The Sooners won another “squeaker” last night, holding off a late surge from a very good Cincinnati team (two BCS bowl games in the past two years) to move up to 4-0.
Our conference compatriots from Austin did not fare as well. It was late in the 4th quarter before sɐxǝʇ scored a touchdown against UCLA to bring the score to UCLA 27, sɐxǝʇ 13. sɐxǝʇ then attempted an onside kick and a) was offsides, and b) kicked it out of bounds anyway. If that doesn’t tell you how the Longhorns’ day went, consider this: UCLA took that possession and scored again, making the score 34-13. On the resulting deep kick-off, sɐxǝʇ fumbled the kick-off and gave the ball back to UCLA on the sɐxǝʇ 22 yard line with 1:05 to play. That’s when the moo cows threw in the towel. The previous time UCLA visited Austin, they held the Longhorns to zero touchdowns and beat them 66-7 or so back in 1997.
But of course, the Pac-10 is entirely overrated (pardon me while I roll my eyes). And after the game on ESPN, John Saunders recapped both scores and said “So, yeah, not real impressive performances from either OU or Texas this week.” As if holding off a BCS team at their home is somehow comparable to losing to an unranked team at your home field. Sigh.
Nonetheless, it’s sɐxǝʇ week for the Sooners and Longhorns, with the Red River Rivalry kicking off at 2:40 PM Saturday afternoon at The Original Cotton Bowl on the grounds of the Texas State Fair. ABC-TV has either national or regional television coverage, with coverage maps available later this week. The 4-0 Sooners will surely be ranked higher than the 3-1 Longhorns, but after being embarrassed at home by unranked UCLA, sɐxǝʇ will be loaded for bear in a high-emotion game. Historically, the Longhorns do best against Bob Stoops’s teams when the OU quarterback either is or becomes injured, and I think they may be desperate enough to consciously realize that. It could get ugly, but let’s hope not.
We’ll update the Events calendar with information about the weekend as we get it. We know the Friday morning stop-over for rehearsal is in Pauls Valley this year, and we’ll keep a watch out for the Friday night performance, the pep band appearances, and any other cheer-for-the-Sooners opportunities we may see.
Then it’s a bye week and then Homecoming 2010. The registration deadline has passed, but if you missed it, go ahead and register but be sure to add the name of the marcher and your phone number in the final comments on the order, so Rita can call you if there are any problems or questions. Priority obviously goes to those who beat the deadline (and so many thanks to all of you who did!) but we like to be as flexible as we can in the name of letting everyone participate who wants. So go ahead and register, but leave that phone number in case there are issues.
It’s going to be a big game on Saturday in Dallas. Get your crimson and cream ready, whether you’re in the Cotton Bowl or in your easy chair. BOOMER SOONER!
