Two things come to mind going into Saturday’s OU-Kansas State game:
1) This is a game where leadership needs to emerge; and 2) this is a game where fan support needs to go nuts.
A combination of those two should bring a big fat win for the No. 5 Sooners and propel them nicely into the conference schedule and the national championship discussion.
In the past Oklahoma has stepped up when needed on both fronts. Remember the 2008 Texas Tech game? That was the last time Coach Bob Stoops called out the fans to go crazy at Owen Field. And they did – to the tune of “Jump Around.”
And the team, then also ranked No. 5, showed up to put a 65-21 trouncing on the then No. 2 ranked Red Raiders.
Stoops had ragged on the Sooner faithful before that game, noting how disappointed he was at their quiet nature at Owen Field. In response, the fans who showed up for the game were anything but quiet – it hurt your ears. The energy was amazing. Even 80-year-old alums in the west stands (who had never stood during a game except for the national anthem) were dancing.
This week the coach was more subtle in “calling out” the fans. But, will those fans respond?
The answer to that question might depend on how well the players respond to this game.
Sorely lacking in some recent big games (in which the Sooners lost or were on the ropes – see last year’s Texas Tech debacle) has been team leadership.
This is the game where leaders will have to step up. As outside linebacker Corey Nelson said this week, this is a huge matchup.
“Memories will be made here,” he said.
Those memories will only be good ones if some players like Nelson take the leadership role and guide this team through the adversity that we can expect Kansas State Coach Bill Snyder’s team to present.
QB Landry Jones is not a “rah rah” guy, although he’s respected by his teammates and is a dang good quarterback. He’ll go down as the most under-appreciated (by fans) QB in recent history.
But, he’s not going to be the leader to rally the troops in the second half if Kansas State is still in the game, or his ahead. He is just not that guy.
The Sooners are entering a stretch of games which will make or break them for the 2012 season: Kansas State, Texas Tech and Texas. They need “that guy.”
It will have to be someone from the more senior defense: like Nelson, middle linebacker Tom Wort or Strong Safety Javon Harris.
As Harris said, the next three weeks “are going to be about heart, who has the heart to fight.”
“Are we going to be able to fight through adversity?” Harris said.
“We’ve got to play hard, we’ve got to play like champions like [the sign] we touch before every game. To do that, we’ve got to get through this stretch.”
OK, he’s sounding like a candidate for team leader. There is promise.
Let’s hope on Saturday night at 6:50 pm the Sooner fans bring their A game. And the Sooner team finds their leader.
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