milesl
9/24/2007, 10:57 PM
Big 12 champ has easier BCS path and unlikely USC, LSU to both run table
Louisiana State, USC ... USC, Louisiana State.
Let the debate begin to see who will be in the national championship game. Clearly the Trojans and the Tigers are at the top of the heap.
Hold on, fellas. There’s a little something brewing in the Big 12 that may just take away one of your spots in the BCS national championship game in New Orleans Jan. 7.
Take a look at Oklahoma and Texas. We don’t mean to cast aside Nebraska, Missouri, Texas Tech or a very feisty Kansas team, but the Big 12 is all about the Sooners and the Longhorns once again.
Oklahoma has already gotten by the biggest hurdle on its schedule heading into its Red River Shootout with the Longhorns on Oct. 6. Not only did Bob Stoops’ team take care of some history by beating Miami, the Sooners did it with an edge of nastiness in pounding out a 51-13 win over the Hurricanes.
Texas faced a challenge from Texas Christian, one of the game’s most underappreciated programs. After trailing 10-0 in the first half, the Longhorns dispatched the Horned Frogs 34-13 by playing dominating defense and following the offensive lead of Colt McCoy and Jamaal Charles on offense.
"We finished well," said head coach Mack Brown. "We played hard. Our players played with great emotion throughout the game. We played with intensity."
The Longhorn defense kept TCU from gaining a first down in the second half until there were only nine minutes left in the game. The Frogs' second-half possessions ended in three punts, two fumbles, one interception and a field goal.
The Sooners jumped on Miami early and then saw the Hurricanes rally to within 21-13 early in the third quarter. Oklahoma roared through the rest of the second half with 30 unanswered points.
Sense a trend here? Both of these teams dominated in the final 30 minutes. That’s the way championship teams have earned their keep over the years.
Both of these teams have legitimate talent at the skill positions. Sam Bradford appears to be the real deal for the Sooners at quarterback. The redshirt freshman completed 19-of-25 passes and threw for 205 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes, three of them to junior Malcolm Kelly. A dominating defense scored on a 61-yard fumble return by Reggie Smith and thoroughly contained the Hurricanes, holding them to seven first downs and 139 yards of offense.
"It feels good to have success against a quality opponent," Kelly said. "We felt coming into the game we were well-prepared, and it showed."
In the coming weeks, the Sooners will face Utah State, Tulsa and Colorado before meeting the Longhorns. Texas has it just as easy, heading in to games with Central Florida, Rice and Kansas State. Here’s the bottom line. No matter what coaches say about needing a full effort for 60 minutes to win a game, these two teams will need about one solid quarter against each of these opponents in order to assure themselves of 5-0 records heading into the annual shootout at the Cotton Bowl.
The Sooners may have a bit of an edge on the Longhorns in the motivation department, because Texas has won the last two meetings after a 5-year losing streak. Bradford is also a quarterback on the rise who has shown his coaches that he has more than just physical talent going for him. "Here is a freshman that says, 'I'm not going to force it to my best receiver,'" said Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. "Our fullback was wide-open, and Bradford made the play. For a young kid, that's great to see. A lot of young guys would have locked on to his primary receiver and never budged.”
Bradford took a few hits from the Hurricanes’ big front seven but he never flinched.
"I think with each day in practice, and definitely with each game, I feel a lot more comfortable out there with the guys and our system," Bradford said.
McCoy doesn’t quite have the form he did in 2006 when he kept interceptions to a minimum. He has already thrown four picks in his first two games and is throwing one interception every 17.4 attempts. He threw one interception every 45 passes a year ago.
Brown has little doubt that McCoy will be back in form shortly. Until he is at the top of his game, Charles will get the job done. He carried 22 times for a 134 yards against a TCU run defense that was 2nd in the nation a year ago.
Certainly, both of these teams will have at least nominal tests as the regular season progresses and the winner will have to take care of business in the Big 12 championship game in December.
LSU has a much tougher road to travel, since the Tigers play South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Auburn and Alabama BEFORE the SEC conference championship game. Could they make a run and stay undefeated?
It’s possible, but the likelihood is that they will fall down at least once along the way. And that would allow the OU-Texas winner to come roaring into New Orleans in early January.
