So sad to hear of Lee Roy Selmon’s passing. We never got a chance to meet the man ourselves, and more’s the pity, because by all accounts, he was not just one of the great players to come through Norman, but one of the great people, as well.
Lee Roy Selmon honored in Norman in 2002.
With what we’ve occasionally seen in openers over the years, going back to Switzer days, even, to come out of one feeling good is always a fine way to start a season. So it is this year as the Sooners easily handled Tulsa on Saturday night 47-14.
With the exception of three coverage busts, all easily correctable, the Sooner defense shut down a potent Tulsa attack. Now, we’re not going all gushy here, as it’s Tulsa, but they did win 10 games last year, and that’s hard to do even in C-USA.
We were particularly impressed, as was almost everyone, with walk-on RB Dominique Whaley. Yes, we know Whaley got a ton of work in the spring game, but that’s the spring game, which we attend only out of a sense of duty, and even then only the first half. It’s practice, after all.
Whaley particularly impressed with what we haven’t really seen from the Sooners in a while – power. He goes straight ahead, and very quickly, and those are two things that are very helpful when trying to grind out a few yards in the red zone. The Sooner running game, particularly the short-yardage game, looked infinitely better than it has in recent years.
Did you like the present Bob Stoops gave his little brother Mark? That ninja-esque formation with a tackle and three receivers split wide? Lots of thinking to be done about that by brother Mark in the next couple of weeks.
Three turnovers from the defense were nice. What was even nicer was that they weren’t the result of offensive mistakes – the defense created those turnovers, and that’s a very good thing to see.
We haven’t had a chance to go back and watch the Florida State game from last weekend, but they seem to have taken care of business against an outmanned opponent. They have another cupcake coming up this week, so we’ll see what we can glean from that, as well.
We are inveterate users of the portable radio at games, and feel lost without that steady stream of commentary in our ear during the action. Toby Rowland did a smooth and professional job in his first game as the voice of the Sooners. Only one mistake that we caught – when Roy Finch took an end-around and Rowland misidentified him as Ryan Broyles. He corrected himself immediately, though. Overall, he was a pleasure to listen to, and what he was saying in our ear matched up with what our eyes were seeing on the field. That’s not something we’ve been used to for some years, except when listening to opposing broadcasts at road games.
Nice to hear President Boren drop another bombshell on the realignment picture Friday, when he pretty much confirmed that we were actively looking for a place to land. All indications are that it’s the package we thought we were getting in June 2010 – OU, OSU, UT, and Tech to the PAC. Boren says our conference future will be decided before the clock strikes October. It says here, once again, that we’re heading west.
We were also struck Sunday night, while listening to some of the A&M-SMU game in the car, by another benefit of looming realignment. In addition to being spared any future trips to Aggieland, at least the one in Texas, we will concurrently be spared from ever again listening to A&M’s radio man Dave South. The guy’s got a great voice, but any professional radio play-by-play man who refers to the team he covers as “we” and the other team as “they” is not really clear on the concept. That and his haughty on-air attitude make him a bit of a chore to put up with. Bob Barry, even 2010 Bob Barry, was a lot better than that guy.
Quick philosophical question: If Cow plays a game that’s televised on a “network” that nobody can actually see did the game really happen? Apparently the answer is yes, as we were presented by the Worldwide Leader with highlights of Cow opening up the Boise State playbook with trickeration against Rice. This was not mere showmanship, but necessary in the service of burnt orange victory, as Cow clung at the time to a 13-9 lead over the mighty Owls with but 5:32 to play in the third quarter. It’s gonna be a long year for our bovine friends.
On the gridiron fashion front - we said in this space last week that we were partial to the Georgia Pro Combat helmets they were wearing against Boise. We still like the helmets by themselves, but seeing the whole blood-red kit was a different story entirely. It looked like a USFL/XFL mashup. Not to mention that all the jerseys said GEORGIA where the player’s name should be. We’ve never been a fan of that, at all, although if they had said “HE HATE ME” we might have gone along with it. Boise’s all-white unis were OK. We would have much preferred that Georgia not have gone belly-up in this one, but it is what it is. Now we get to hear about Boise all season again. On the other hand, we would not be against playing Boise for the crystal football.
Oregon’s flat black getups actually looked pretty good. Not sure about the neon yellow/green that went with it, but it really wasn’t a bad look overall. The second-worst affront to taste of the weekend actually came from little brother. Awful gray jerseys with white helmets and pants. Either the jerseys had darker gray panels in various places, or little brother’s entire team has a severe endocrine disorder. Put the gray together with orange numbers, and you couldn’t even read them on the wide shots on TV. Probably a lot worse in person, as evidenced by the fact that Grandpa managed to throw three to the other guys, two that went for pick sixes.
Uck.
By far the worst look of the weekend was Maryland’s surprise UnderArmour duds on Monday night against Miami. They were based on the Maryland state flag, and had helmets that were half yellow/black checks and half red/white crosses, with the designs continued down the shoulders and the pants. Now, they looked awful, but the design was great – it’s just that the flag is ugly, with alternating squares of the yellow/black and red/white designs.
Double uck.
Slick Rick, soon to be looking for work.
More later in the week as we prepare for bye on the way to Tallahassee.
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