Quote:
ktsnake said:
However, he (White) was the starting QB in OU's loss to Nebraska 20-10 in '01.
|
Yes, Jason White was the starter, but he was also taken out of the game about 2 minutes into the second quarter when he tore up his knee. White was leading the team for half of the points we scored in that game. Hybl had about 3 quarters to do something, and didn't. Don't get me wrong, Nate was a great quarterback and he did a lot of good for OU, but the loss at NU can hardly be blamed on Jason White.
As for Rawls, yes -- he looks good. But this is the same guy who fell out of the back of a pickup truck last year (he was pretending to surf) and got a concussion. If he's going to get serious about football, then I'd love to see him under center next year. If he's not, I would be much more confident to see Paul Thompson taking snaps.
I think OU's greatest challenge this year won't be from Alabama, Texas or Colorado. We have to beat Oklahoma State.
Alabama is in flux -- a new coach after spring practices doesn't leave much time to install new offensive and defensive schemes. This is
not the Bama team that OU had so much trouble with last year.
Texas will be challenging (especially now that Mack Brown's reworked his offense essentially to beat OU), but OU's got a lot more weapons on offense and defense than Texas does and I think we'll come out on top.
Colorado is iffy -- it'll be hard to win at CU, especially after beating them twice last year. Then again, no one thought OU could beat K-State in 2001 (after beating them in the regular season and in the conference championship), and OU did. OU is also clearly the better team going into that match -- Colorado is nowhere near as deep as OU, and they just don't have the talent to match us anywhere.
The keys to the Sugar Bowl for OU:
1. Beat OSU. They're coming to Owen Field -- keep Woods covered and shut down Fields and we should be fine. With the stadium addition, OU will rival A&M for noise. The home atmosphere will be incredible, and it'll be a big help -- especially for that game It'll be a tough win, but the game needs to be won.
2. The defense needs to show up for every game. Playing like they did last year against A&M and OSU is inexcusable with the depth of amazing talent and ability on this team.
3. Keep Jason White healthy. He's a great quarterback when he's not hurt. Our other two options (Grady will be redshirted) are either largely or completely untested, and while each should get playing time, White is the key to a trip to New Orleans.
edited to get rid of formatting issues