FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Something, we hope, will be proven on the field Thursday night at Dolphin Stadium when Florida and Oklahoma play for the national championship.
One can hope both teams bring their best and the chips simply fall. It doesn’t happen often, a team losing on its best day, but what the Gators and Sooners have done since dropping their only game offers reason to believe one or the other might. Because if two teams bring their best, one must still lose.
So here’s hoping it’s a classic.
On the other hand, what’s already been proven in the buildup to Thursday night is you can take the child out of the foodfight and make him a sportswriter, a sports talking head or a sportscaster, but you can’t take the foodfight out of the child.
Or something like that.
It’s hard to avoid in our soundbite culture and yet Dominique Franks has never been so famous (or infamous) in Sunshine State.
Offering what seemed to be a fairly thoughtful answer, Franks responded to a direct question with a direct response when he said Florida quarterback Tim Tebow might rank No. 4 among Big 12 conference QBs.
Never mind that Franks was probably right; or, perhaps, wrong by not placing Tebow No. 5, behind Chase Daniel; or No. 6, behind Todd Reesing; or No. 7 behind Joe Ganz; or … all right, just having a little fun there. I’m sure Tebow would be among the top six quarterbacks in the Big 12.
The point is it was as if Franks had come out against the Everglades or Crockett and Tubbs or a free Cuba or he’d said Dwyane Wade belongs in the D-League.
There are all kinds of ways to break down the game, but who wants to talk about that when they can turn answers into spitballs?
Still, it was kind of fun.
Florida linebacker Brandon Spikes fired back with this line:
“You talk like that, he’s gonna make you pay for it. The last time a guy talked like that about him, he put 50 on ’em.”
Really, how great is that?
Not only does Spikes sound like Francis telling Sergeant Hulka and everybody else they better call him Psycho in “Stripes,” but if OU only does what it’s done each of its last last six games, Tebow can go right ahead and put up 50 and Florida will lose by at least eight points.
The truth is, slights like this don’t amount to much of anything. Because sometimes, as in Franks’ case, considering a league that includes Sam Bradford, Colt McCoy and Graham Harrell, it is hardly a slight at all.
Also, if Tebow has all the intangibles everybody says he has (because only that can place him in front of the Big 12’s best QBs; he doesn’t have the stats) the last thing on earth to affect him is a Sooner popping off. If Tebow has all the intangibles, he’s going to play a great game anyway.
What the Sooner Nation might want to celebrate is all the questions being asked of OU’s defense. Because while it’s reasonable to ask Sooner defenders if they can keep up with the Gators, deciding offensive numbers in the Big 12 are a greater reflection on the league’s defenses than the offenses is not.
Anybody who watched the conference this season knows OU, Texas, Texas Tech, Missouri and sometimes even Kansas, Nebraska and Kansas State can become electric while possessing the ball.
And, for all the silliness of it all, make 11 guys really, really mad and it might just mean something come gametime.
In the inescapable back and forth of the buildup, the Sooners have come out ahead.
Clay Horning
366-3526
cfhorning@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
A little smack talk never hurt
- OU Sports
-
-
Sooners make winning look easy
As Oklahoma’s players locked arms around the pitching circle, coming together for what passed as a celebration following Saturday’s 7-1 NCAA Super Regional-clinching victory over Arizona, three gloves remained near second base....
-
There are no easy outs in the lineup
Looking for a gameplan to stop Oklahoma? Well, one may or may not be available, but walking two of the first three Sooners you face certainly isn’t part of it. Just ask Arizona’s Kenzie Fowler....
-
Sooners will play for Big 12 championship
OKLAHOMA CITY, — It’s been 16 years since Oklahoma won the Big 12 tournament. It’s closer now than its ever been to ending the streak. The Sooners rolled through Baylor, 7-2, on Saturday at Bricktown Ballpark to advance to the tournament’s ...
-
Sooners send five more to nationals
AUSTIN, Texas — Oklahoma track and field teams had five more individuals qualify for the NCAA Championship on Saturday evening at the NCAA West Preliminary. The men’s 4x100-meter relay team also advanced to the national semifinals....
-
OU sophomore Jao-Javanil wins NCAA golf title
FRANKLIN, Tenn. — Oklahoma’s Chirapat Jao-Javanil made Oklahoma golf history Friday, becoming the first Sooner, man or woman, to win an individual NCAA national championship....
-
Pitching staff is exactly where Golloway wants it to be
When the Big 12 tournament began, Oklahoma felt like it had the pitching staff to make a deep run. Dillon Overton, Jordan John, Jonathan Gray and Damien Magnifico gave them four quality starters and a closer — Steven Okert — capable of ...
-
Sooners shut out Wildcats, need one more win for WCWS entry
Oklahoma might have scored more runs, not committed an error and starting pitcher Keilani Ricketts could have been just a little more efficient along the way....
-
Sooners send 4 more to NCAAs
AUSTIN, Texas – Oklahoma’s track and field teams added four individuals to the list of Sooners advancing to the NCAA championship Friday at the NCAA West Preliminary. In addition to the four new qualifiers, Brittany Borman advanced to the ...
-
Big 12, SEC deal breaks the mold
It is unclear what the on-the-field product of the game-for-which-there-is-not-yet-a-name will be. Indeed, all we really know is the Big 12 and SEC plan to play a game on Jan. 1, 2015 (and on every Jan. 1, thereafter) that will include ...
-
Rivalry helped shape program
For coach Patty Gasso, it goes all the way back to 1995, her first year at Oklahoma. That was when her Sooners played Arizona six times throughout the season. Those Sooners were “annihilated” in all six of those contests....
- More OU Sports Headlines
-
Sooners make winning look easy
