It really may not seem like it but things are going to be okay in the SoonerNation. Sure we suffered a setback Saturday night at Texas Tech but the honest truth is that's just part of the game. Good teams win and yet sometimes they lose. Notice that I didn't say great team because this year's football team just doesn't fall under that category. In fact, there isn't a great team in college football this season and there hasn't been one in Norman since 2004. If you want to be thoroughly disgusted go back to that season and relive the Orange Bowl. Now that was a let down!
What happened in Lubbock Saturday night is what has happened all across the nation this season. A lesser talented team used emotion (night game), motivation (senior night, top ranked opponent), and a few breaks (turnovers, injuries) to knock off one of the top teams in the country. That's what college football is all about! If it weren't for nights like that then the sport would lack the emotion and passion that it has. If it weren't for nights like that then the Sooners wouldn't have their 7th national championship. If the most talented team won every week then Florida State would have won that night at the Orange Bowl and not Oklahoma.
Sure, it stinks to have your championship dreams dashed but do you really think for a minute that we, the fans, feel worse than the team does? They had their hearts ripped out and now they have to put it behind them and go play Oklahoma State to win the south division. Isn't that where we initially thought they would be way back in August when we made our preseason predictions? Most level headed Sooner prognosticators picked OU to go 11-1/10-2 with a shot at winning the conference championship. Well, here we are!
A loss in Lubbock to the Red Raiders doesn't negate what this team has accomplished this season. It doesn't take away from the brilliance of Sam Bradford nor the award winning season that Jermaine Gresham is having. It won't negate DeMarco Murray's 65 yard touchdown run in the Cotton Bowl last month against Texas and it certainly didn't remove them from being in the driver's seat for the conference championship game.
More disappointing than OU's loss to me were some of the comments I've read on this site as well as other message boards by Sooner fans. To take a page out of Mike Gundy's book some of what I read was garbage and just make me sick, so much so that I'm instating a new rule. We'll just call it Crimson and Cream Machine Rule #1 because...well...it's the only rule we have right now. It states this, "if you jump off the bandwagon now we aren't letting you back on!"
Like I said earlier, this OU football team isn't great but there sure is a lot of potential there for them to become great. They are led mostly by underclassmen on both sides of the ball and yet they have managed to put themselves in position to win yet another conference championship. There are about 8 other teams in the conference who wish that they could say that.
So be upset and frustrated about OU's loss to Texas Tech all you want. Really, it's okay because that is a natural emotion. Just keep the perspective that the sky really isn't falling and that growing pains are a part of the championship process. Meanwhile the Crimson and Cream Machine will continue to roll on and trust me. You don't want to jump off!