<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning /> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas /> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables /> <w:SnapToGridInCell /> <w:WrapTextWithPunct /> <w:UseAsianBreakRules /> <w:DontGrowAutofit /> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]-->Notre Dame at Oklahoma. 18 National titles. 12 Heisman trophies. Two of the most storied college football programs in the country collide in Norman Saturday evening. The last time OU faced a big game at home, their leaders collapsed under pressure and lost to Kansas State. But that was three games ago. Since then, the Sooners have put up some impressive offensive and defensive numbers, looking nothing like the team that came up short against the Wildcats. All eyes will be on OU and their coaching staff today, to see how they meet their biggest challenge this season: a resurgent Notre Dame squad ready to reclaim its place as one of the most dominant teams in college football. Key for OU will of course be Landry Jones and how he steps up to the plate. Secondly, the Sooners have to protect the ball, something they failed to do against Kansas State. Last, if OU’s defense plays as well as they have the last three weeks, taking care of the Fighting Irish on their home field shouldn’t be too much of an issue. What about the BCS implications? Also clashing this weekend are #14 Texas Tech and #3 Kansas State. Texas Tech has had some big wins since their loss to OU. If they beat KSU, OU’s win over the Red Raiders will continue to look great to the BCS. An Oklahoma “upset” over Notre Dame today would do great things for their BCS ranking. If they fail to take care of business, well…it’ll be more of the same old talk. Losing big games. Coaching failures. Beating themselves. I think every OU fan in the country is tired of seeing these headlines. Let’s see which OU team shows up today.

<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]-->