A: Ryan Broyles. While Oklahoma has a lot of depth in the receiver position, those players still need game experience with Landry Jones tossing the ball to them. That’s why there was a serious difference in performance from receivers not named Still or Reynolds between the first and second halves.

B. Ronnell Lewis. In the second quarter, the Hammer went down due to injury, not coming back into the game. That’s a leader who fell, and one who coupled with Frank Alexander to be a serious threat.

C. Sharks. This stupid-as-all-getout nickname has got to go because the OU secondary is anything but. They may have flashes of brilliance against teams that toss the ball well but not amazing (i.e. the coming game against Oklahoma State in a couple of weeks) but they fail to contain the passing game when the pressure is on. That’s why OU gave up four plays for more than 50 yards (including touchdown runs that should’ve been stifled behind the first down marker.

D. Luck. Not the Stanford quarterback, although there may be something to that (more in a second), but a couple of the plays Robert Griffin The Third was able to execute, including one that bounced off the helmet and into the hands of his receivers.

E. Turnovers. You cannot win a game by losing the turnover margin. OU gave up three drives, including a devastating interception in the fourth quarter by Jones, while taking the ball away from the Bears zero times. None. Nada. Zip. You can’t do that. Let’s remember the A&M game, where OU stripped the ball away from the Aggies consistently, or the Texas game, where OU literally took the ball away from the Longhorn’s hands. You win games by stealing. Morally objectionable, yes, but this isn’t the real world. This is nothing more than a game where fun is had and people enjoy their time. Usually. We have a couple of friends who are spoiled and demanding with nothing short of a national title able to quench the issue.

F. Other teams’ performances. Whenever a team ranked above OU falls, the Sooners start getting sloppy on the field. With Stanford and Boise State already fallen, and Oklahoma State the night before, there may have been some lack of focus going on during the game. It’s clearly evident when you look at…

G. Penalties. We can’t tell you the number of times a Baylor drive should’ve stalled but didn’t because of a penalty. OU averages just under 45 penalty yards a game. Against Baylor, they doubled that. Doubled. These are free plays, extra advantages, momentum shifters, and all Oklahoma did was give it to the Bears.

How Does This Help/Hurt the Sooners: Any thought of a national title is gone. There are so many things that have to happen on the field in the next two weeks that it is statistically impossible for it to happen. Instead, it’s time for OU to focus on winning the Big 12(10/9/10/11/10) and going to the…sigh…Fiesta Bowl again.

What’s Coming Up This Week: Iowa State. The thriller for Rivalry Week. While Texas and Texas A&M tussle, and Ohio State and Michigan duke it out, Oklahoma will be playing Iowa State. How exciting is that? After the Oklahoma State game, though, it may be a bit thrilling. The Cowboy Slayers of Ames look for a repeat performance against the Sooners, hoping for a boost in their bowl game prospects. Hopefully, it won’t happen again (and it shouldn’t).

Rankings: Does it matter? Okay, it does. Oklahoma is ninth in the BCS. That’s the one that everyone uses. And the one that is most favorable. While the humans think Oklahoma is not Top 10 worthy, the computers find the Sooners just outside the Top Five at sixth. It doesn’t hurt that OU has played eight teams above .500, compared to five for LSU or three for Alabama (Georgia Southern doesn’t count because they are not Div. I-A). OU had had one of the toughest schedules in the nation, which is par for the Sooners. It helps with the computers but the humans don’t care. And we’re okay with that, because there are other factors that computers cannot consider.

Future Opponents Performance: Two games remain in the regular season and both teams played each other Friday night. Iowa State won in a thriller against Oklahoma State, in double overtime, and qualified for a bowl game, their second under head coach Paul Rhoads. We’ll have more of our take on that game later, but you know emotion played a big factor in the Cowboys’ loss.

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and Oklahoma State. Nothing else needs to be said that already hasn’t been said.

How Does This Help/Hurt the Sooners: Well, the K-State game helped people think the Tech loss was an aberration, but the A&M win only added question about OU’s ability against Oklahoma State to end the season. Fortunately for the Sooners, Baylor and Iowa State are the only other teams to face, sans the Cowboys, so there are a few weeks to see if Broyles loss is slightly missed because of his amazing talent or greatly missed because of him being a highly key player in the offense.

