OU-TX - PART 3 - THE GAME

OKLAHOMA 53 TEXAS 45

4OT

The 114^th version of the Red River Shoot-Out was one that you had to see to believe.  Because explaining the game to someone who didn't ... might be awkward and go something like this:

Guy who lives under a rock: Hey, Buddy - what happened in the OU-Texas game?  

Me: Well ... 

• On the Sooners first possession they went three and out with two false start penalties.
• Lincoln Riley benched Spencer Rattler midway through the first half after the red-shirt freshman lost a fumble and threw an interception.
• The Sooners were penalized 11-times for 121 yards, but at least only six of those penalties gave Texas a new set of downs
• Sam Ehlinger ran for 146 yards and threw for 286 more – personally accounting for 6-touchdowns.
• The Sooners turned the ball over 3-times, 2-of which occurred deep in their own territory
• OU missed a field goal
• Lincoln Riley completely gave up on the running game, even though it had just started to click ...
• I drank a lot of tequila 
• Once again, #44 - Brendan "Bookie" Radley-Hiles started and pretended to play defense for the Sooners ... 
• ... after the final play of the game a proud, young, female Texas fan held up one finger ... a proclamation for all those watching on TV around the country.

Under a rock Guy: Oh, I'm sorry. I know your an OU fan, so I'm sorry to hear you got beat.  While Texas may not be #1 like the girl indicated, maybe they are finally 'back' ....

Me: No, I don't think so.  With the finger she was using, the only way her message included the word back - was if it was the position she'd be in in order to carry out her specific message. I deemed her single digit salute as more of non-gracious gesture to the Sooner Nation ... or Tom Hermann ...or both  - because the Sooners won the game by 8

Or maybe the conversation went something like this ...

Guy who likes to spend Saturday's at the library: Hey, Buddy - what happened in the OU-Texas game?  

Me: Well ... 

• The Longhorns committed 3-turnovers, including a fumble on their second play from scrimmage
• Texas was penalized 10-times for 86-yards
• Texas special teams gave up a blocked punt, a blocked field goal, and a 36-yard punt return ... which, when you tack on the personal foul penalty becomes 51-yards and a trip to an anger management class for the Horn punter.
• Sam Ehlinger was sacked 6-times
• The Longhorns leading rusher not named Sam - had 17-yards
• I drank a lot of tequila
• Texas also allowed OU running back T.J. Pledger to rush for a career high 131 yards and ...
• Once again, the Longhorns had Tom Hermann on their sideline pretending to be a head coach

Library Guy: Well, congrats - obviously you guys ran away with it. Probably another 63-14 type game. Must have been nice to get such an easy win over your big rival.

Me: If you say so.

The game was played in a surreal atmosphere.  While you could find a few signs of normalcy: Bevo taking up residence in the North end zone, and the Sooner Schooner doing the same in the South ... those paled in comparison to the reality of seeing only 24,000 people in attendance, or listening to Boomer Sooners or The Eyes of Texas, not from each schools band inside the stadium, but instead from the big screen - recorded renditions from OU-TX games of the past.

The game required 4-quarters, 4-coin flips, and 4-overtimes ... and took 4-hours, 43-minutes, 36-mystery seconds and ¾ of a bottle of Don Julio Reposado to complete. 

In addition to being brutally long, it was horrendously played ... as the two teams combined for 21-penalties for 209-yards, 6-turnovers, 8-sacks, two-blocked kicks, another field goal missed, and both head coaches making questionable decisions at critical times.  

Even Fox Sports made mistakes - posting this little nugget as both teams went to the locker room at half: "The team leading at half has won the last 11-games." While that's good to know, I'm not sure it was very relevant considering the fact the game was tied 17-17.

The game, while a train-wreck, was also wildly entertaining. In usual OU-TX fashion, it was a slugfest, played with high emotion with the game coming down to the wire. The OU defense, relative to their last two performances, played well. 

With about two-minutes to go in the game, and the Horns out of timeouts - the Sooners were facing 3rd and 9, from their own 47.  Get a first down - you win, but to get it, you'd have to throw the football and risk stopping the clock, or worse. Riley, despite benching Rattler in the first half, and watching him cough up the football like a cat would a hairball only two plays earlier, trusted his red-shirt freshman QB enough to take a shot at winning the game. While the play didn't work - I loved the call - and to me, it spoke volumes about his belief in his QB.  

