Nevermind about the "respect" factor I talked about above. With 8 players from OU being named to the pre-season media Big XII team, and only 5 from Texas, including Shipley and McCoy not making 1st team, once again Texas will feel they have something to prove. Also I was being led to believe that media was going to name Texas as pre-season favorite; that didn't happen. It was a tie. I totally agree....it's all a tossup and will come down to injuries and mental mindset at gametime. I wasn't turning this into a red river rivalry preview either. I was just wondering where people think OU is at this time...good answers and great info.
I pretty much think it's a tossup too. That's why Texas is just -1 for the game. The only problem I really have with the Sooners is their brutal schedule. If they can get through that kind of schedule and make it to the title game, then i believe they'll win it this time, regardless of their opponent. However, if Texas wins the RRR I think their chances of getting in are also very good. Whatever the outcome for the RRR, I still like Texas to win over 10 games. There's nobody on their schedule who is their equal except for OU.
There is no question that OU's schedule is much tougher than the one Texas plays, but it would not matter. OU does not have the talent, or the coaching talent to beat the likes of a USC or Florida at the end of the season. As a matter of fact, OU has not had the talent to beat anyone in a BCS game at the end of the season for years now. Since their 2002 Rose Bowl win, OU is 0-5 in BCS Bowl games. That says a lot about the physical, mental, and emotional condition of their team after a long hard season, and the inability of their coaches to prepare the team to face a BCS caliber opponent. I think that Texas would give Florida a real battle, but OU would just roll over and lose another BCS game. The truth of the matter is if there is any way to stop OU going to the big game, the BCS will do it. They are getting tired of the results. Between OU and Ohio State, the BCS has seen enough of the perenial losers in BCS Championship games.
I respectably disagree. OU didn't roll over against Florida last season. They just got beat by a better team. It had nothing to do with OU's mental state. I hear the same lame arguments every year about OU and Ohio State. But the truth is with the three NC games that OU has been in against Florida, LSU and USC they got beat by teams that were better than the Sooners. You can try to make a pattern out of it if you like. But if OU makes it to the BCS title game with the schedule that they've played this year, I'll be very happy to take your money when you bet against them.
I've stated my complaints many times on here about my displeasure on the coaching of our defense and the general disinterest of certain football players on the team at times in the non-championship BCS games. But OU has always given their all in the BCS Title games. They just got beat by better teams. But people like you come on here and try to overanalyze a team because they lost. The bottom line is somebody's got to lose. And the losers are always going to be ridiculed by the public. Again, by people like you. The USC team who beat OU in 2004 was one of the best teams that I've seen in the last 20 years. And the other losses for OU came from teams from the best conference in college football. But both of those games were still close competetive games that OU has no reason to hang their heads over.
This year I think the top teams from the Big 12 South are pretty darned good. And I think OU, OSU or Texas can give anybody in the SEC a run for their money. I believe the Big 12 is the second best conference in football, and are quickly closing the gap on the SEC. At the end of the season when I look at the two national championship teams, the first thing I look at it is who has survived the tougher schedule. Last year it was Florida. This year it will be OU if they make it that far.
Now now bubba, hold your horses. If OU doesn't have the talent, which is an absolute misstatement, no one in the country "has the talent". I might be literally the last person on earth to take up for anything OU, but lack of talent is not the issue at OU. I'll put the athletes at OU, TEXAS, Florida and USC in the same category. Hands down. Now coaching, I don't know. I do know that OU's coaching personnel took a big hit sometime in the early 2000's and they haven't been QUITE the same since. Not a huge difference, because the success has been almost unparalelled, but I do think Stoops misses his brother on D.
You can not say OU doesn't have the talent though. that's incorrect.
I do think today's developments with the media's all Big XII team being announced is a great development for all fans UT. Just another reason for Colt to have a bit more motivation.
I agree...Texas will be very motivated this season. And any sensible thinking person has to pick them first in the Big 12 just based on the closeness of talent with OU combined with Texas much easier schedule.As for the talent of these two teams, I think OU and Texas can compete with any team in the country with their talent. The only team who might be a little better than everybody else as far as sheer quantity of 5 star talent is USC. But for the offenses that OU and Texas both use, they have the best players you can possibly get for their systems. I might add that this years recruiting class for OU is the fastest class by far that Stoops has ever recruited. And it ranks right there with the speed that Meyer is recruiting at Florida.. And Texas was also very successful recruiting this year. So these two teams aren't going away anytime soon. And I also think Nebraska is just a couple years away from being a national power top 5 team again. And OSU is getting there too. So the Big 12 is going to be something to be reckoned with in the next few years. As for OU's coaching, I tend to go by the words of Barry Switzer, ""there are no bad coaches, just the ones who haven't won yet". Eventually, the good ones like Stoops will find a way to win it all again. It's only a matter of time.
