The Oklahoma Sooners Can't Win Without "Texas Boys?"
by OnlyOneOU on Jul 6, 2011 5:09 PM CDT
in Oklahoma Sooners Football
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PrintIt never seems to fail! This topic will rear its ugly head in almost every post here at the Crimson and Cream Machine but how much of it is truth? We all know that Texas is a pool of talent ripe for the picking and many times the Oklahoma Sooners have dipped down in their bag of tricks to pull an Adrian Peterson out of Texas. Much of this is due to a significant difference in population though. A density of an area determines the outcome of home much talent exists there. So by simply math we have - the more densely populated the area the more talent, the less densely populated the area the less talent. Now UT fanatics like to claim the Oklahoma Football Roster is full of their "Texas Boys" without any basis on that. Some will go as far as saying four of the Heisman Winners to come through OU only won the award because of these "Texas Boys." I figured, why not take a look at this years team (a championship caliber one at that) and the projected starters just to see how much truth could be found in these statements. Here is a quick look.
The highly potent score at will offense boasts only four players from the state of Texas
| Texas | Non-Texas |
| C Ben Habern |
LT Donald Stephenson |
| RT Jarvis Jones | LG Gabe Ikard |
| TE James Hanna | RG Tyler Evans |
| WR Trey Franks | WR Kenny Stills |
| WR Ryan Broyles | |
| QB Landry Jones | |
| FB Marshall Musil | |
| RB Brennan Clay |
The lock down defense matches the offense with four players from the state of Texas although I am not sure you can count Tom Wort as a "Texas Boy." For those of you who don't know, Tom Wort isn't even from the United States but did play high school football in New Braunfels, TX. This brings the number back down to seven total from the projected starters being from Texas. (Also Austin Box would have been the starter at MLB and he is from the great state of Oklahoma!)
| Texas | Non-Texas |
| DT Casey Walker | DE Frank Alexander |
| MLB Tom Wort | DT Stacey McGee |
| OLB Travis Lewis | DE Ronnell Lewis |
| CB Demontre Hurst | OLB Tony Jefferson |
| CB Gabe Lynn | |
| SS Aaron Colvin | |
| FS Javon Harris |
Cold hard facts! In total, out of the possible 23 starters (not including special teams), Texas has landed eight spots on the Oklahoma starting roster. To put this into percentage perspective - 34.78% of the starters are from Texas leaving 65.22% of the starters hailing from somewhere else. You could always make that argument that I left the back ups off the list and so on but the starters are going to get the most playing time. Therefore, they have the most direct impact on the outcome of the game. When kids from Texas claim a majority of the starting roster, then you might have an argument that OU can't win without "Texas Boys."
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This argument really doesnt bother me...
we can all agree that texas has the best high school football players. I kind of like that we go down there and steal the states best players
with that said...
i didnt realize we had so many starters not from texas, just shows you how well OU recruits nationally
The easy response:
So take away all of your starters from Texas. Think you still have a championship caliber team?
Is the team dominated by Texas boys? I dont know, too lazy to look at the full roster. But them Texas boys been helping y’all out for a while. Aint no denying that.
To follow up with Texas-Sooner…OU does recruit very well nationally. I really hope Texas starts to broaden our recruiting horizons like this year. While there is a ton of great talent in Texas, still gotta look at the big fish around the country
Don't Have A Championship Caliber Team Without Starters From Any State. Why?
BECAUSE THEY"RE ALL STARTERS – Take away Oklahoma starters and we’re sunk, take away Texas starters and we’re sunk, take away the California starters and we’re sunk. That’s a horrible argument.
It's just another dig at Sooners we have
We have the luxury of being able to have starters from within our state. Oklahoma does not. You have to recruit nationally to be successful on an elite level. We do not.
Heisman Trophies.
OU-five, with one being from Texas.
UT-two, with one being from Texas.
The reason OU recruits nationally is because they win championships and great players want to be a part of it.
If you're trying to stir the pot that's one thing
However, if you really believe this then it is a statement of ignorance. Or perhaps you haven’t heard of Billy Vessels, Steve Owens, Jason White and Sam Bradford. All from the state of Oklahoma, all won Heisman Trophies.
Oklahoma currently has 9 starters on the roster.
We all know Texas fans are very selective on what they want to believe or not
"I feel fortunate.... It's just great to get another championship." Bob Stoops
If I believe what?
I believe that without the state of Texas, OU would not be as good of a team top to bottom. You guys HAVE to rely on Texas boys to compete at an elite level.
I realize that your roster is not dominated by Texas kids. The OP seemed to suggest that Oklahoma does not need Texas kids to be an elite team. I disagree.
