Aside from the obvious, how with the controversy shape the rest of the season?

[batonrougesooner]

I don't mean how it will affect the team itself, rather how will it affect the season in regard to how others view the team.

For instance, don't you think the replay officials are going to get some pretty sweaty palms the next time one of our plays is sent up to the booth for review? Could it conciously or subconciously cause the officials to think twice about going against us?

What about the end of the season? What if OU goes 11-1, and there are two other one loss teams? Think this will again, either conciously or subconciously effect the voting and the ultimate placement in the BCS championship? What if OU has one loss against two undefeated teams? Some (USC and Auburn come to mind) would smile and say "paybacks a bitch". Gotta appreciate the irony there. There may be some sympathy from voters but there may be some backlash for the nationally perceived "whining" by Stoops and moreso Boren.

What about Adrian Peterson's Heisman candidacy? Will there be some sympathy votes or will it hurt him as above? Unfortunately there are plenty of voters, with the help of national media influence, who hold to the notion that the Heisman should go to the best player on the best TEAM, even if they won't admit it publicly.

[Blue]

The only way we get a championship bid at 12-1 is if everyone else but one team is 10-2 or 11-2.

[rhombic21]

I honestly don't think that it will negatively impact us that much. The only case where it might hurt is if there are two undefeated teams, and let's face it, we wouldn't have gotten in then regardless, after what happened the last two times we were in that scenario.

I don't think that it will hurt AD's Heisman chances, especially now that the Notre Dame golden boy is knocked out. Losses traditionally hurt QBs much more than they hurt runningbacks, and AD put up monster numbers in that game.

Look, most people realize what happened, and if it comes down to it, they aren't going to hold it against us. I truly believe that, and that's why I think it's time to move on. If it were a conference game or something where that "loss" on our record really meant something, in terms of conference standings or our chance to win the Big 12, then I would agree that it would have long term damages, but as it is, I don't think we'll be damaged by it very much.

The only area that it hurts us is in the polls, and if we beat Texas I think that problem will largely take care of itself.

[ouwasp]

Good analysis, rhombic.

If we stay unbeaten the rest of the way, and that's a huge if considering the D, it will be interesting see what the collective memory of the nat'l press is. Will they recall the robbery? Or will they get caught up in some new-kid-on-the-block team that plays a cupcake schedule?

I'm really glad the team has a game this week to get back in the groove.

[westcoast_sooner]

I agree Rhombic. Good job. AD has been nothing but spectacular this year so far, and no doubt he'll do as much as he can over the rest of the season. PT has been solid, and the young receivers and O-Linemen have been better than expected.

The D still needs to get more consistent, but they will hopefully start getting better this week, and will have a couple of weeks to get ready for the RRS. If we can do what we need to do there, we still have our work cut out for us - we play 4 of the last 5 games on the road, including at College Station and Stoolwater.

I think though that the trip to Eugene has helped the team to grow up. I think we'll see how they respond on Saturday - hopefully with some of Coach Stoops attitude.

[Readyfor8]

Well anyone with half a brain should realize that what our University has been doing for the past 2-3 days has only helped us. Sunday we were dropped from the Power16 on ESPN.com, today Ivan Maisel said since we didn't actually lose he didn't drop us.

If we didn't make a stink about this, it would have been swept under the rug. Now I don't think it hurts us that bad.

As for AD, Troy Smith has to lose a game or come god aweful close to losing a game with a poor performance for AD to win the Heisman. A QB with an undefeated record will win the Heisman especially if they are a wire to wire top 5 team.

[rhombic21]

Agreed on Troy Smith, but I think that would be the case regardless of how the game in Oregon turned out. We could have beaten the Ducks by 50, and AD would have still needed help from tOSU's opponents.

[Jewstin]

If AD keeps up his pace and maintains his improvement, no matter Ohio State's win/loss record, he will reach this goal of 2200 or so yards ... and I don't think anyone voting in the Heisman poll will deny him the trophy.

