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NORMAN — As I sit here of a Saturday evening, wondering why Iowa State’s helmets are such a noticeably different shade of red from the rest of their uniforms, I think back to the A&M game earlier today. For the first 10 minutes or so, I would have sworn the Aggy were headed for a beating of even more epic proportions than the last time they came to town. We were rolling better than we have all season, and it didn’t look like A&M could do a thing about it.

But then, the inconsistency that has been a hallmark of this team showed up, and by the end, it took a 33-yard Rhett Bomar to Juaquin Iglesias connection on third-and-12 with less than two minutes to play in the game to ice the thing. We only played to our potential for a quarter and a half against Aggy, which is about average for these Sooners.

The good thing is we played well enough to win despite that.

With the Sand Aggy choking one off against the other Aggy, and given the fact Colorado fans travel about as well as a ’73 Nova with three bad wheel bearings, it says here that if the Sooners win out and finish 8-3, they’re headed to the Cotton Bowl.

Yes, yes, I know. The Cotton Bowl kicks off in the cold at 10 in the morning, and San Diego or San Antonio would be much more fun than Dallas. That’s all true, without a doubt. But a trip to Dallas is cheap, and the Sooners would have 30,000 fans or more in that dump on New Year’s Morning.

I have previously mentioned my disdain for these 11 a.m. kickoffs, and that disdain has only deepened. This week, ABC decided to wait until the Sunday before the game to pick between OU-A&M and OSU-Tech. OU and OSU were both off last week, and Tech and A&M played each other, with Tech blowing out the Aggy. So who did ABC pick to put on TV? A&M. Makes no sense at all, other than maybe they thought the OU-A&M game had a chance to be more competitive than the OSU-Tech game.

They turned out to be wrong about that, though.

Why is it that the powers that be at ABC seem to require that we get the dregs when it comes to announcers anymore? I don’t have to put up with it live, of course — I haven’t watched a Sooner football game live on TV in 14 years — but I do record the games on DVR and DVD and go back and watch them. We always seem to draw that mentally deficient hockey announcer who knows nothing about college football and yells a lot when he shouldn’t, together with his equally clueless color guy.

Oh, well, at least all the games are on TV.
One thing I’d rather not have seen when I went back and looked at the game broadcast was Bomar’s second quarter injury. I mean, after watching it on video, I couldn’t understand how he didn’t break his leg, and badly. A defensive lineman landed on it, and by rights it should have ended up as a Joe Theismann-type injury.
For him to bounce up after that and signal the sideline that they should call a time out so he wouldn’t have to come out of the game was quite impressive, and even more so when he missed only one play. Bomar obviously has very flexible bones, which would come in handy at times, I suppose.

Interestingly enough, the athletics director for North Carolina-Pembroke was sitting a couple of rows behind me, and I got a chance to chat with him. I didn’t know he was the A.D. until he told me, though. I just noticed his UNCP hat and asked him if he was in town for the exhibition basketball game. Apparently, Coach Sampson (UNCP is his alma mater, in case you didn’t know) was treating their coach to his football tickets on the west side, and the UNCP hoops team was getting the full treatment, escorted down onto the sidelines for the game and the whole bit. Awfully good hospitality before we drubbed them in the exhibition game.

Coming up this week, a trip to Lubbock to visit Mad Scientist Mike Leach. Well, not as mad as he used to be, anyway, especially after the Red Raiders went into Stillwater on Saturday and laid a huge egg against Aggy.

OU has always had success against Leach’s offense, so the schemes will be sound. The Sooners will have to play much better than they did against A&M defensively to win this one. Tech’s defense is better, but still nothing to brag about. What looked like a game the Sooners couldn’t win a few weeks ago, now looks extremely winnable.

Hopefully, the Lubbock weather will cooperate and we won’t have to play in an early blizzard or a gale-force wind.

See you there.

Editor's Note: The Road Warrior's viewpoint is a regular feature in Sooner Spectator magazine. Subscribe today by calling 1-800-888-6181