SOONERGUYS Blog

BYU Coach Bronco (Nagurski) Mendenhall appeared on ESPN today and said even if Oklahoma scores more points in their September 5 game in Arlington, BYU will remain the winner because their players are playing for a “higher cause.” 

Whereas, apparently, we Sooner fans are rooting for heathens who merely want to win a football game.  Gee, I feel so cheap on my way to hell (the road to which not surprisingly passes through a gawdy stadium built by Jerry Jones).

Ninety seven percent of BYU students are members of the Church of Latter Day Saints. All students pledge to no extra-marital sex, no alcohol use and no hair over the ears.  (That sex pledge thing is kinda overblown, since more than 50 percent of all BYU students are married, compared to a national average of 11 percent among college students — wonder why, do ya?).  Most of the BYU team have served two years as missionaries, meaning they’re older than the average NFL player.

Just a reminder to us all:  the last time OU played a team whose fans were predominantly Mormon was in the Fiesta Bowl against Boise State.  As I recall, that game ended in a marriage proposal.  Oh, yeah, and there was that greatest upset in college football history thing too.

Before we get the idea that BYU is just a bunch of guys who drink milk and look like Opie, understand they have a habit of kicking ass on the football field (but in a polite and clean shaven way).  And remember, at the New Year’s block party (or whatever it was called) in Tempe the night before that Fiesta Bowl game there was one Boise State fan wearing a t-shirt that read:

“Polygamy: When one just isn’t enough!”

I thought that mildly humorous then.  Not so much the next day.

The idea coming from some sports media types that USC is falling from the college football god’s graces sounds more like east coast wishful thinking than reality. Just because their last QB bolted to the NFL before Pete Carroll wanted him to, and just because there is a real competition among a sophomore and freshman for the job, doesn’t mean that the No. 4 Trojans are going anywhere. Well, except to Columbus, Ohio on September 12 where they will obliterate a big but slow Buckeye team, and then back to the west coast to ravage the PAC10.

Sophomore Aaron Corp and freshman Matt Barkley are competing for the quarterback job. Out of the picture is ballyhooed Mitch Mustain, who left Arkansas because then Coach Houston Nutt hadn’t left.

If the Trojans start Barkley he will be the first true freshman to ever start for them.

That might give the Buckeyes a chance to knock the Trojans off their high horse.

But, what some forget is that USC has a greater supporting cast behind their inexperienced quarterbacks than most of the other teams in the PAC10 combined. There might be a tough road game at Oregon this year, but expect USC to get its eighth straight conference championship and try to convince enough BCS voters they belong in the championship game, which, where else, will be played in their backyard – Pasadena, California.

There seems to be a knack for some schools which are located near championship venues to wind up in that game: Florida….LSU…. USC.