It is almost time to kickoff the 2010 college football season.  The Oklahoma Sooners have a storied football program that features 7 National Championships and 5 Heisman Trophy winners atop the numerous other awards garnered by the teams and players.  Several players will try to add to the trophy case.  These are the players that are on the watch lists for the various individual awards.

Lombardi Award (for nation’s top lineman or linebacker)

Jeremy Beal

Travis Lewis

Doak Walker Award (for nation’s top running back)

DeMarco Murray

Dick Butkus Award (for nation’s top linebacker)

Travis Lewis

Paul Hornung Award (for nation’s most versatile player – this is the first year for this award)

Ryan Broyles

Biletnikoff Award (for nation’s top receiver)

Ryan Broyles

Ted Hendricks Award (for nation’s top defensive end)

Jeremy Beal

Manning Award (for nation’s top quarterback)

Landry Jones

Jim Thorpe Award (for nation’s top defensive back)

Quinton Carter

Davey O’Brien Award (for nation’s top quarterback)

Landry Jones

Bronko Nagurski Award (for nation’s top defensive player)

Jeremy Beal

Travis Lewis

Outland Trophy (for nation’s top interior lineman)

Cory Brandon

Ben Habern

Adrian Taylor

Maxwell Award (for nation’s top football player)

Ryan Broyles

Landry Jones

DeMarco Murray

The Oklahoma Sooners have a storied football legacy.  With that in mind, I will be counting down the players I consider to be the top 10 of all time.  Today I am listing players up for consideration.  I would appreciate your input on who should be on the list.  Leave a comment on who you think should be on that list.

I have one glaring omission from the list – the wishbone quarterbacks.  Clearly they were key men on some great Sooner teams.  However, none of them made any All-American teams.  If you think we should consider one for inclusion on the top 10 list, please leave that quarterback’s name in the comment section.

Here is the breakdown by position of the 27 players to be considered.  I have chosen to use national award winners, multi-year unanimous All-American picks, etc.

QB – Sam Bradford, Jason White, Josh Heupel

RB – Billy Vessels, Tommy McDonald, Steve Owens, Billy Sims, Adrian Peterson, Greg Pruitt, Joe Washington

OL – Kurt Burris, Jerry Tubbs, Jamaal Brown, Greg Roberts, J.D. Roberts, Jim Weathrall

TE – Keith Jackson

DL – Lee Roy Selmon, Tony Casillas, Tommie Harris

LB – Rod Shoate, Brian Bosworth, Rocky Calmus, Teddy Lehman

DB – Ricky Dixon, Derrick Strait, Roy Williams

Agree?  Disagree?

As a lifelong Oklahoma Sooner fan, I was ecstatic while watching the Crimson and Cream Show at the beginning of the draft last night.  When tight end, Jermaine Gresham was drafted 21st by the Cincinnati Bengals, the tally for the Sooners stood at 4.  That is 4 of the top 21 picks in the draft played for the Sooners.  Even more amazingly, 3 of the first 4 picks hailed from Norman.

Recap of OU picks:

#1 – Sam Bradford (QB) – St. Louis Rams

#3 – Gerald McCoy (DL) – Tampa Bay Buccaneers

#4 – Trent William (OL) – Washington Redskins

#21 – Jermaine Gresham (TE) – Cincinnati Bengals

* Sam Bradford became the 18th quarterback selected as the NFL’s overall #1 pick in the draft.  See info and list of the previous 17 here.

*  Sam Bradford became the 3rd Oklahoma Sooner to be the NFL’s overall #1 pick.  He joins Lee Roy Selmon (1976 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) and Billy Sims (1980 by the Detroit Lions).

*  This was the 1st time a school has produced 3 of the top 4 picks in the draft.

*  Schools with Multiple Picks in the 1st Round

1. Oklahoma – 4
2. Florida – 3
3. Tennesee – 2
4. Oklahoma State – 2
5. Alabama – 2
6. Cal – 2
7. Rutgers – 2
8. Georgia Tech – 2

Other Thoughts on the 1st Round:

1.  Good for the Denver Broncos and Tim Tebow.  Mel Kuiper nearly blew a gasket in his opposition to Tebow in the NFL.  Jon Gruden loved the pick.  I’m with Gruden on this one.

2.  NFL folks don’t buy the press hype when it comes to Notre Dame quarterbacks.  Jimmy Clausen still awaits a phone call even though Mel Kuiper had him rated above Bradford and Tebow.  Do you remember the sweat drops pouring off of Brady Quinn 3 years ago when he slid to #22 in the draft?

3.  Does Clausen’s slide indicate what NFL folks really think about the coaching of Charlie Weis?

4.  ESPN analysts

Jon Gruden’s stock continues to rise on being a guy who really is a whiz when it comes to understanding football.

