SOONERGUYS Blog

Oklahoma became bowl eligible Saturday with its sixth win. Before you mutter “so what?” let me just say this qualification obtained against Texas A&M was the most important the program has had in several years.

It allows this football team – wrecked by injuries and inconsistent play from young talent – to get another mini-season of practices in before returning in the spring to begin the 2010 campaign. And, boy, do they need it. (Practice must help – Travis Williams had no illegal procedure penalties against him Saturday).

So don’t get any idea that the Sooners will turn down an Independence Bowl invitation – the equivalent of the former Poulan Weedeater Bowl. Extra practices in Shreveport are a lot more beneficial to these Sooners than sitting around with mom and pop watching the 34 post-season bowl games on the living room TV set.

Besides, a Holiday Bowl bid seemed more likely after Saturday night.The Sooners became bowl eligible with a bang. QB Landry Jones moved closer to rebuilding his reputation that was gutted by five thrown interceptions a week before in Lincoln. He threw for a career high 392 yards. Meanwhile, RB Demarco Murray looked like a Heisman Trophy candidate with 224 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns.

The Sooners finished the game with 51 unanswered points. The nation’s longest home winning streak was extended to 29. And in so doing, some of the funk in which Sooner fans have engulfed themselves has eased. Sure, a 6-4 mark at this point in the season is a huge disappointment. But, after the crash that the Nebraska loss represented we wondered if the plane was going to burn.

It didn’t burn on Saturday – although there was a little flicker in the first quarter – and the Sooners are a little more optimistic about traveling to Lubbock next week to face a stubborn but equally disappointing Texas Tech Red Raiders. In the meantime, who is this O’Hara guy kicking extra points?    — Mike

When I was in elementary school my after-school time was spent tossing a football around with neighborhood kids, thinking of Saturday afternoons at a place called Owen Field and fantasizing about one day being a Sooner.

Reality for me struck sometime around sixth grade. But, for a young man named Sam Bradford, those dreams became reality.

The past two seasons we have seen Bradford guide the Oklahoma Sooners to championship games and himself to the Heisman trophy. And, without fail, Bradford has proven that good guys don’t always finish last. He’s demonstrated that success can come fairly and squarely to those whose commitment to good character is ever bit as important as commitment to winning.

I don’t know if Bradford is the best quarterback to ever have played at OU. That’s sort of like saying Mom’s chicken and dumplings were better than her German chocolate cake. Please don’t make me make that choice. I wouldn’t know how to go about it, anyway.

But, there has been no player who has done more to exemplify character, especially when faced with the adversity that the Sooners have faced this year (principally as a result of their star quarterback’s season-ending shoulder injury). He has remained positive, but at the same time, human. At his press conference Monday, he announced he will have surgery this week and go to the NFL next spring. As he began making his remarks a host of fellow teammates filed in behind him to show their support for their leader.

“To make this decision and realize I’ve probably played the last game at Oklahoma….it’s really tough,” Bradford said.

But then, he said he looked forward to the challenge presented by rehabilitation. And the opportunity to prove to all that he will be as good a quarterback as he was before his injury.

There is no melodramatic Tebow here. Sam is just a good guy. Without fail, every Sooner fan knows it and appreciates it.

So, while his injury may have cut Sam short of proving he is the best Sooner quarterback of all time, let’s not ignore the fact that he is the most liked, most popular and most worthy. And he has earned it.

— Mike

In true boastful Texas “we are better than anyone else” fashion, Gov. Rick Perry on Friday suggested the liberal control of the White House was reason for Texas to consider seceding from the Union (I’m not making this up).

Gov. Perry reminded us that Texas used to be a separate Republic (true, in the biggest land grab in North American history the Texans stole it from another country – Mexico); and he thinks it can legally secede (this is what happens when the lawyer isn’t consulted before going public).

He forgot that last time they tried that was from 1861-1865 and it did not turn out so well – 618,000 Americans died.

Here’s my suggestion to Gov. Perry: Just put an asterisk next to Texas’ name and say it is really a whole different country, but the stupid BCS rules don’t allow it. Yeah.

Still there would be bad news for the Longhorns: If Texas were a different country, then the Longhorns finished second last year to “National” Champion Texas Tech.  — Mike