Steve Silverman writes regularly for msnbc.com and is a freelance writer from Chicago.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20724853/
Louisiana State, USC ... USC, Louisiana State.
Let the debate begin to see who will be in the national championship game. Clearly the Trojans and the Tigers are at the top of the heap.
Hold on, fellas. There’s a little something brewing in the Big 12 that may just take away one of your spots in the BCS national championship game in New Orleans Jan. 7.
Take a look at Oklahoma and Texas. We don’t mean to cast aside Nebraska, Missouri, Texas Tech or a very feisty Kansas team, but the Big 12 is all about the Sooners and the Longhorns once again.
Oklahoma has already gotten by the biggest hurdle on its schedule heading into its Red River Shootout with the Longhorns on Oct. 6. Not only did Bob Stoops’ team take care of some history by beating Miami, the Sooners did it with an edge of nastiness in pounding out a 51-13 win over the Hurricanes.
Texas faced a challenge from Texas Christian, one of the game’s most underappreciated programs. After trailing 10-0 in the first half, the Longhorns dispatched the Horned Frogs 34-13 by playing dominating defense and following the offensive lead of Colt McCoy and Jamaal Charles on offense.
"We finished well," said head coach Mack Brown. "We played hard. Our players played with great emotion throughout the game. We played with intensity."
The Longhorn defense kept TCU from gaining a first down in the second half until there were only nine minutes left in the game. The Frogs' second-half possessions ended in three punts, two fumbles, one interception and a field goal.
The Sooners jumped on Miami early and then saw the Hurricanes rally to within 21-13 early in the third quarter. Oklahoma roared through the rest of the second half with 30 unanswered points.
Sense a trend here? Both of these teams dominated in the final 30 minutes. That’s the way championship teams have earned their keep over the years.
Both of these teams have legitimate talent at the skill positions. Sam Bradford appears to be the real deal for the Sooners at quarterback. The redshirt freshman completed 19-of-25 passes and threw for 205 yards and tied a school record with five touchdown passes, three of them to junior Malcolm Kelly. A dominating defense scored on a 61-yard fumble return by Reggie Smith and thoroughly contained the Hurricanes, holding them to seven first downs and 139 yards of offense.
"It feels good to have success against a quality opponent," Kelly said. "We felt coming into the game we were well-prepared, and it showed."
In the coming weeks, the Sooners will face Utah State, Tulsa and Colorado before meeting the Longhorns. Texas has it just as easy, heading in to games with Central Florida, Rice and Kansas State. Here’s the bottom line. No matter what coaches say about needing a full effort for 60 minutes to win a game, these two teams will need about one solid quarter against each of these opponents in order to assure themselves of 5-0 records heading into the annual shootout at the Cotton Bowl.
The Sooners may have a bit of an edge on the Longhorns in the motivation department, because Texas has won the last two meetings after a 5-year losing streak. Bradford is also a quarterback on the rise who has shown his coaches that he has more than just physical talent going for him. "Here is a freshman that says, 'I'm not going to force it to my best receiver,'" said Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. "Our fullback was wide-open, and Bradford made the play. For a young kid, that's great to see. A lot of young guys would have locked on to his primary receiver and never budged.”
Bradford took a few hits from the Hurricanes’ big front seven but he never flinched.
"I think with each day in practice, and definitely with each game, I feel a lot more comfortable out there with the guys and our system," Bradford said.
McCoy doesn’t quite have the form he did in 2006 when he kept interceptions to a minimum. He has already thrown four picks in his first two games and is throwing one interception every 17.4 attempts. He threw one interception every 45 passes a year ago.
Brown has little doubt that McCoy will be back in form shortly. Until he is at the top of his game, Charles will get the job done. He carried 22 times for a 134 yards against a TCU run defense that was 2nd in the nation a year ago.
Certainly, both of these teams will have at least nominal tests as the regular season progresses and the winner will have to take care of business in the Big 12 championship game in December.
LSU has a much tougher road to travel, since the Tigers play South Carolina, Florida, Kentucky, Auburn and Alabama BEFORE the SEC conference championship game. Could they make a run and stay undefeated?
It’s possible, but the likelihood is that they will fall down at least once along the way. And that would allow the OU-Texas winner to come roaring into New Orleans in early January.
Steve Silverman writes regularly for msnbc.com and is a freelance writer from Chicago.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20724853/