Cancel your plans for the next three months, folks. Oklahoma football starts Saturday at 6 pm at Owen Field.
That’s when the Sooners are expected to win their 800th game in school history. The only schools in the 800-win club are Michigan (877), Texas (845) Notre Dame (837), Nebraska (827), Ohio State (819) and Penn State (811).
The poor victim of this landmark achievement will be the Aggies of Utah State, which is a Western Athletic Conference team that may soon be a Mountain West team, as if that really matters. The Utah State team has been in three different conferences since 1978 (Big West, Sun Belt and WAC) and a few years as an independent.
The Aggies are better than in past years, with some of their faithful actually talking about going bowling this year. But still, they should be no match for No. 8 Oklahoma in Norman.
Preview: The Aggies are a good offensive football team, although key injuries in the pre-season suggest they have the same injury hex that the Sooners experienced last year. Both star running back Robert Turbin (ACL injury) and veteran receiver Stanley Morrison (foot injury from a diving board accident) are out.
Senior QB Diondre Borel (2,885 yards, 17 TDs passing in ’09) is back, however. The Aggies were 36th in the country in passing yards last year. Borel is considered a strong runner and accurate thrower.
Defensively the Aggies have underperformed. There is no Merlin Olsen (an alum) on this team. The linebackers are good, the defensive lineman aren’t (ranked 107th in scoring defense last year).
One interesting guy for Sooner fans to watch might be linebacker Matt Ah You, a BYU-via-Central Washington transfer who sat out most last year with a foot injury. Matt is the younger brother of former OU defensive star C.J. Ah You (first-team All Big 12 in 2006), who is now a defensive end for the NFL St. Louis Rams. Matt started for the Cougars as a junior, but left BYU because of lack of playing time, he said. He was granted a sixth year of eligibility by the NCAA.
Other players to watch: WR Matt Austin, a 6-3 big play maker. Austin, a juco transfer, sat out last season with a broken foot, but it gave him time to get his studies up and stay in school.
Kickoff is at 6 pm CDT. Expect this game to be over by 7 pm. The Sooners are favored by 31 points.
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