The Sooners Lower Boomer on Red Raiders

In one of the most hyped college football matchups of the year, the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners defended their home turf in a very lopsided affair. For Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach, Owen Field in Norman continues to be his little house of horrors. But his worst nightmare of all took place on Saturday night in their 65-21 loss.

As a Sooners fan, I loved what they did in this game even though I was hoping for more a thrilling finish. Texas Tech was cinderella story going into this game, and had to go to the one place where they have struggled in order to stay in the BCS Championship race. But it was not to be.

I've watched many Sooners games on television, and I haven't seen a fired up crowd at Owen Field like last night in sometime. It all started when Oklahoma forced Texas Tech to punt on their first possession. Oklahoma then scored on their first possession.

The Sooners running game couldn't be stopped, and Sam Bradford had all day to throw with the way the offensive line played. I replied to a post by my friend Tim over at Broken Facemask about things to look for in this game. As it turns out, we were actually both right about how the outcome of the game was to be decided.

He pointed out the same thing Lou Holtz did on ESPN about Texas Tech's defense struggling with tackling ball carriers at times. This turned out to be problematic in a big way for the Red Raiders in which they seldom had their first would-be tackler making a play. However, the Sooners have been one of the best teams in the nation in making plays after the catch, and it showed in this game.

The main thing I pointed out was the play of the offensive lines in protecting their quarterbacks in this game. The Sooners brought pressure all night with different packages while seldom having to bring more than four people pass-rushing at a time. The secondary also made some big hits and plays as well.

One also has to wonder if the week off actually didn't do Texas Tech any favors. I think Mike Leach was right when he was asked at halftime as to what was wrong with his team and he said they were too hyped up and needed to calm down.

At any rate, this win by Oklahoma has now created a mess in the Big 12 South as well as BCS Rankings. I have no trouble with seeing Texas at No. 2 this week. I do not think Florida should be the one to jump to No. 2 after beating a D-1AA opponent this week. It should come down to Texas and Oklahoma, and you really wouldn't be wrong to put either of them at the No. 2 spot. For right now, I'll let the rest of the season unfold before getting too much into detail on this.

Anyway, the Sooners played their best game at the right time of the year. DeMarco Murray ran as hard and well as I've seen him since coming to the school last night. Chris Brown also ran hard and scored three times. The offensive line made sure Bradford never had to get up off the ground with them only allowing a meaningless sack in the second half. And Sam Bradford more than made a statement for his case in the Heisman Trophy race last night, too.

I like that the Sooners maintained their level of intensity throughout this contest. This is a game that vaults them back into the BCS Championship picture which is anyone's guess as to how the outcome will turn out. But they're not out of the woods just yet.

Playing in Stillwater against the Oklahoma State Cowboys will be a test for the Sooners. Oklahoma State is still one of the better teams in the country with a dangerous and balanced offense. They also know each other well, and the Cowboys have given them trouble in Stillwater during Stoops' time at Oklahoma. They have to win this game before anything else with the Big 12 tiebreaker and BCS Championship implications with team is a discussion.

I can't say enough about the job the coaching staff did preparing for Texas Tech, and the players executing the gameplan like they did. The Sooners were ultra-aggressive in manhandling Texas Tech, and they beat a team that was just too over-matched on the road in this one.

The season is far from over, and there's still plenty of football to be played before we begin to figure out how to sort out the potentially bad mess in the BCS!

I'm a Sooner born,
And a Sooner bred,
And when I die,
I'll be Sooner dead!

BOOMER SOONER!

Posted in: college football, football, NCAA football, Oklahoma, Oklahoma Sooners, Sooners, Texas Tech, Texas Tech Red Raiders

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