Kuiper looked childish in his relentless criticism of Tim Tebow.  Perhaps he was peeved that his player analysis was repeatedly at odds with the NFL talent people.

Chris Berman is great to have leading the panel.

I admire Tom Jackson and his comments except when it comes to his beloved Broncos.  Then his emotions take over.

Steve Young?  He is fine when he is talking about an actual game.  When it comes to player evaluation and trying to mind-read teams, the lefty appears out in left field.  I think I even saw the other panelists roll their eyes a few times over his comments.

Sam Bradford

During the NFL Scouting Combine, players take a 50 question timed test called Wonderlic or Wunderlich (I’ve seen both spellings).  The scores are sent to NFL teams.  A writer for the Palm Beach Post listed the scores of the top 4 quarterback prospects in this years draft:

Sam Bradford (Oklahoma) – 36

Colt McCoy (Texas) – 25

Jimmy Clausen (Notre Dame) – 23

Tim Tebow (Florida) – 22

So does this mean that Bradford is the smartest quarterback in this year’s draft class?  We’ll see.  Anybody who has ever taken standardized tests wonders about the process.  Yet they seem to give us some insights into how people stack up.  If nothing else, it provides Oklahoma fans with something else to boast.

Last year Mark Sanchez (USC) had a great year with the Jets.  He scored a 28.  The best score recorded was by Ryan Fitzpatrick of Harvard – makes sense – with a 49.  Vince Young (Texas) plays for the Tennessee Titans.  He represents the low end with a 6 on his first try.  He retook the test and scored a 15.

The 2009 football season did not turn out the way the Oklahoma Sooners had planned. The losses of Heisman Trophy winner, Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham began the season on a sour note. In the preseason, players were up for 21 national awards. None of those individual awards panned out, but the Sooners are still represented on All-American teams.

Gerald McCoy, Defensive Tackle (Jr)

1st Team All-American: Sporting News, Walter Camp Football Foundation, Football Writers Association of America

2nd Team All-American: Associated Press

Trent Williams, Offensive Line (Sr)

1st Team All-American: Associated Press, Walter Camp Football Foundation, American Football Coaches Association

2nd Team All-American: Sporting News

Jeremy Beal, Defensive End (Jr)

3rd Team All-American: Associated Press

Tress Way, Punter (Fr)

3rd Team All-American: Sporting News

]]> http://www.frankgantz.com/410/oklahoma-sooners-2009-post-season-honors/feed/ 1 http://www.frankgantz.com/271/weekly-pic/ http://www.frankgantz.com/271/weekly-pic/#comments Tue, 20 Oct 2009 02:01:15 +0000 Frank Gantz http://www.frankgantz.com/?p=271

Turkey Legs while watching Red River Rivalry (Leah, Frank, Carlton)

On Saturday the Oklahoma Sooners and the Texas Longhorns will renew the greatest rivalry in college football.  The game will again be played at The Cotton Bowl in Dallas.  This is the site of the Texas State Fair.

The Gantz family will be in full participation mode.  At the game on the 40 yard line will be my oldest son, Cameron and my father, Eugene.  I am excited that the two will get to experience this event together.  Texas enters the game as the favorite since Oklahoma enters with 2 losses this season.

Cameron’s record of attending Oklahoma events has not been good lately.  Last year he attended the Oklahoma-Texas basketball game in Austin.  Texas won.  In January he attended (with me) the BCS National Championship Game in Miami.  Florida won.  In September he (and a host of family members) attended the Oklahoma-BYU game in the new Jerry Dome in Arlington.  BYU won.  So I really hope he gets to experience a win.

My other children (Leah, Carlton and Bethany), their families and I will be watching the game at Carlton’s house.  We will be celebrating as if we will be – State Fair style.  We will be eating turkey legs, corn dogs and other fair food.  I don’t think we will be doing deep fried Snickers or Oreos however.

Here are couple of tidbits about the game this year.

In 2008 Texas headed into RRR week with a 38-14 victory over Colorado.  Last week Texas defeated Colorado 38-14.

In 2008 Oklahoma QB, Sam Bradford won the Heisman Trophy.  Texas QB, Colt McCoy was the runnerup.

Since I reside in Kentucky, which borders Ohio, ABC decided to show the Ohio State and Wisconsin game in Louisville. Thanks to ESPN 360 I was able to watch Oklahoma and Baylor play on my computer. Here are my 5 observations of the game.

1. Sam Bradford is a smooth quarterback.

Bradford played for the first time since the first half of the first game of the season. He makes great reads and great throws. Landry Jones did an admirable job of filling in while Bradford was out, but Bradford is not the defending Heisman Trophy winner for nothing.  He finished the game with 389 yards passing.  This number was limited due to dropped passes.