Like Riley, Tom Hermann, had the opportunity to take a chance to win the game  ... twice ... only his chance would be with a senior QB who had accounted for 6-TD's on the day. But he didn't take the chance. He didn't have the same faith or the courage, or balls to do it. Like him or not, Ehlinger deserved better from his coach. 

That said, I can't tell you how relieved I was to see Hermann decide to kick the extra point at the end of regulation and again in the first overtime. There wasn't a chance in hell of OU stopping the red-hot Ehlinger from scoring on a two-point conversion with 15 guys, much less the 11-tired and reeling defenders who would be asked to try.  

But the game will go down, much like the year in which it was played, as one of the most memorable of all time. Only in 2020 can the team who benched their QB in the first half win the game, while the team whose QB accounted for over 400-yards and 6-touchdowns lose it. 

With two rosters loaded with 4 and 5 star recruits that hail from all over the country - it was only fitting that the winning touchdown would be caught by a 5'-11" walk-on from Norman. But I guess it wasn't just any walk-on ... when your name is Drake Stoops, chances are decent that you know a little bit about what it takes to beat Texas. Say it with me now .... STOOOOOOOOOPS!

Just the Opinion of One Mildly Interested Guy

Buddy Putty - The Overweight Armchair Sooner

OU-TX - Part 2 - FAIR PARK DRIVE THRU

The Texas State Fair - 2020

The Corona Virus has turned The Texas State Fair, the unique and iconic setting in which the OU-TX game has been played since 1932, into something more reminiscent of an In & Out Burger Drive-Thru.

Due to obvious reasons, The State Fair of Texas was cancelled this year - well sorta. For the first time since WWII, there would be no rides to ride, no music to hear, no midway in which to be conned, and no paying 14-coupons to see the world’s smallest horse or a bearded lady. To paraphrase John Candy’s line in the movie Vacation … “Sorry folks ... the Park's closed – the big cowboy near the entrance should’ve told you.”

Except ... for the drive-thru. That's right, for those of you who need a Fletcher’s fix and some quality time with Big Tex, the people at the State Fair have a deal for you.  It's called the Fair & Photo package - and all that is required for this forced family fun is $100.00 and four to six hours of your life that you'll never get back.  

Your allowed to drive one vehicle with up to 8-occupants into to the fairgrounds ... which is convenient since you've really never mastered the art of driving two.  This ‘historic opportunity,’ as billed by Fair promotors (i.e. someone who would never submit themselves or their family to this life drain), includes a ‘complimentary’ corndog (1-per person), fries, a drink and a group photo with Big Tex. If you’d prefer dining on a turkey-leg while traveling @ 4-miles per hour during the estimated 2 ½ to 3-hour “tour” of Fair Park (which does not include time spent in line to enter park) – they can make that happen for an addition $25.00 ... each. Jeez, when did turkey legs turn into caviar?

Well, that sounds like a great time and all, but I think I'll pass.  First of all, I'm not the Waltons or the Bradys. I'm a single guy with a red heeler, so a Ben Franklin to sit in traffic seems steep. Besides, binge eating and drinking inside a moving motor vehicle isn't my idea of the State Fair ... It's my idea of college, except it was done at 85 mph not 4.  Most importantly, I prefer throwing up in Fair Park Fountains on the way back to where I think I parked my car - not in the passenger seat floor board, while it's hopefully in park.  A sentiment equally shared by those trying to take away my keys.

Next: Part 3 - The Game

Just the Opinion of One Mildly Interested Guy

Buddy Putty - The Overweight Armchair Sooner

OU-TX: Part 1: The Streak is Over

 One of the best things about the OU-Texas game is the pomp and circumstance that surround it. For Sooner and Longhorn fans, it's not just a game, it's an event, an entire weekend, something that is circled on the calendar like a holiday or a birthday.

Don't get me wrong, the game is important. In fact beating Texas is probably more important to me than it should be ... but what matters to me the most every year on the second Saturday in October, is actually not the game.  It's the people.

Jobs, kids, health, finances – hell, just making it through an average Tuesday takes all you have sometimes. One of the consequences from ‘not enough hours in the day’ is that you unintentionally drift away from some of the people in your life who are important. But Sooner football, and the OU-Texas games in particular, has provided the necessary where and why that brings us together ... even if only for a few hours … even if only for one day.