What’s Coming Up This Week: Oklahoma has a week off. Because of the Big 12(10/9/10/11/10)’s desire to have a marquee game the same weekend as the old Big 12 Championship (and because Texas-Texas A&M is a Friday-after-Thanksgiving tradition [we can't help but laugh at the irony with this one]), Bedlam was moved to the first Saturday in December. Instead of giving OU a weekend off to spend with their family, the Big 12(10/9/10/11/10) decided that it was more important to make money at their expense during a time of gathering together with their loved ones. Not that we’re against it. We LOVE watching OU-Iowa State tussle.

Rankings: When we last checked in, OU dropped to 9 in the polls that matter. Then everyone except Boise State and Stanford lost, pushing OU up to 6 in the BCS and 7 in the polls. After the LSU-Alabama game (which was the anti-OSU-Kansas State game), the polls decided to reward Bama for holding a stellar offense to just three field goals. Nevermind their own stellar offense missed a number of field goals and couldn’t find an end zone if it saved their life. Just like the K-State-OSU game, the loser should be penalized for their inability to play a COMPLETE game. K-State didn’t fall a couple spots after their offensive exposition fell short to the Cowboy’s own show. Frankly, if the offense from that game was coupled with the defense of the LSU-Bama game, it might have been worthy of a Game of the Century designation. As such, it isn’t. A great game, yes, but not worthy of the best for the 21st Century (we really like that silly designation, don’t we?).

Future Opponents Performance: Baylor is just one game from bowl eligibility for the second consecutive year. Fortunately for the Bears, they still have to play Kansas. Iowa State is also a game from bowl eligibility. Unfortunately for them, they play OSU, OU and Kansas State. That ain’t happening. Oklahoma State keeps rolling through this season in heavy anticipation of a BCS berth. It’s possible, but we can’t help but remember the 1997 season when the world was riding high for the Cowboys, only to lose to Missouri at home. Yeah, this isn’t the Bob Simmons era, but we have hope.

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and MIssouri. You didn’t think we’d let a blog go by without talking about yet another defection. Texas A&M is speculation that they will fail miserably in the SEC (but by the way Mike Sherman’s team is doing right now, that may become reality). Colorado is just abysmal in the Pac-12 right now. Even Nebraska (the team we thought would win the B1G Conference because of their tough defense against) has struggled – against NORTHWESTERN! AT HOME! Think about that for a bit…Done? Good. Missouri going to the SEC is more laughable than it is lamentable. What do the Tigers bring to the conference? No conference championships since Dan Devine was running the show in 69. No national titles. Seven conference titles in men’s basketball, no national titles, just four elite eight appearances (all loses). Three conference titles in women’s basketball (no elite eight or final fours). One Baseball World Series crown. In 1954. This isn’t the athletic tradition that the SEC was lauding Sunday. Heck, West Virginia seems more of a step up for the Big 12(10/9/10/11/10).

Now only if we can convince the powers that be to bring it back to 12 teams.

That’s not to say we didn’t follow the game while visiting apple orchards and vineyards. Makes the ladies mad, but we have our priorities.

Since Bye Week, Part Two is coming up next weekend we will just make a quick prediction.

If the Aggies are up at the half, OU’s chances of winning will be higher than if the Sooners are up at the half. We don’t expect another Kansas State blowout, but the Sooners should be able to take care of this one.

Oklahoma Sooners 37 – Texas A&M 25

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and the great people of Dreamwater. Your little bottles make flying a little bit better and that is a relief for anxious fliers around the world.

How Does This Help/Hurt The Sooners? Pain. Lots of pain. Enormous amounts of pain. The loss all but guarantees Oklahoma will not be playing in the national championship. It would take a loss by each of the remaining undefeateds (yes, Boise State included) plus Oregon. And even then, we are not 100 percent sure OU can even make it to Stillwater without another loss.