2. Oklahoma will have to improve in the red zone.

I understand that Jermaine Gresham was a huge weapon last year and is out with injury this year. But the formula run, run, pass, kick is getting pretty predictable especially when the runs are all within the tackles.

3. Oklahoma’s wide receivers will get better with experience.

The young cast of receivers dropped too many balls. However, these young guys seem to be running good routes and can run after the catch.

4. Baylor’s coach, Art Briles is a good coach.

Briles won 4 Texas state championships as a high school coach. He then started the turnaround of the Houston program before heading to Waco. If anybody can get Baylor out of the bottom half of the Big XII South, it will be Briles.  He lost to injury the best quarterback Baylor has had in years.

5. Oklahoma’s defense is solid.

In 5 games, the Sooners have allowed a high of 21 points (against Miami). For the season (5 games), OU’s opponents have scored 42 points.  That’s 8.4 points per game.  In the game today, they held Baylor to 6 rushing yards for the game.  6!

The biggest vulnerability has been when the defensive backs have a misread in zone coverage.

By the way. Next week is the Red River Rivalry.

On Saturday night, October 3rd, the Oklahoma Sooners invade Miami to play the Hurricanes in college football.  Until 5 months ago, I was living in South Florida and planning on attending this game.  Unfortunately, I will have to watch the game on ABC since I now live in Louisville, KY.

In anticipation of this game, I have been reflecting on one of the best games that I have attended.  The date was September 27, 1986 in The Orange Bowl in Miami.  The defending national champions, Oklahoma, entered the game as the #1 ranked team in the nation.  Miami was ranked #2.  This was the first of 2 times that I have attended a #1 vs. #2 game.  At the end of last season, my son, Cameron and I attended the BCS National Championship game between Oklahoma and Florida in Miami.

The 1986 game was filled with heavyweights and All-Americans all over the field.  Miami was led by Vinnie Testaverde.  He would go on to win the Heisman Trophy that year.  He was joined by guys like Michael Irvin, Alonzo Highsmith, Melvin Bratton, Jerome Browne, and the Blades brothers.  Oklahoma had guys like Brian Bosworth, Jammin’ Jamelle Hollaway, Spencer Tillman and Keith Jackson.

Entering the game, Testaverde and Bosworth were 2 of the 3 leading candidates for the Heisman (Michigan State had a running back that was the 3rd).

Prior to this game, Oklahoma had not lost since the previous season when Miami defeated Oklahoma in Norman.  That game is remembered because Troy Aikman was the quarterback for Oklahoma.  He was injured during the game.  Freshman, Hollaway subbed for him and led Oklahoma to the national title.  Barry Switzer decided to stay with the wishbone attack and Aikman transferred to UCLA.

Oklahoma has not been a stranger to playing in Miami.  They have participated in 16 Orange Bowl games winning 13 of them.

I was living in Little Rock, AR at the time.  My cousin, Duane was living in Miami.  I flew to Miami and as soon as I got off the plane, I knew this would be no ordinary game.  Everyone was buzzing about the game.  Within 5 minutes of being in the city, I heard for the first of many times a pretty good song written by some local artists.  It detailed what the Hurricanes would do to the Sooners.  I remember lines like,  “Oklahoma?…Joke-lahoma.”  There was also something about the Canes and Bennie and Brian Blades blowing Oklahoma into the Everglades.

I happened to be on crutches with a cast on my lower leg due to a broken bone in my foot.  We arrived early at the stadium to tailgate.  The rowdy Miami fans began giving those of us in our crimson OU attire much grief.  I have never attended a game with such a threatening crowd.  Flowing beer and bikini clad women were all over the stadium.  I was verbally abused throughout the afternoon.

The game provided hard hits and tough football from beginning to end.  Miami did prevail, 28-16, in front of 71,451 fans.  Testaverde threw 4 touchdown passes including 2 to Michael Irvin.

Jimmy Johnson was Miami’s coach.  Barry Switzer was the coach for Oklahoma.  These were former teammates in college playing for the Arkansas Razorbacks.  Both would go on to win Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys (Jerry Jones played with them in Arkansas).  They are still the only 2 coaches to win both a college national championship and a Super Bowl.

Although the footage is not modern HD quality, watch the intro to the game in this video:

Let’s hope that tomorrow will be a great game even if it can’t live up to the hype and quality of that game 23 years ago.  By the way, Randy Shannon (Miami’s current coach) was a linebacker for Miami in that game.

Subscribe to this blog on the right hand side of the page by entering your email address.  This way you will get other posts about this game.