That's right..And I always take this into consideration. Their both loaded with talent every year. But there is a small edge in talent that tends to run in cycles. Between 2004-2006 Texas had the talent edge. In fact in 2005 Texas had so much accumulation of talent and experience on both sides of the ball that i made them my Best Bet play of -14 over a young inexperienced OU team that year..The first time I ever made that big of a bet in this series..But that's how good Texas was that year.. And I saw it coming the year before when Mack Brown made some assistant coaching changes and Texas started showing signs of surpassing OU in their 12-0 loss the year before when I believe Vince Young was a freshman starter... Texas had never showed that good of defense against a Stoops team before. So I knew something was up at Texas, and they were going to get much better..Since 2006 I believe the pendulum has swung a little to OU's favor.. Experience also has alot to do with it between these teams. OU is a more experienced team this year compared to last when Bradford was a freshman QB going up against a more experienced Colt McCoy..Bradford will have a better idea of what this game is all about this year..And OU is much more experienced on both lines than last season.
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jb, the loss of a tight end -- even a very good tight end, which Irby had not yet become, he just looked like he might have the promise to be heading in that direction -- won't affect a team to that degree. Losing a top quarterback or several injuries on the offensive line, those can really change how good a team is, but the loss of a tight end is something that can be worked around.
hno:
My thoughts exactly. When Texas has 2-4 true freshman playing and starting in the secondary, that leads me to believe that it's going to be ONE HELL OF LONG MORNING/ AFTERNOON in the newly renovated Cotton Bowl. Texas has no running game.
And I'm a die hard Orangeblood. Believe me, I love nothing more than to walk out of that stadium w/ a win, but it's not happening this year. And it probably won't be within 8 points I don't believe either. I've been wrong plenty of times before though. I'm not saying the talent level is that far off, but I am saying the experience is OU's favor in a HUGE way. Next year is Texas' year anyhow. If you've watched every down of Texas football this year, you would see some giant question marks, which I believe will be exposed in small parts at Colorado on Oct 4th, and in Dallas on Oct. 11th. I truly hope I'm wrong. BOL
And BS brought up a good point to me the other day about OSU playing the weaker teams from the lesser conferences. Yes, they may be able to put up 28 points on OSU, but the problem is they won't be able to hold OSU under 50. I can see OSU getting alot of double digit wins in this fashion off of the weaker teams this season. Plus Gundy has Boone Pickens walking the sidelines watching him. The only impression that Gundy is thinking about making at this point in his career is a beatdown of any team that steps foot in Boone Pickens Stadium if at all possible. And seeing that this is a revenge game (okay this is an overused excuse) the "revenge" part will be reflected in QB Zac Robinson still playing in the game late in the 4th quarter with OSU up 40.
this is from the Troy website -
One of the areas the Trojans will focus on this week will be up front on defense, where the team must find a way to replace senior Kenny Mainor, who went down with a knee injury at Ohio State and is likely lost for the season. Mainor had a team-leading three tackles for loss and eight QB hurries before going down with an injury at the end of the first half. He ranks as one of the all-time great ends in school history with 26 career tackles for loss and 40 QB hurries.
One of the areas the Trojans will focus on this week will be up front on defense, where the team must find a way to replace senior Kenny Mainor, who went down with a knee injury at Ohio State and is likely lost for the season. Mainor had a team-leading three tackles for loss and eight QB hurries before going down with an injury at the end of the first half. He ranks as one of the all-time great ends in school history with 26 career tackles for loss and 40 QB hurries.
No doubt in either of our minds that OSU might score on ever drive and it won't be pretty for Troy when they start seeing crooked number going up on the board. A couple of weeks ago I took OSU against Houston, and was sweating it at halftime, only to watch an offensive explosion of something like 42 points in the second half alone. You simply can't stop this offense if you are a mediocre to decent defense, you have no chance. Great spot and great line for the Cowboys to rip Troy a new one. I'm on board GoSooners!!!!
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Fellas...I honestly haven't looked at the USC-OSU game in depth. And as much as I like underdogs on Thursday nights, I also know that in order for USC to stay on top in the polls, and the rugged PAC-10...cough..cough....they are going to have to score some style points with the BCS in each and every game. So this might be a little bit of a tough call on the line...I'll let you know tomorrow if I come up with anything that might give us any kind of an edge with the line..
