, I wish this matchup had been put on Thursday to give us something good to wash.
Alas, Friday night lights are on the Frogs and Bears.
Baylor is much improved over the past couple years, but TCU is a national power. This is a team that won the Rose Bowl a year ago, and even though it has a new quarterback — Casey Pachall takes over for Andy Dalton — this is a program that builds around defense. Head coach Gary Patterson makes sure of it.
That means a great showdown between the TCU D and RG3.
Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III is the key to this game. If the Bears have any hope of scoring the upset, he has to have the game of a lifetime. He’s capable, but the Frogs aren’t going to make his life easy.
Frogs by a few.
Boise State vs. Georgia, Atlanta
Boise State, 37-31
Who can forget the treat that Boise State provided the college football world in last year’s season opener? The Broncos won a back-and-forth battle with Virginia Tech that was easily one of the best five games of the season. It was a neutral field game — the Washington Redskins’ stadium provided the backdrop — but it was largely a Hokie crowd.
That will be the case again Saturday night against Georgia in Atlanta. They won’t be between the hedges in Athens, but it will be a Bulldog crowd.
So, can Boise pull another opening-week thriller?
I say yes. The reason is Kellen Moore. The Boise quarterback has been around, well, forever. He was the steadying force for the Broncos a year ago in that win against Virginia Tech, and when you’ve got that kind of talent and leadership at quarterback, it gives you an automatic edge in an opener like this.
Broncos stampede.
Oregon vs. LSU, Arlington, Texas
Oregon, 31-24
Oh, what an opener. This is a matchup fitting of the national championship game, honestly. And in truth, if everything falls right, these two teams could actually play for the BCS title in January. They are both just that good.
LSU is reeling a bit with the bar-fight-related suspensions of several players, including quarterback Jordan Jefferson. Regardless of that, though, the Tigers will still have one heck of a defense. Great teams in the SEC are built around great defenses, and LSU is one of those great SEC teams. Its defense is seriously good.
But Oregon’s offense is just a bit better. The Ducks play at a tempo and pace that isn’t easy to prepare for or adjust to. Considering that this is the season opener and the first live action that LSU’s players have seen since last season, being able to manage everything that Oregon will throw at them will be impossible.
This is the type of game, though, that could come down to the final moments.
Hold onto your High Hat, Les Miles.
(And no, Les, the grass inside Jerry World isn’t real. You’ll have to bring your own snack.)
Ducks in a squeaker.
***
Think you can do better picking games? Then join the fun in our college football U Pick ‘Em contest. It’s fast and easy.
Well, the process is fast. The picking isn’t always so easy.
Looking for Our State’s Pat Tillman
The story of Pat Tillman has been told often.
As it should be.
He gave up his career in the NFL, turning down a $3.6 million contract offer from Arizona and enlisting in the Army. He did so in the aftermath of Sept. 11, an event that touched something in Tillman’s soul. He hated what he’d seen happen on his homeland, and as a man who had spent his life striving to defeat every opponent, he decided to turn that focus from NFL teams to enemies abroad.
Tillman paid the ultimate price, being killed by friendly fire in the mountains of Afghanistan.
The thing is, there are thousands of men and women who, just like Pat Tillman, were motivated to join the military in the aftermath of Sept. 11.
And my guess is, there are many who, just like Pat Tillman, were athletes. High school athletes. College athletes. Rec athletes. They felt their competitive juices kick in on Sept. 11, and they turned that defeat-any-opponent, win-every-battle mentality toward al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
I am looking to share those stories on the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11.
Do you know someone who has a story to share? Do you have one of your own?
Please post a comment below or email me at jcarlson@opubco.com.
Remember, I am looking for people who:
1. Played sports.
2. Were affected by the events of Sept. 11.
3. Joined the military.
People with ties to the state of Oklahoma are preferred.
Every member of the military in a time of war makes sacrifices. All spend time away from family. Some have physical scars. Some lose their lives. Each and every one of those servicemen and servicewomen have a story of sacrifice worth sharing.
Ronnell Lewis’ Eligibility Boosts OU
Ronnell Lewis is good to go this season.
Good news for the Sooners.
The Oklahoma defensive end was finally declared eligible earlier today after months of speculation about his future. Would he pass the classes needed? Would he do what needed to be done to compete this season?
Less than 72 hours before the opener, we got our answer.
That Lewis is going to be able to play is a big boost for the Sooners. I said as much during a radio interview earlier today on KOZN, Omaha’s big sports station — you can hear the entire Sooner-laden interview by clicking the play button below — but the more I think about it, the more important I believe the Lewis ruling is.