I really hope you can keep bringing in your elite 5-7 players.
Whoops there goes that “texass good” problem y’all got going on down there. Truly….
by OU JJ on Jul 6, 2011 10:15 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
I don't get how having in-state players that can't win championships is a luxury
I will take the luxury of knowing that Oklahoma can recruit anywhere they want to in the nation and land those recruits then win championships with em that don’t require and *
Those same Texas boys didn't help
The Longhorns win a NC for 35 years while the Sooners were winning NC’s. guess that means we were out recruiting the Longhorns in their own state.
Josh Hamilton: "I just show up, look at the lineup and play where I’m told. If they want me to catch, I’ll catch."
Jon Daniels on relationship with #Rangers Young: "I’d love to walk in and hug everybody every day, but that’s not critical to us winning." 2/19/11
Yep, that's why Texas fans cry so much
"I feel fortunate.... It's just great to get another championship." Bob Stoops
I would tend to agree
for certain periods of time. We have definitely had our share of head scratchers in recruiting cycles.
I love the state of Texas ! and p.s. dont call them “sooner boys” “Texas boys” If they wanted that title they’ed be longhorns.
Ahem
Just wondering, which state has the most players in your starting line up? Is that a fact that was conveniently left out? Probably so…. Hook Em
It doesn't matter what the comparison it
UT fans want to claim OU is full of Texas HS recruits which clearly isn’t the case – the best players on the OU roster are from out west so is that something I intentionally left out too?
by OnlyOneOU on Jul 6, 2011 7:11 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Also as you will see in the comments above
Oklahoma has 9 starters from the state of Oklahoma including Special Teams which I left out of the post….as you will see there are no new Texas kids starting on special teams that aren’t already listed as starters
And Jarvis Jones technically isn't a starter since he is out injured.
So take away 1 more.
by OU JJ on Jul 6, 2011 11:41 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
I make some crap from time to time, however this isnt made up:
I read in 2008 before the season, that years when OU has played for the National Championship (even pre BCS) that texass accounts for less than 40% of the OU starters….
just sayin
Than why can't UT win with 'em
The better question is: Why does OU have 7 titles if Texas is getting first dibs? If we are to assume OU gets only the TX players that Uterus didn’t offer or have room for, than why do we have 7, COUNT ‘EM 7, titles? What a horrible argument! Either a) UT isn’t keeping the most impact players even with home field advantage b) UT has not "coached ‘em up as well as OU c) The 40 acres isn’t the football mecca Texans are lead to believe or d) Texas players that want a “ring” simply choose the better school. Scoreboard baby! That argument is actually an indictment against UT rather than an argument against OU. laughing
These arguments are SO STUPID.
Hey, dumbasses from Texas, your state has the second highest population of any state in the country with 25,000,000 persons, so we would expect, ceteris paribus, that you would have approximately seven times as many high school football players than a state with a population of roughly 3,700,000 like Oklahoma. Why is this so hard to comprehend? There is nothing that shows Texas football is, per capita, better than football from Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama, etc. So you have seven times the population — besides having more high school football players, you also have more murderers, rapists, doctors, lawyers, teachers, etc. It’s simply a population thing. There is NOTHING superior about Texas football, on a per capita basis, compared to states in the deep south. Get over yourselves. In fact, folks from states in the deep south, in all likelihood, have the best football on a per capita basis. It’s so strange that Texans take so much pride in the “He’s from our state!!!” game. Who cares? Newsflash, not every Texan likes the Horns. I’m one of them — born and raised in Texas and I’m a SOONER by choice.
by SoonerSunDevil on Jul 6, 2011 8:26 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
Thank You!
"You see we got another championship banner up? It’s not a South Division one, either." Bob Stoops
Crimson and Cream Machine - There's only one Oklahoma!
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I am sorry who won The Oil Bowl.... The head to head hs match up?
Not texass & it wasn’t even close. So for this sr class Oklahoma hs > texass hs….
by OU JJ on Jul 6, 2011 9:59 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
To be fair
Texas doesn’t send its top tier guys to the Oil Bowl.
My high school I went to and now teach at, Broken Arrow will be going down to Odessa this season to play Odessa Permian, so that should be interesting.
Boomer Sooner!
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Yeah but neither does Oklahoma.
