OH.....the pop you could hear all the way to the National Championship banquet! Sam Bradford (Oklahoma University's Jr. Heisman Trophy Winning Quarterback) was nestled UNDER BYU's defensive end #41 deep into the 2nd quarter tonight in the opening game of the 2009 College football season - - and it didn't turn out good for us. Us being Oklahoma fans - - Nope, it did not turn out good at all.
I suppose if we had the time to play each and every play and/or penalty over and over again we'd see that the winners of this game were wearing black and white! Brigham Young hadn't beaten a ranked team in over 20 years. That's a fact that doesn't change overnight...they got a lot of help. Noted: their team is a good team, their coach is a good coach, but BYU (try as they did) is not Oklahoma. They won't win more this year just because they ended up winning this one; no, it's one of those "Wow, we did it" moments - - and the referees couldn't have been a better allie to the Cougars. Oh, did I mention that the teams, although hosted by the Oklahoma Sooners, were playing in what some called a NEUTRAL stadium? They were playing in Texas at the new Dallas Cowboy stadium - - the one with the hole in the top, the one with the GIANT screen that caused a problem earlier this year with high kicked balls - but I won't make any excuses about the stadium. I will however, defend to my death, the FACT that the referees were not, in fact they were ANYTHING BUT neutral.
We lost Sam and it was devastating - - but you don't get to OU and make 2nd or even 3rd string quarterback without being great. Landry Jones played a great game - he did. I mean, he had butterfly moments, and he had 2 or 3 passes that he didn't complete due to lack of snaps (he hadn't take a single snap before this game actually) but Landry completed 2 passes to his receivers that were called incomplete and if a ref thinks he's going to call holding on OU but not on BYU he really needs to ask himself if he's truly partial or if he resides in TEXAS a state quite known for NOT wanting Oklahoma to do well in this particular sport. WHAT was our General Athletic Director thinking by accepting the offer to play in TEXAS without playing a TEXAS team? Are you kidding me? I don't run a program at any university and I know that much - - please!
If we're playing a Texas team the refs can't be from Texas, but that doesn't hold true if we're just playing in their stadium against a team from another state. Don't think for ONE SECOND that these men didn't want to see OU fail. Texas was playing at the same time OU was playing, just not in the same place - - if Texas had played and won earlier in the day these refs would have probably been a bit easier on us, but not now - - not when they don't know where Texas will end up on the weekly ranking. Imagine being given the chance to play in the best stadium before anyone else in college - - OK - - that's heady stuff, but NOT IN TEXAS!! Not if you're an Oklahoma team! C'mon, the Red River Rivalry isn't a hoax - - it's IN US. It's deeply seated in our blood. It doesn't matter if a good half of the Oklahoma Sooners are from the state of Texas, the REFEREES were from the state of Texas! They see CRIMSON and suddenly they see RED! (That last statement, infact, this entire blog only really makes complete sense if you're from either side of the Red River.) When you wake up tomorrow and go about your day without bitching about this one - - YOU ARE NOT from either side of the Red!
Well, it's over. It's in the books. A team that hadn't beat a ranked team in 20+ years beat the #3 (should have been #1) ranked Oklahoma Sooners by 1 - - and ONLY after our Heisman Trophy winning quarterback was hit (late by the way) and hurt. They won because they weren't from Oklahoma. They won because they don't really matter to anyone living in Texas - - they won because they showed up and ran their game well enough to slip by the "all-seeing" eyes of the cameras, which by the way caught much more than will ever be told on record - - unless you happen to have taped it like we did and can take out your own John Madden yellow marker and etch up your big screen like we do, and we will for the next 11 seasons -- it takes 11 full years for Oklahomans to get over something like this. We're rather thick - - but that's OK; we earned the right to be where we are, and it shouldn't be taken away JUST because a group of men with the power to do so make bad calls - - I will ask this; why the HELL didn't Bob (Stoops) challenge? That much I will ask.
Congratulations to the Oklahoma STATE Cowboys who beat Georgia today. They'll brag about this one for awhile, which is another very good reason why it takes a full 11 years for Sooner fans to get over a loss like this.
Godspeed Sammy boy, Godspeed!!
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