And it’s not so much what he’s going to do on the field.
Yes, that part of the equation is important. He is going to start at defensive end on a line that needs all the depth and talent that it can muster. He is going to play on the kickoff coverage team, a unit that he dominates with his massive, full-speed tackles. The Sooners will benefit from all of that.
But more than anything, the benefit from not getting any more bad news about the defense.
Obviously, the worst of that news was the death of Austin Box earlier this summer. The Sooners are still reeling from that loss, and it will be an undercurrent for everything that they do this season.
But since practice started, Travis Lewis broke his toe and was sidelined for an unknown amount of time. Doctors say eight weeks. Lewis says he’ll be back for the Florida State game on Sept. 17. Regardless, the Sooners are playing shorthanded when Lewis is on the sideline. He is a hard-charging aggressor. He is an emotional leader.
Had the Sooner defense been forced to face the loss of another big-time contributor, it would’ve really started to wear on these guys. Sure, Ronnell Lewis has capable backups. David King sounds like a guy who is going to bring it this season. Geneo Grissom is another star in the making. But none of those guys is as good as The Hammer; if they were, they’d be starting instead of him.
Lose him to grade problems, and the psychological toll would’ve been significant. Players would start to expect the worst. What’s next? Who’s next?
It’s hard to play top-level football when you have that kind of cloud hanging over your head.
The Hammer getting eligible stops a string of bad news for the defense, which is great news for the Sooners.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Super Conferences Aren’t So Super
Texas A&M’s departure from the Big 12 sparks many questions.
All are important, including the most pressing around these parts — “What happens next to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State?” — but I suspect there’s a big-picture question that will have ramifications for many years to come.
Is this the dawn of the super conference?
It sure looks that way.
The Aggies are likely headed to the SEC, which is sure to add another team to maintain an even number of schools. That will bring the SEC’s total to 14 schools.
Remember when the Big 12 first formed and people thought a dozen teams was a big number?
Now, four of the six BCS conferences have a dozen teams. ACC. Big Ten. Pac-12. SEC. And with the SEC on its way to 14 teams, you have to wonder how long it is before other conferences start expanding. The Pac-12 has made no secret of its desire for expansion. The Big Ten just added Nebraska, but it always seem to have its eye on Notre Dame. Why wouldn’t it be interested in others, too?
Super conferences sure look like the wave of the not-too-distant future.
I’m not a fan.
And no, I’m not some sort of stuck-in-the-past traditionalist. I loved when the Big 12 formed. Loved adding the Texas schools. Loved expanding the conferences borders.
Heck, I even got excited about the idea of OU, OSU and others going to the Pac-10 a year ago when conference realignment was all the rage. The idea of football games in Los Angeles at the Coliseum or in Eugene at The Zoo was pretty cool.
But now, as I listen to people throwing out all sorts of realignment scenarios that would result in these massive super conferences, I’m worried about all this talk. Thinking about all these different college football combinations is making me a little sick to my stomach.
The reason?
College football is different in different parts of the country. The experience in the SEC is different than the experience in the Big 12. Game day in Blacksburg, Va., is different than game day in Corvallis, Ore., or Madison, Wisc. Yes, people love their college football everywhere, so that passion is the same, but the way that passion is displayed is completely and totally unique in different areas of the country. But if you start throwing all of these strange bedfellows together, that vibe starts to change.
I mean, Nebraska playing in the Big Ten doesn’t feel like a stretch. Same with Colorado playing in the Pac-12.
But Missouri in the SEC? OSU in the Pac-12? Air Force in the Big 12?
I’m just not sure it feels right.
Sure, there are some potentially great match-ups, but they feel like great non-conference match-ups. Part of the reason why we love the idea of Boise State playing Georgia or Oregon playing LSU is because it’s not only a great clash of football powers but also a great clash of cultures. They do things different in Boise than they do in Athens, different in Eugene than they do in Baton Rouge, so bringing those teams together makes for great drama.
But making teams from vastly different football cultures into conference bedfellows?
It just gives me the heebie jeebies.
Maybe in another 10 or 15 years we’ll look back on this day as the start of a great era in college football. The start of the super conferences. The move to the future of the sport.
Then again, maybe we’ll look back on it as the muddying of football cultures, the day the identities of programs started to blend together, the day the things that made programs different and special started to be diluted.
I hope the latter isn’t the case, but I fear it will be.
Super conferences?
I’m not sure they’re such a super idea.
