Before we dive into other topics, first there are a few major stories related to the Sooners. The first has to do with the ongoing Mike Balogun case. Matt Hinton over at the Yahoo Sports Dr. Saturday blog draws some interesting conclusions:

When I read the headline, I assumed it was just a matter of Florida State pointing out Balogun as a precedent, to argue on Surrency’s behalf: "If he can do it, why can't we?" But apparently not; apparently, FSU went after another team's player – a team it doesn't even play (Balogun will be long gone no matter what when FSU and OU hook up in 2010-11) – out of something like pure spite. Law-abiding spite, but spite nonetheless. Even if they couldn't keep their own guy from getting the ax, you have to respect the pure mercenary venom in that compliance department, if nothing else. That is cold, 'Noles.

There's no way to know how things went down, but we can be sure that Florida State was the one that sounded the alarm bells. Not only that, but consider this from ESPN's Tim Griffin:

Interestingly, it appears that Florida State officers went to great lengths to check out Balogun's case. They initially told the Big 12 Conference, but were told the conference was satisfied with Oklahoma's original findings.

But Florida State's compliance office apparently delved much deeper after that, the Oklahoman reports.

I'm not going to draw any conclusions. However, I would bet that most people around OU football and even football fans in Oklahoma are marking September 11, 2010 on their calendars - as that is the day that Florida State will visit Norman for a non-conference football game.

In some somber news, the rumor is that Tom Wort, a backup middle linebacker, will be lost for the season with a torn ACL. This impacts depth at that position, but the most probable scenario would have Austin Box backing up Ryan Reynolds.

More news and notes after the jump!

• Andre "Doom and Gloom" Ware:  On ESPN's College Football Live, TV analyst Andre Ware predicted the Sooners would go 8-4. He also predicted that the Sooners would lose the opener against BYU and then lose three more from a combination of @Miami, Tulsa, Texas, @Nebraska, Oklahoma State.
• Texas Tech Shut Out?:  Apparently the Texas Tech defense shut out the offense in a scrimmage. When was the last time you expected a Mike Leach offense to put up a 0? 
• Oklahoma State Trying To Minimize Distractions:  No media obligations for players or coaches all the way up to Oklahoma State's season opener. Mike Gundy with this gem: "You've got a lot of cute girls out there. There's a lot of things going on. Guys have to focus. We're trying to reel them in."
• Missouri Had A Few Sloppy Scrimmages:  Gary Pinkel thinks that his team should have made more progress by this point. Not surprising given the star players that have departed.
• Texas A&M With Much Better Offense or Much Worse Defense?:  Apparently the offense went on some long drives in scrimmage and running backs are "breaking a lot of tackles". The offense shined, so it's tough to tell whether it was offensive improvement from last year or defensive regression from last year.
• Remember the Texas-Texas Tech Game:  Blake Gideon is using his dropped interception that would have resulted in a win for Texas as motivation for this year. I don't blame him, that was a big moment.
• Tweet  Away:  SEC fans can now tweet from games.
• The "Captain Obvious" Statement of the Day:  SEC teams generally don't have tough non-con schedules. No I'm not saying that, this was written from deep in the heart of SEC country. Only 6 of the 48 non-con games are against top-25 teams and 3 of those 6 are against Georgia Tech.
  
• Double Standard:  Florida is retooling their offensive line. Funny that doesn't worry people as much as OU retooling theirs. I will admit that OU does have to replace 4 starters (more than Florida), but OU will be starting a few guys with experience.
• Don't Write Off The Big Ten:  Dennis Dodd says that you should be careful writing off the Big Ten.
• Remember Keith Nichol?:  Yeah, he transferred from OU and it looks like he might be leading the quarterback race in East Lansing (Mich St.)
• Minnesota Going To Use Wildcat:  Apparently they have a lot of athletes, and why not on that fast track at the Metrodome?
• USC Quarterback Race:  If Aaron Corp can't go in the opener, Matt Barkley could be the first true freshman to start for USC at quarterback...ever.
• Greg Paulus:  Goes from backup on Duke basketball team to starter on Syracuse football team - at quarterback!
• Oregon Giants:  Oregon has five receivers who are at least 6'3", including one who is 6'7" and two who are 6'5". Yikes!

That's it for now, Boomer Sooner!