Common Sense

Another football season, another year of the Red River Shootout. This year, I’m sad to say, I think the Sooners are going to win again. There’s no way that they cover the 11-point spread; just as a matter of pride Colt McCoy can’t let that happen.

If they do beat the spread, there’ll be a lot less talk about Colt being like Major Applewhite and more comparisons to Chris Simms.

My official, I have to eat crow and look like an idiot in front of anyone who reads this, prediction is that Oklahoma will come on strong in the first half, maybe 21-0 or 21-7. The Longhorns will rally in the third quarter, OU 28-21, and the fourth will be relatively quiet. Maybe a field goal, I feel it will go to the Sooners, and the game will end 31-21, just under the spread. If things are going well, we could see a 28-24 final, but I think that is still really optimistic, so 31-21 Oklahoma.

Discuss before the 2:30 p.m. kickoff on ABC.

UPDATE 1: Well, it’s tied up, 14-14 at the half. Nobody thought Texas would be in this game, even me, but Colt McCoy is going to his tight end Finley and thrown for two TDs. Shows what I know. I guess losing to K-State last week woke them up. And Kansas didn’t want to know what that felt like so the Jayhawks took them down, 30-24.

Illinois has upset No. 5 Wisconsin, 31-26. Who saw that coming? Who saw South Florida ending up in the Top Ten? Purdue and Ohio State, that’s going to be an interesting game. Purdue is going for 6-0 for the first time in 64 years, but if the Buckeyes put the offensive game together, then they might actually be going into the BCS undefeated. And the Big Ten is not gonna be a challenge.

I have to work tonight so I should do at least one more update before I do the summary for the Baylor-Colorado game.

UPDATE 2: Didn’t I say 28-21? Cuz that’s what I meant, not 31-21. I mean, I said the Sooners might get a field goal. Well, they missed it. And against the line, I was totally right, OU didn’t cover. Colt McCoy did well, only a tipped ball that got picked as a blemish. It really came down to the Texas defense spending too much time on the field. The offense didn’t have the time to really make anything happen.

And neither team started with a good running game, but Oklahoma finally managed to get their ground game going. By the fourth quarter, Texas gave up on it and the air game couldn’t make the big plays they needed to answer that last rushing TD.