What’s Coming Up This Week? Well, Kansas State looks to be easy. That was our thought in August. Now, not so much. The second-toughest game before the clash against Oklahoma State and we hope, nay pray, that the Sooner will play more like they did against Florida State and Texas instead of the past couple of weeks.

Rankings: After the loss Oklahoma fell to 9 in the BCS and Coaches Poll. Oklahoma State is now poised to take the second spot after the LSU-Alabama game. Kansas State is just above the Sooners at eight and Oregon is currently the top one-loss team in the nation.

Future Opponents’ Performances: Texas A&M is the toughest game on the schedule before Bedlam. After this weekend’s performance against Baylor, all doubt about a collapse in the season should die out. Baylor and Iowa State still look like wins and OU is still bowl eligible, but if they don’t get their act together, the Sooners could be playing in the Alamo instead of the Fiesta.

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and no one else. After that performance, nobody wants to cosponsor with us. Such a shame.

Why? Well, for Texas Tech, there are many reasons why. This is a big one.

The Great Dust Storm of 2011. Or, a typical weekday afternoon in Lubbock

Who would want to play in a town like that?

The other reason is because the Red Raiders and the Sooners have been interlocked in one of those quirky home-and-home outcomes that defy logic. Every time OU has travelled to Lubbock since 2005, the Sooners have lost. Every time the Red Raiders come up to Norman, they fall. So, when the Big 12(10/9/10) revealed the schedule under the new round-robin format and OU landed on another home date with Texas Tech, we breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

And really, do you think anyone would rather travel to Lubbock for this game? No. Instead of a 7pm kick off on Saturday evening, we would’ve seen another late-night game (our guess is 10pm so no one could possibly mistake Lubbock as a “beautiful town) and the team would’ve struggled on the outset, probably from some asthma-related problem associated with all the dust. Seriously, how can people live there!?

As we said, there is little to worry with the game in Norman. Texas Tech may have a game-changer in a coach (oh, that’s right, he couldn’t win that national title in Auburn – actually, he leaves and then they win the national title, hmm) but they don’t have the defense to handle the Sooners. We anticipate a high-scoring shootout with Tech resorting to the air game quite a bit. But remember, our defense has played against a pass-happy offense a number of times.

It’s called practice.

And with the way our defense is playing lately – the second-half against Kansas, the shutdown against Texas, the game against Ball State – it seems they are learning a thing or two in practice.

So, while Texas Tech can enjoy some respite against the dust storms that plague the sleepy little town (which has a population twice the size of Norman – and kind of makes us wonder what kind of person wants to live in a town that has storms like that), we’ll enjoy a somewhat close game before the defense shuts the Red Raiders down.

Oklahoma Sooners 39 – Texas Tech Red Raiders 27

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and the Boston Red Sox. Just agree to a deal already!

But no one sees this game as a good game. OU started off sloppy. The offense turned the ball over three times. The wide receivers couldn’t break out. Whatever.

Look, Oklahoma State set up lofty expectations with their high-falutin’ offense the week prior. Everyone expected this to be a big win, a rout, for the Sooners. Instead, it was a big win, a rout, for the Sooners. Don’t believe us? Look at the following:

OU scored 47 points. That’s a lot. How many other teams scored as many or more? Eight. Only two other teams did it in a road game. Oklahoma State scored 70 at home.

Kansas was held to nine first downs. Nine. Think about that. I can only remember one game where first downs didn’t matter at all. That was Georgia Tech against Cumberland College in 1916 when the Yellow Jackets didn’t make a single first down (because they scored within three downs) in their 222-0 game.

Oklahoma had 610 yards of offense. Kansas had 252. Most of those 252 were in the first half (almost all of the were in the first half). If the Sooner D kept playing like that in the second, the game would’ve been a lot different. But it wasn’t.

Was this game what everyone expected? No. And that seems to be the problem. Oklahoma has always had this uncanny ability to play down to their opponent’s level in conference play. There are exceptions, but mistakes seem to keep them from a true rout at the level of 77-0 on a more consistent basis. Are we happy about the outcome? Yes and no. Yes because they won. No because some of the mistakes are becoming a problem instead of an aberration. Number one is red zone offense. The Sooners are just not scoring touchdowns enough inside the 20 and that can be an issue down the road.

