On Sale at Newsstands Now!

Halloween with Bill Snyder and his purple pussycats is turning out even better than the KU weekend we had, meaning it's been a really good couple of weeks.

To start, I was in Vegas on business until the day before the KU game, and I won a bunch of money right before we left there. We flew from Vegas to Kansas City late on Friday night and got in early Saturday morning, got a nice night’s sleep, and headed out to Lawrence on an absolutely stunning October Saturday.

You seriously couldn’t have programmed a better day for football. Sunny, about 65 degrees, not a cloud in the sky – just perfect. This was the first time the Sooners had played in Lawrence since 2001, as the 2005 KU home game was held at Arrowhead Stadium instead. People were charging as much as $40 for parking near the stadium, so we reluctantly headed over by Allen Fieldhouse to park and try our luck with the KU football shuttle busses.

I am usually loathe to use football shuttles, and I had some experience with the KU system from years ago, and it wasn’t good. Of course, back then they were using a few 1960’s-era green busses that were about 1/3 the size of the large fleet of modern blue ones they are using now. There was no way we were hiking over the mountain upon which someone inexplicably decided to build the University of Kansas, so we took the blue busses. As it turned out, it was great. They picked us up right by where we parked, dropped us off at the stadium right outside where our seats were, and the line was short to head back after the game. A very nice experience.

Then, of course, there was the game. A pickfest by the Sooner D, including a length-of-the-field pick six by Dom Franks (boy, why couldn’t we have held on to just one of those against Texas?) in the first half staked the Sooners to a 14-0 lead. Only a couple of miscues, including a simply inexcusable dropped ball on a punt snap by Tress Way, gave KU a couple of field goals. Strangely, Mark Mangino allowed his kicker to try (and make) a 57-yarder on the last play of the half, but had him punt out of field goal formation from closer range earlier.

In the second half, a few drives by the offense combined with continued domination by the D resulted in a complete rout. At one point in the third quarter, after the Sooners had taken control with a pair of touchdowns, the Jayhawk mascot came over to the Sooner section. The horsepig started giving him the Heimlich maneuver, and a little plastic football popped out of the Jayhawk’s mouth. Kinda funny.

It was a result far from what the KU faithful might have imagined coming into the day. They thought they were getting a wounded Sooner team when, in fact, they were facing what might well be the best defense in the country. Would that we could have had this defense with last year’s offense. Nobody would have beaten that team – nobody.

Afterwards, a little road construction detour notwithstanding, we made it in reasonable time back to Kansas City for a fine steak dinner, paid for by the nice folks in Vegas’ money. We winged our way back home the next morning and closed out a great weekend.

The Big 12 title is still in reach if our friends from Austin stumble a couple of times, which is far from out of the question. Even if they don’t, winning out is entirely within the reach of this team. While the offense is clearly having its problems, this defense is good enough for us to win every game on the schedule. 7-1 in conference and 9-3 overall would put us in the Cotton Bowl, more than likely, which would be an acceptable outcome under the circumstances we have been faced with this season. Of course, another game in Dallas/Arlington means we’re losing a QB, since that seems to be a requirement of any game we play in Dallas and/or Tarrant Counties this season.

On top of that, a trip to the Cotton Bowl would have a decent chance of matching us up against those swine from LSU and their squinty, insane, hat-challenged let ‘er rip coach. That would be worth the price of admission. Failing that, we could end up keeping Texas’ spot in San Diego warm for them for next year, and maybe play Oregon there. That would also be quite interesting.

However, a win in Lincoln will be required to get to winning out. That looked a little more daunting before NU got held to 7 points and had eight turnovers in losing at home to Iowa State. However, the Sea of Red in Lincoln is always a tough place to play, and the Sooner defense will need another stellar effort to pull it off.