OUInsider - Owen Field

1. I was unable to attend yesterdays OU-Tulsa tilt in person. So, I spent the day watching and listening to College Football. As the great Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe an awful lot by watching."

2. I am massively tired of the conference realignment talk. I watch CFB to get away from the real world. When the real world, contracts, dollars and cents, etc., start to encroach, it beats me down.

3. The imminent demise of the Big XII seems to have been sparked in large part by the Longhorn Network. It is more than a little ironic that Dish, Direct TV, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast have refused to carry it. Thus, the only team in the Big XII conference with its own network had a game yesterday that very few people could see. Somthing called Grande (that has about 11 subscribers in central Texas) and Verizon (which serves half-dozen or so people) are the only ones to carry it.

4. The Texas fans were pleading, pressuring and threatening Time Warner, etc. to carry the station. No luck. Why the surprise? Time Warner still has not signed on for the NFL Network.

4a. ESPN has been urging customers to call their local cable outlets. In fact, there is an add on this site right now for the network. Memo to ESPN, I ain't calling.

5. Notre Dame had a series of bad breaks in the loss to South Florida yesterday. On the opening drive, ND drove to the one-yard-line. The ball was stripped and returned 99 yards for a TD. A bad interceptions was then thrown in the end zone. And a punt was muffed. I always think ND is overrated, but strangely they looked pretty good yesterday. But, you can only shoot yourself in the foot so many times until you bleed to death.

6. BYU came from behind to beat Ole Miss by one. I think next weekend's BYU-Texas game will be massively interesting. Since it will be on ESPN people will actually be able to see it.

7. The reports from the few people who actually saw the Texas-Rice game were not very positive. Gilbert is apparently not much better. Overthrowing open receivers; balls at receivers' feet. The game plan was apparently designed for him not to do much. They have some trick plays, which they needed to put Rice away. They played Ash in a "package" and let McCoy close it out. I see another tough year for Bevo. GIlbert is on a short leash and there is no experience behind him. Six guys took snaps under center including the wildcat participants. All that is fine against Rice, but against the big boys, you need a quarterback to make plays.

7a. The Rice Band spelled "$EC" on the field last night during its performance.

8. I was pleased with OU's performance last night. Vanilla game plan. Limited opponent due to suspensions. Still, I saw progress.

*. OU lost two games last year. In both, the team gave up a kick return for a TD. One was also given up against Connecticut. Last night was better in that regard. I don't think a kickoff was returned past the 30.

*. OU averaged 3.3 yards a carry last year. Better last night. A real emphasis on the running game. So far so good.

9. Adding Stills to the offense should help and take pressure off Broyles.

10. Adding McGee on defense should help up the middle.

11. Getting Travis Lewis back will help when that occurs.

11a. Tress Way is still a weapon.

12. Things that were of concern last night:

*. National championship teams do not miss extra points. The kicking game appears to be still be in flux.

*. The secondary busts were obviously concerning. You can get away with that against Tulsa, but not Florida State.

13. I wonder what offensive formations (diamond, etc.) they are holding back.

14. I watched a bit of the Florida State game yesterday, but not enough to draw any conclusions.

By the way, it was odd to be able to listen to an OU radio broadcast and actually be able to follow the game. Big improvement there.

This should be a very interesting season. I can't wait to watch it unfold.

Boomer Sooner.