How Does This Help/Hurt The Sooners? It only hurts OU in the perception department. Journalists are clamoring against OU for not living up to expectations. But remember OSU was doing the same thing. We run circles around Texas and then the Cowboys could only win by 12 the very next week. Anyone complaining? No. Why not? Because no one takes OSU seriously.

What’s Coming Up This Week? Texas Tech, come on down! You’re the next contestant for the game “End the Streak!” The Red Raiders will try their hand to keep Oklahoma from 40 straight at home. Can the Sooners prevail? Tune in later this week for our thoughts. (Hint: we rarely say OU can’t win. Come on! We’re absolute homers here!)

Rankings: The rankings can get confusing now. OU is 1, 3, 3, 3 in the polls. Four if you count computers. None of that make sense? Don’t worry, we’ll keep it easy. From this point on, we will talk about BCS rankings. OU is behind Alabama by .218 for the National Title berth. That’s a large difference to overcome. Fortunately for the Sooners, all they need to do is win. One of the top two teams will fall in a couple of weeks (because they play each other) and that will give OU an inside route. However, if we were Sooner fans (oh wait, we are) we’d want Alabama to win over LSU because the title game is in New Orleans this year.

Future Opponents’ Performances: After the Red Raiders, things don’t get much easier. Kansas State has come out of nowhere to be a real contender for the Big 12(10/9/10) title and Oklahoma has to go into the Little Apple for that one. Then there is the home game against a still strong A&M team followed by a much-improved Baylor squad. A break against Iowa State follows before the possible showdown with Oklahoma State at the end of the season.

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and the Texas Rangers. Why the Rangers? Because we can’t stand the Cardinals. A friend of ours texted Shimko earlier in the week asking if all Cubs fans became Rangers fans the night prior (when St. Louis won the NLCS.) His response? “I can’t speak for every Cubs fan, but yes.”

How can a team let Oklahoma State score 35 points in ONE QUARTER? How can they let the Oregon wannabes (see: uniform combinations more varied than a fashion model’s closet) amass 70 points against them? How can the Sooners work towards bettering OSU without looking bad?

The truth is, Turner Gill’s Jayhawk team is not too shabby on offense but a disaster on defense. While KU ranks in the top 25 of offenses, they are near or at the bottom of nearly every defensive category. To say this will be a cake walk for Landry Jones, Ryan Broyles and Kenny Stills is a vast understatement. For Travis Lewis and Frank Alexander, however, they’ll still be keeping busy, sort of.

So instead of playing for the inevitable win, OU should instead play to one-up OSU. Don’t think for a second they won’t be doing the same thing when they play Texas this weekend.

Total Yards: OU needs 601 to better the Cowboys. That shouldn’t be hard with Landry Jones averaging more than 360 yards a game and Dom Whaley & Crew averaging nearly 160 a game. Against a team like Kansas, they just need a replication of the Ball State game (655 yards) to do this.

Opponent Yards: If the Sooners can hold Kansas to 477 yards, it’ll be enough but we’d rather see 250 or 300 yards out of our defense. Is it possible? Yes. Is it probable? Depends on how they start. Against Texas, OU kept the offense in check. Against Missouri, the let the ball drop. We think this will be more like last week, though.

Score: Nothing would be better than a 51-0 score. Yes, 70-28 looks like a better result, but 51-0 is a nine-point improvement over the sister school in Stillwater. And really, wouldn’t we rather boast that at least our team could keep the offense in check the entire game instead of saying they scored 71 points? No? Okay, 71-0 is the goal.

Rushing: Now this is an area where OSU struggled and no one really talked about it. Kansas ran for 153 yards. Not bad. Oklahoma State: just 105. This isn’t a one-game issue, either. A&M’s game showed just a 46-yard output from the Pokes. It seems that OSU almost abandons the running game when the passing game works. That’s fine and dandy, but it can create a problem down the road (like against, say, Texas.)

