Game of the Day

A morning workout that ran too late and some technical difficulties means that my intentions of live-blogging the first half of the Oklahoma-Texas game kind of fell apart. But there's nothing keeping me from trying my hand at it after halftime.

For a number of reasons, few games interest me as much at the annual showdown between the Sooners and the Longhorns: I'm always reminded that UT had the last all-white national championship team (1969); I was a huge fan of those Switzer-era Sooners; I lived in Oklahoma City for a wonderful eight months; and, for the most part, I never really liked UT fans - that's sort of weird because I love Austin.

Anyway, I'm mildly unnerved that the Sooners are leading by only a point at the half. They should be ahead by a couple of touchdowns, which could portend good things for the Horns. We'll see how things go.

UPDATE: Great first defensive series for the Sooners. But why doesn't Colt McCoy just throw the ball away instead of taking the sack?

UPDATE 2: Manuel Johnson is a bad man. In fact, the Sooners are noticeably faster than the Horns. How does that happen, given the talent Mack Brown has supposedly been stockpiling?

UPDATE 3: Will Muschamp ... why blitz in that situation? And that has to be the fourth or fifth time, at least, that OU has run that delayed screen over the middle. When do you think the Horns will pick up on that one?

UPDATE 4: Even though I'm rooting against UT, Chris Ogbonnaya is a little source of pride for me. Gotta love those running backs from Strake Jesuit.

UPDATE 5: OU 28-27. Must admit: UT has more heart than I expected. That was a very gutsy drive.

UPDATE 6: Crap. Ryan Reynolds is out. Huge loss for the Sooners. More in coverage than in run D - UT really is no threat there.

UPDATE 7: For the first time in a long time, we see the gambler in Stoops. The fake punt didn't pay off but I love him for even trying it. Still, this could be a huge boost for the Horns.

UPDATE 8: You can see how much the Sooners miss Reynolds on drives like this. The middle of the field is wide open for the Horns.

UPDATE 9: UT 30-28. I should probably know this but couldn't Stoops have challenged that call on the dropped INT? ... Ok, that was a terrible call.

UPDATE 10: End of the 3rd quarter. For the life of me, I can't understand how the Horns are winning this one. UT looks like its gaining confidence and the Sooners look a little shaken.

UPDATE 11: Even I can admit that was a helluva acting job. But it breathed a little life into the Sooners ... they couldn't afford to punt to the Horns again without putting up any points.

UPDATE 12: OU 35-30. Credit Knall for the Sooners' 6. That might be the key play in this game. And Bradford made two great throws to finish off that scoring drive. ... Glad to see Stoops decided to kick the XP and not go for two. Always take the sure-thing until you have no choice.

UPDATE 13: It's official: both teams can move the ball at will against each other. This could conceivably come down to who was the ball last, assuming UT puts a touchdown on the board here.

UPDATE 14: I was just telling my father that the middle of the field has been wide open for the Horns. That, bam! Shipley takes in a pass from McCoy in the middle of the field. Losing Ryan Reynolds has really, really hurt the Sooners.

UPDATE 15: UT 38-35. Honestly, USC would throttle both of these teams. I can't imagine either one of these teams winning a national title. The defenses in this game are pretty suspect against other elite offenses. Particularly the secondaries.

UPDATE 16: DeMarco Murray has lost a lot of explosiveness. He just doesn't look the same. And that has really hurt the Sooners, at least, against teams with elite defenses.

UPDATE 17: Ogbonnaya!!!!

UPDATE 18: UT 45-35. Yeah, the Horns are pretty much overwhelming OU in the trenches. And ABC showed a stat about the effect the loss of Reynolds has had on the Sooners - UT has averaged about twice as many yards a play since #8 went out for the game. It's so apparent.

UPDATE 19: What ever happened to Big Game Bob? You know, in many ways, this is a referendum on the improvement Mack Brown has made as a sideline tactician since the Vince Young Era.

UPDATE 20: And that's game. Of all things, Bradford was off on that fourth-down pass.

UPDATE 21: Remember when UT fans used to complain mercilessly about Greg Davis? Well, today he calle a helluva game. And he's doing all this without a lead running back - no offense to lil' C.O.

UPDATE 22: And that's game. UT 45-35. Another No. 1 goes down.

UPDATE 23: You know, if UT beats Mizzou next weekend, there's a serious case to be made that the Horns deserve to be the nation's top-ranked team. Regardless, USC is still the nation's top team in these eyes. Alabama and LSU, assuming the Tigers win tonight, are the next two.

That's all for the moment. The First Lady is going to join me in Houston and we've got some sightseeing. More tomorrow. Or later today, if I can convince her to let me have more computer time. But I doubt it.