Sitting on those picnic tables outside the main gate of the Cotton Bowl before the game is where I get to see people like Dave McCabe, Tim Sanders, Blake & Sally Moffatt, Val & Diana Schlueter, Craig & Kathy Cruzen, Jeff Rogers, Trevor Walker, Bob Click and dozens of other fraternity brothers I should do a better job of keeping up with.

It's when I get to spend some time catching up and/or fighting with my friend Natalie, who has put up with me for almost 40 years ... and it’s where I get to share a 7-coupon warm beer in a wax cup with Scott McKnight's dad, Gary.

Like a measurement mark on a basement wall, the OU-TX game is where I get a chance to see the progress my friends kids have made in their pursuit of growing up. It’s were I watched Craigy Sanders become Craig ... Matt McCabe go from diapers to tall enough to dunk on his dad … the Cruzen boys go from grade school sports to college graduates ... and a trio of Lambert boys go from baby talk - to smooth talking the sorority babes.

Calling OU-TX only a game to me, is like saying the Bible is just a book.  Sorry, I'm not buying that.

But this past Saturday morning my alarm didn’t go off at 7:00 AM. I didn’t threaten to leave anybody who wasn’t in the car at 8:00 AM. I didn’t play Stairway to Heaven as loud as possible on the way to the game, nor did I hand some non-English speaking man flapping an orange flag, $40.00 in order to park. 

I didn’t have to worry about what I’d left in the car while walking to the gate, nor did I have to hide my two-flasks of Crown before going through Fair Park ‘security.’  I did however have a few beers before the game … but none of them were warm, served in a wax paper cup, paid for with last year’s left-over coupons, or handed to me by an unwashed, orthodontically challenged State Fair employee.  

Turns out that no routine, regardless of how sacred, is safe in 2020.  Yes, the streak is over … For the first time since 1982, there was no guy named Buddy Putty sitting in the Cotton Bowl at the OU-Texas game.

I still watched the game of course– and did so with some of my best friends, friends I’m lucky and grateful to have. I know they’re my friends, because no one who wasn’t would put up with the way I behave during a game – and I’m pushing it with some of them. 

That said, there was a part of me missing Saturday. Something that made me feel hollow. It made me think of the answer my friend Styx gave me when I asked him what it was like to watch the game on TV. My question was in jest, his answer was anything but, “I’ll be honest, it sucks. It makes you wonder why you’re not there.” Amen.

I guess I always knew there would finally come a day that I wouldn’t be able to be there in person.  Reasons like … my behavior finally resulted in me being banned, or my less than healthy lifestyle had me taking up space in Gods waiting room. Maybe I wouldn’t go if the game got moved to Jerry’s World – or if the powers that be decided to make the game a home and home series – thus killing what is one of the few long-standing traditions left in all of sports. But whatever the reason, I never dreamed my streak of attending OU-TX games would end because some moron ate a raw bat in a Wuhan, China wet market.  

Look, obviously, I'll be okay ... on the list of things wrong with me, this one falls well down the list. This shouldn’t be anything a few thousand dollars in therapy can’t fix.  Besides, judging from history, I probably should've seen this coming ... after all, I'm not the first Bud in Sooner history to have a streak end after 38-straight.

Next Up: Part 2 – Game Day

Just the Opinion of One Mildly Interested Guy

Buddy Putty - The Overweight Armchair Sooner

I'll Admit It. I Was Wrong ...

 

“I was dreamin' when I wrote this, Forgive me if it goes astray. But when I woke up this mornin', Could've sworn it was judgment day”

We took pictures with a camera. We got directions from a map and rented movies from a Blockbuster … please be kind and rewind. 

We still had home phones, we checked for a dial tone, and we left each other messages on a separate machine … and those long distance calls we made, well back then those were far from free.

 "The sky was all purple, there were people running everywhere. Tryin’ to run from the destruction, you know I didn’t even care."

For $5.00 you could see Spacey in American Beauty, Keanu in The Matrix or Brad Pitt in the Fight Club. On TV people tuned into Friends, the teenage drama of Beverly Hills 90210, and listen to Regis constantly asking us if we wanted to be a millionaire.

We listened to music on the radio (a device you could turn on to hear music you didn’t get to choose), a Walkman, or a CD player … playing CD’s we stole from Columbia House, not the internet.

"Lemme tell ya something, If you didn't come to party, Don't bother knockin' on my door. I got a lion in my pocket And baby he's ready to roar"

The Euro had just been established.  The twin towers were still standing, and the country’s biggest concern was Y2K.