Benched players: OU should really strive to either bench our players after one quarter, just to prove that our second string Sooners are better than OSU’s backups as the Crimson Machine still scores 45 mores points against Kansas, or they should play the starters all the way through and see if they can match the 222-0 record game George Tech had over Cumberland College back in the day. Either way, OU can show that they play better ball then those orange-clad Cowboys (or black, or white, or silver, or camo or whatever color they’ve chosen this week. Seriously, what gives on the different uniforms!?)

Stadium Emptying: Last week, Texas cleared their half of the stadium a few minutes into the third quarter. This week, we’re hoping the Longhorn faithful can hang around until the fourth, just to show that they have less hope in beating Oklahoma than Oklahoma State.

Other than those, the real objective of this game is to minimize injuries. OU has a tough stretch coming up with road games against Kansas State and Baylor (I know, who’d of thunk Baylor) and a home game against a better-than-the-past-three-weeks Texas A&M. If everyone stays healthy against the Jayhawks, then Oklahoma can keep on track towards an undefeated season, a Big 12(10/9/10) – yes, a new moniker for a newly expanded conference, thanks to TCU – Championship and a National Championship. That’s all we’re asking out of Oklahoma. Nothing big really, right?

Oklahoma Sooners 71 – Kansas Jayhawks 0

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs. Yeah they have a smaller school. Yeah their stadium holds, like, two dozen fans. But they are now a Big 12(10/9/10) team. Take that Texas A&M. We just got a team that actually played in a BCS bowl this decade.

How Does This Help/Hurt The Sooners? Seriously, can Florida screw the Sooners even more? After letting Alabama put on a show as the best team on Earth, the Gators faced LSU, who did pretty much the same thing. That means OU is still relegated to No. 3 in the AP while holding onto the No. 1 spot in the Coaches’ Poll. If Texas can manage an upset against Oklahoma State this weekend, then this past whipping will look a lot better. If Florida can lose a lot more games, that’ll also help Oklahoma.

As far as this game went, it didn’t hurt Oklahoma, but the help won’t come right away.

What’s Coming Up This Week? It’s Bye Week, aka Kansas Week. After an embarassing outing against Georgia Tech, the Jayhawks proved their ineptitude by falling to OSU 70-28. What’s interesting is that the offense seems to be playing well (they average almost 35 points a game), it’s the defense that’s abysmal. We expect this to be an easy outing, with the goal to outscore Oklahoma State since we’ll have little problem against Kansas.

Rankings: OU is still No. 1 in the poll that counts. Well, on of them. They are No. 3 in the AP and Harris polls, with the Harris counting towards the BCS formula. ESPN seems to think OU will start off No. 3 in the BCS rankings when they are released last week, and we’re okay with that. It’s rare for a No. 1 and No. 2 ranking in October to make it to January in the Top Two. With LSU and Alabama yet to play each other (and we’re going for ‘Bama in that one), it’s not like we’ll have a hard time getting to New Orleans if we won out.

Then again…

Future Opponents’ Performances: …we still have to win out. A&M isn’t as bad as the past three weeks showed, are they? Kansas State is now the IT team to look out for. Oklahoma State is a legitimate Top Five team. Baylor could still surprise us. All these teams won last weekend against their opponents. Some were easy wins (Iowa State for Baylor, Kansas for OSU) and others were good rivalries (Texas Tech for A&M, Missouri for K-State). All the games started giving us an idea the order of the conference and telling us who are the tough teams this year. It’s all even comparisons now.

Boomer Sooner!

(c) 2011 by Boomer Shimko and insurance companies. You’re involved in a hit-and-run. You grab the information of the vehicle that hits you. You call the cops and your insurance company. Your insurance sets up the repairs, the cops fill out the reports. It’s a slam dunk, right? Then you get a letter saying the insurance company can’t help because the vehicle that hit you claims they weren’t on the road. Are you f’ing kidding me!? You’re going to tell me that the large metallic contraption that ran into my car, pushing me sideways onto the curbs wasn’t on the road? You might as well tell me that the accident was my fault because I never should have been driving in the first place, never mind I was on my way to work. Or maybe the philosophers were right and this isn’t a reality so no one actually hit me. Do your job and get the other driver to pony up for their mistakes. It’s not that damn hard.