Wow!!! Now that one was fun! I just finished watching OU trash the #2 team in the country by...excuse me...what was that...like...44 freakin' points! Final score OU 65 Texas Tech 21...yep...if my math is correct (and I need to check it because there is a reason I don't teach math) then that would be a 44 point difference. Wow!!! Now that one was fun! But it was fun for some of the same reasons and for some unexpected reasons. What say I? Follow me.

The offense. OU's offense is really that good. And now that they seem to have muscled up their running game to go with Sam Bradford and the passing game...they really are that good. A running game that was non-existent in their loss to Texas has been very powerful in the last few weeks. DeMarco Murray, as pointed out by Kirk Herbstreit (don't like to agree with him much), is running the ball now like he never had a severe knee injury. Against Texas he ran light, was slow and apprehensive and not explosive at all. He has added a much needed dimension to the Sooner offense. A powerful runner. And with the appearance of Murray...Chris Brown has stepped it up as well. These two guys look great in the backfield with Bradford. And...of course...it is huge that the monstrous offensive line is playing like the nation expected them to all along. Bradford has time, Murray and Brown have huge holes to run through and all is well on the Sooner offense. Personally...I kinda hope it stays that way!!!

My surprise is in the defense. Maybe defensive coordinator Brent Venables had the wrong guys on the field at certain times...for the past 5 years! In the last month or so this defense has improved..steadily. How much so? Well, for the first time EVER I heard that he (Venables) has been interviewed and considered "head coaching" material. Clemson interviewed him for their open head coach spot!!??!! WOW! After the Texas debacle and the early come backs the offense thwarted by a couple of opponents...the defense has looked pretty good lately. And last night...well...as I like to say so often...UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE!!! The player of the game for Texas Tech last night...according to ABC...was a running back who accumulated something like 73 yards of total offense! WHAT???!!! Not Graham Harrell...the Heisman Trophy front-runner? Not Graham Harrell who lit up every team in the country, including Texas, on his way to the aforementioned "front-runner" status? Harrell...who had only been sacked 5 times all year before last night...was sacked 3 times last night and was pressured repeatedly by a defense that all of a sudden knows how to disguise a blitz package and rush the QB effectively with only 4 lineman while he was trying to find open receivers against a secondary that all of a sudden looks really freakin' good. I'm...kinda...well...stunned! Like...UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE!!!

Now, I know that Texas lost to Texas Tech and a large part of the reason was that their leading defensive lineman and pass rusher was hurt early in that game and they lost the services of one of their stud receivers. I'm cool with that and understand that even with that...Texas...had one of their D-backs held on to the ball...would have beaten the Red Raiders and we wouldn't be where we are today in the Big 12 South. Last nights blowout of #2 Texas Tech wouldn't have happened because..well...Texas Tech wouldn't have been #2 in the nation and the Big 12 South woud have already been decided...with Texas going on to Big 12 Championship game against Missouri. OK...so it would have happened but it wouldn't have received so much attention. On top of that...Lubbock is a tough place to play.

But for those of you who think the only reason the Sooners won this game was because they played it in Norman, OK where Stoops is 59-2 (oops...let me correct that, 60-2) you should understand this. OU played last night (and since the Texas game) without their best defenive player, Ryan Reynolds, who suffered a torn ACL in the Texas game and is out for the year. His replacement, Austin Box, has improved a great deal since the last time I saw him play when he looked like he had never been on a football field before...in his life! On top of that the Sooners leading pass rusher...Auston English...didn't play last night, either. And the entire unit (defensive) played with something I haven't seen in a Sooner defense since Mike Stoops left to Arizona. PASSION and INTENSITY...for 4 quarters! I love the fact that Nic Harris was in everyone wearing an opposing uniforms face last night...all night. The penalty on his hit in the secondary late in the game was a horrible call. Even Herbstreit was audibly laughing about what a horrible call it was. The whooping and hollering after sacking Harrell or breaking up a pass intended for Tech's other all world performer, Michael Crabtree, was greatly appreciated by me. I haven't seen it for so long I didn't think it would be possible again. Wow! UNFREAKINBELIEVABLE!!!

Do the Sooners still have problems? Yes! While the kick return coverage looks to be greatly improved as well as the defense does...the kicking game still has issues. A missed extra point last night and kick-offs where the receiving team gets their first touch on the ball anywhere from the 5 yard line to the 20 yard line is...to me...problematic. While the emotions of the players...and all of the talented players and plays...carried the Sooners last night...I shudder to think what might happen in a close game where the outcome relies on the kicking unit. That bothers me...alot!

So...in Norman...naysayers will jump all over that. The margin of victory...we'll hear how Tech should not have been ranked as high as #2. The emotional lift of revenge for losing in Lubbock last year...and the prospect of knocking off the #2 team in the country...will probably be played to the hilt. And I've already heard all about how OU lost to Texas on a neutral field. Whatever! Stoops kind of makes a point...even though I think he was doing it to more or less mock the current system. He said if Tech beat Texas then how can Tech be ranked behind Texas. If the Sooners are going to be ranked behind Texas for losing to them...then why should Texas be moved ahead of Texas Tech...since Texas lost to them. All I can say is...whatever the "experts" decide on...there are a few teams out there who ain't gonna be very happy in a few weeks. And I'm guessing one of them will be the Sooners.

First of all...they have the toughest game left of the Big 3 from the Big 12 South. They go on the road to play Oklahoma State in Stilwater, OK in the Bedlam game. This is no slam dunk for the Sooners. It is a rivalry game wherein the Cowboys have been known to shatter Sooner dreams before...when the Cowboys weren't a good football team. While I expect the Sooners to win...they may not do it by enough to make the "experts" happy. Texas Tech has to "re-group" (how many times did Musberger and Herbstreit have to say that last night) and play Baylor...in Lubbock. Texas goes on the road to play Texas A & M...who have surprised the Longhorns the past couple of years. Guess what? The only surprise here would be if the Aggies "surprised" the Longhorns...again.

If they all win they finish tied for the Big 12 South lead taking the decision to a tiebreaker situation. The answer...the highest ranked team in the BCS. If there is no change in the rankings coming out today...where the early prognostications have Alabama at #1 with either Florida or Texas at #2 and OU sitting at #4...that puts Texas in the Big 12 Championship game against Missouri. And it pretty much sounds like...according to the "experts" that either Texas has to lose to A & M (seriously unlikely) or OU is going to have to hang a half a hundred on Oklahoma State in Stillwater and win by 2 or 3 touchdowns (style points don't cha know) which may not be very likely either...in order for OU to leapfrog Texas in the BCS. You know what? If that is how it turns out then...it is what it is. However, the "experts" will need to quit using their standard catch phrases like "In order for that to happen..." or "They need to add plenty of style points..." or "This team needs this to happen and that team needs this to happen..." because it doesn't make any sense. Bottom line would be...win all of your freakin' games...because if you don't...someone is going to get screwed by the system. But...then again...that's kind of like life...ain't it!

I hope, obviously, that the Sooners win out and win out big. But, even if they do it may not matter in the long run. But..at least for this week...I'm gonna love college football and relish in the Sooner victory over #2 Texas Tech. After all...it is what it is! A 44 freakin' point blasting of a damn good football team.

Next week is next week...I'll worry about it all again at that time.

And that's the bottom line...

BOOMER SOONER!!!