I was 34 yrs. old, had been married to Plaintiff #1 for 6-months, and was standing in Section 4, Row 56 …

Say say … Two-thousand-zero-zero party over … Oops out of time. So tonight I'm gonna party like it's 1999 – Prince – Lyrics from 1999

Bob Stoops was in his first year as head coach of the Sooners. Lincoln Riley was 17-yrs. old and the starting QB for the Muleshoe Mules … and Spencer Rattler was still 6-days away from being born.

The year, as you may have gathered from the late great artist sometimes known as Prince – was 1999 … and it was the last time the Oklahoma Sooners lost back-to-back regular season games … that is until last Saturday night.

 Oklahoma 30  Iowa State 37

 “This defense sucks like nothing has ever sucked in the history of sucking” – Bevis & Butthead. 

I’ll admit it, I was wrong. Shocking, I know, but it happens. In fact, as crazy as this may sound, I’m wrong all the time, about a lot of things, and I have references that will back this claim should you need them. But as it pertains to the Sooners, after 3-games and two losses, all I can say is, what a fool am I.

I drank the cool-aide. I was a homer. I was a fool because I truly felt that the defense would be improved in year two under Alex Grinch. Look, I wasn’t being naïve in thinking that losing middle linebacker and leading tackler Kenneth Murry, top defensive tackle Neville Gallimore, and top cover-corner Parnell Motley wouldn’t hurt … I was being a crimson-colored glasses moron.

In my defense – pun intended - I thought that top recruit Josh Ellison from the junior college ranks would help plug the hole left by Gallimore’s departure.  In fairness, he’s been ok, but I guess I just didn’t expect this d-line to suffer more leaks than a game-day urinal. I'll admit it. I was wrong.

At linebacker, the Sooners had some guys returning who seemed on the verge of being quality players … White, Bonitto, Asamoah &  Ugweoghbu Ugewoebu - f*** it ... David U. But, I had no idea that they were such horrible tacklers or that they would get run over like they were standing between Kirsti Alley and an all-you-can-eat buffet, giving up enough yards after contact to make you want to YAC (YAC ...see what I did there :). I also thought Starbucks was a horrible idea ... coffee all day, no f-in' way. I'll admit it. I was wrong. 

As for the defensive backfield, surely they couldn’t be any worse than they’ve been the last couple years, right? In 2018, this defense was #130^th in the nation against the pass. The only reason they weren't #131, was because there wasn't one. In 2019, although you wouldn’t know it from watching the LSU game, there was some marked improvement by the Sooners defense against the pass, at least enough to give you hope for more improvement in 2020.  But then again, in 7^th grade I was absolutely certain that the line in the Queen song We Will Rock You was, “Kicking your cat all over the place…” I'll admit it. I was wrong.

Last year, the Sooners defense came up with only 11-turnovers ... or what I refer to as ‘A Sooners Dozen.’ Hell, a defense featuring Stevie Wonder, Ronnie Milsap, Ray Charles, & Helen Keller, could come up with more than 11. But then again, Stevie did write the Songs to the Key of Life … so of course they would. But 11? No way it would be that low again. Right?

The Sooners got their first turnover of the year Saturday night (no, the INT against Missouri State does not count damn it), which puts the Sooner defense on pace to get FOUR turnovers this season. FOUR! Four is the number of Beatles, suits of cards, cardinal directions, and deadly horseman there are – it shouldn’t be the number of turnovers your defense comes up with all season. But then again, I didn't think we'd drop out of the top 20 like we were a .com stock either. I'll admit it. I was wrong.

20-years ago, I was in the stands in South Bend, Indiana when the Sooners lost to Notre Dame … and again a week later in the Cotton Bowl when the Sooners lost their second consecutive game, this time to Texas. If our defense plays like it has so far this season, the Sooners streak will be extended to 3-in a row…

I thought the Sooners defense would be improved this season. I thought OU would win the Big 12 for the 6^th consecutive year, and that we'd be undefeated when we made the annual trek to Dallas. With that kind of thinking, it’s a minor miracle that I don’t believe the world to be flat, the internet a fad, and that my actions over the last 54-years wouldn’t be an issue if I were to run for public office. I'll admit it. I was wrong.

But, I guess there is hope for the Sooner Nation ... I think that after playing Texas this weekend, the Sooners will find themselves at 1-3. Which has me hoping .... #Pleaseletmebewrongagain. 

Just the Opinion Of One Mildly Interested Guy

Buddy Putty - The Overweight Armchair Sooner