…. I live in Wichita Falls where it’s held. Just pointing out head to head…. Some of the schools around here scrimmage the Lawton schools, Frederick & Duncan & regularly get their butts handed to them….
by OU JJ on Jul 7, 2011 11:16 PM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Based on what? Having more scholarship football players? Having more kids play HS football? What objective metric (that normalizes the data to account for variables) are you using to make this argument and what correlation/causation claim are you trying to state? Your argument is analogous to me saying that because fewer crimes are committed in Oklahoma than Texas that Oklahoma must be a safer place to live. It’s simply flawed logic. Oklahoma may or may not be a safer place to live; we can’t determine that by saying one has more than the other. But in the end, all of this is moot — 7 National Championships is more than you have. End of discussion.
by SoonerSunDevil on Jul 7, 2011 12:27 AM CDT up reply actions
Who is making this claim?
If it is coming from the whorn fan base, it is to be ignored, we already know how insecure they are.
I grew up in East Texas, lived in Texas most of my life, I even graduated from UT, but when it comes to football I have been a Sooner fan since I was five years old. When I see players from Texas on the Sooner roster it doesn’t surprise me, they are just examples of young men with good sense. I can only recall a few that I played football against in high school that went there. Just look at some of the names from East Texas that have worn the best uniform colors in the nation, such as Billy Simms, Adrian Peterson, David Overstreet, Joe Wiley, Manuel Johnson, Trent Williams, Malcom Kelly…ad infinitum.
Also, since we are always told that the whorns always have one of the top two recruiting classes each year, a better question is why don’t they perform at a higher level if they get the best of the Texas high school talent each year? What is it about the whorns that so many talented players go elsewhere?
I took a look at the 2007-08 roster, the breakdown is 101 player roster, with 44 coming from Texas(44%) and that is just the overall roster, not the starting 22.
Face it, the whorn fans will never get over themselves, which is why they have to be beaten as often as possible, so that they aren’t completely unbearable.
I really don't understand the problem
UT fans come here to gloat that we have a bunch of Texans on the roster? Why? These are players from their state that OU took from them! We’ve been doing that for years and winning that way. We’re going to keep doing it. OU’s going to get its fair share of the best players regardless of where they’re from. If UT wants to beat OU, keep us from getting all these good players from your state. I’m glad OU gets so many Texans on their roster. To Texas fans, this should be a problem, not something to gloat about.
by chuckb on Jul 6, 2011 9:11 PM CDT reply actions 1 recs
+1 - I can bet none of those Sooner players from Texas will ever say anything but Boomer Sooner!
To Texas fans, this should be a problem, not something to gloat about.
Yes, there is plenty of talent to go around
The difference is what the coaching staffs do developing and putting the players in the best position to succeed. This is where Stoops is brilliant!
"I feel fortunate.... It's just great to get another championship." Bob Stoops
Personally
I’d take 100% Texas kids if all of them really wanted to be Sooners.
New Orleans, here we come.
by KratosWasASooner on Jul 6, 2011 10:12 PM CDT reply actions
Stoops and company are just better at spotting talent than brown & company…
Except for a few 5 stars, most recruits coming from texas to OU are 3 & 4 stars that have more potential than most of the texass recruits. And Stoops has proven he can develop that talent better than others. If texass gets more 4 & 5 stars recruits, how is that working out for them?
Personally...
I’ve always thought clapping gayly at a player really helps their on-field development…
Not gonna happen!
Not when Oklahoma has the best football program in the region and currently in the nation. If we stopped recruiting those “Texas Boys” they would find a way to sign with OU anyway. Plus as stated above, anyone who calls them self a “Texas Boy” wouldn’t choose OU and bleed crimson and cream for the rest of their lives now would they? We will just call them “homeward bound boys” who lost their way long ago and are making the journey home.
BOOMER!
How do you have 23 starters?
"Be polite to everyone you meet, but be prepared to kill anyone"-tc16cav
by otisnixon'sparty on Jul 9, 2011 12:04 AM CDT reply actions
All teams have 23 starters not counting special teams since every position gets a starter
Today’s game uses 3 receivers leaving room for a TE and an FB to be used sparingly. Three receivers usually warrants a TE to remain in the game while the I-formation warrants the use of a Fullback.
All positions have a starter listed on the depth chart
Meh. I say 11 and 11, if you are a “starter” at a position that is only used in lesser used packages, you aren’t a starter. That would be like Alabama having 13 starters on defense last year, considering how little the base was used. But whatever, gotta kill another month and a half arguing something.
"Be polite to everyone you meet, but be prepared to kill anyone"-tc16cav
by otisnixon'sparty on Jul 9, 2011 2:12 AM CDT up reply actions
texass recruits
for starters texass has at two cities alone that are between 2-3 times more populous than the entire state of oklahoma. and despite only having 8 starters, the roster includes a majority of texass recruits. but once they sign, they are from norman. truth be told, ou would be iowa state without texass players. an oddity is how many recruits from kansas are on the squad.
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