So far our journey through the “15 Game That Will Decide The National Championship” has taken a long and winding road. We’ve twice traveled to Arlington, we’ve discussed seven games involving SEC teams, we even let a Big East team into the discussion, we’ve been to Tallahassee, Columbus, Stanford, Boise and Lincoln. Now it’s time to head back to Big 12 country and a game that is called the The Bedlam Series.
OKLAHOMA SOONERS AT OKLAHOMA STATE COWBOYS
WHEN: December 3rd
WHERE: Boone Pickens Stadium at Lewis Field in Stillwater, OK
This is a series that has been absolutely dominated by the Sooners. In fact, the Sooners hold an all-time edge of 82-16-7 against the Cowboys. The domination has continued over the last decade as the Sooners have defeated Oklahoma State the last eight times they’ve played this rivalry, even though the Cowboys came in as the higher rated team in two of the last three. There is a weird quirk in the schedule this year that gives Oklahoma State two straight home games in this rivalry. Oklahoma won 47-41 last year in a shoot out in Stillwater and this years game will again return to Stillwater due to the loss of divisions in the Big 12 and the conference re-working the schedule to include playing all league teams in round-robin format.
When you look around the field during this game you are going to see offense. Two of the best QBs in the Nation face off as Landry Jones duals with Brandon Weeden. In last years game, Jones threw the ball 62 times and put up 468 yards passing and 4 TDs. Weeden wasn’t quite up to those numbers as he finished with 257 yards passing and 2 TD. Both guys threw three picks. Oklahoma State Justin Blackmon, who had at least 100 yards receiving in every game he played last year, caught 8 passes for 105 yards and 1 TD. It was his worst statistical performance of the year. I bet we wish our best WR could say that his numbers were that good in his worst game of the year. Despite not having his best game, Blackmon did draw OU stud WR Ryan Broyles as he finished with 9 catches for 82 yards and 1 TD. Both guys had good games but not outstanding games (at least for them). Those will be the same four guys that we will keep our eye on this year as these teams battle.
When you look at stats from last years game, a lot of things are equal. The things that stood out were the OU advantage in passing yards (468 to 257), the OU advantage in 3rd down conversions (16 for OU vs 5 for OSU) and time of possession was in favor of OU by over 10 minutes (no doubt because of the third down conversions). It’s not rocket science here, if the Pokes want to finally get over that OU hurdle they are going to need to slow down the OU passing attack, they need to convert third downs and they need to do a better job keeping the ball away from the Sooners. Last year, the Cowboys had a rushing advantage in yards/attempt over the Sooners but ran the ball 22 less times (they had 3 rushes of 19 yards or more in the game). Running the ball effectively could swing time of possession in their favor and keep the ball out of the hands of Landry Jones.
Last year the Big 12 Championship game was on the first Saturday in December. This year there will be no Championship game because of the loss of Nebraska and Colorado. Was moving the Oklahoma/Oklahoma State game to the first week in December a sign that this game will be for the Big 12 Championship and possibly a birth in the BCS Championship Game?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=DVXFS6nzJrU
15 Games That Will Decide The National Champion:
Boise State vs. Georgia- Sept 3
Oklahoma State at Texas A&M- Sept 24
Wisconsin at Ohio State- Oct 29
Oklahoma at Oklahoma State- Dec 3
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