And his all purpose yards will be off the charts if he keeps returning kicks and getting the occasional pass.

This guy is pulling a Steve Owens in the modern era at the runningback position and combining it with Reggie Bush. God willing, if he stays healthy, what he will have accomplished will be nothing short of a miracle.

[KingDavid]

I don't mean how it will affect the team itself, rather how will it affect the season in regard to how others view the team.

For instance, don't you think the replay officials are going to get some pretty sweaty palms the next time one of our plays is sent up to the booth for review? Could it conciously or subconciously cause the officials to think twice about going against us?

What about the end of the season? What if OU goes 11-1, and there are two other one loss teams? Think this will again, either conciously or subconciously effect the voting and the ultimate placement in the BCS championship? What if OU has one loss against two undefeated teams? Some (USC and Auburn come to mind) would smile and say "paybacks a bitch". Gotta appreciate the irony there. There may be some sympathy from voters but there may be some backlash for the nationally perceived "whining" by Stoops and moreso Boren.

What about Adrian Peterson's Heisman candidacy? Will there be some sympathy votes or will it hurt him as above? Unfortunately there are plenty of voters, with the help of national media influence, who hold to the notion that the Heisman should go to the best player on the best TEAM, even if they won't admit it publicly.

I think this will ignite the team:

- We will finish the season 11-1.
- Will beat Texas handily (10+)
- Will have at least one close game
- Defense emerges against Texas - dominates
- AD wins the heisman
- We will beat Nebraska (a second time) in the Big XII championship. It will be close.
- We will not get into the NC game.
- We will throttle our opponent in the Fiesta Bowl.
- We will finish in the top 5.
- We will finish very strong with our recruiting (even though our class will not be top 10 due to its size).

I believe!!!!! Who's with me?!?

[OU_Sooners75]

OUr goals are still in tact. If we win out, we will finish 12-1 before the bowls. That in itself is good enough to make a BCS game and a quite possibly another trip to the NCG!

[OU_Sooners75]

The only way we get a championship bid at 12-1 is if everyone else but one team is 10-2 or 11-2.


Honestly, I do not see more than 1 undefeated team this year, that team being from the Big Least.

[CincySooner]

Here's my thought on the subject... and its the only thought I've felt like posting.

We got screwed and now its a loss.

Everyone in the country knows we got screwed.

The only way the outcome of the oregon game affects the rest of the season is if we win out and force the media to consider what-might/should-have-been. Otherwise the screw-job will simply be ignored.

[GreenSooner]

- We will beat Nebraska (a second time) in the Big XII championship. It will be close.

This seems unlikely since Nebraska's not on the schedule. But I'll take beatin' them for the first time in the Big XII Championship.

I know this is blindingly obvious, but think how good it would feel to have a playoff system instead of the joke that's the BCS? In a sixteen team playoff, there'd be a guaranteed (or virtually guaranteed) bid for the Big XII champion, and OU could still win the damn thing on the field (assuming that is the zebras let a team win it on the field), instead of relying on other teams' messing up, or voters' feeling sympathy.

Under the best of circumstances, the BCS is a farce. And it's never the best of circumstances. S**t happens (this year it just happened to us), and the BCS, which is essentially designed to look like a sensible way of determining a champion under extremely favorable circumstances, gets exposed as a joke virtually every December and January. Unfortunately, it's an incredible gravy train for the folks who make decisions about the structure of D-I football, so we'll need to put up with it for the foreseeable future.

[FaninAma]

OU just had what should have been the second best road win of the season taken away from them(OSU's win over UT being #1 and I may reevaluate that depending on how UT plays the rest of the year.)

That is huge.

Even if OU somehow finishes 12-1 and gets into aBCS game the loss to the Ducks is going to hurt. Even if OU somehow gets into the NC game(a big if admittedly) and wins, the loss still taints the season.

And just think about this, what would OU's win streak be if we hadn't gotten jobbed by the refs twice in the past 6 games?