Sooners Far More Than Hype

It’s pronounced HYPE-uhl.

As in believe the hype.

Better yet believe the gaudy offensive stats. Or believe the perfect 6-0 record. Or the No. 3 ranking.

Whatever you choose to believe, there’s no escaping the fact that Oklahoma and it’s diminutive dart thrower Josh Heupel (again pronounced HYPE-uhl) are for real. The Boomer Sooner has been outfitted with a V12, and Oklahoma is passing by all its competition. Texas. No problem. Kansas State. Puhleeze.

“Maybe I don’t understand the game any more,” said former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer following the Sooners’ 41-31 road win over No. 2 Kansas State. “We just finished the game with 11 yards rushing. And we won.”

The only wishbone the modern day Oklahoma fan will see will be on Thanksgiving Day. Bob Stoops’ Sooners are third in passing offense (327 yards per game) nationally and 54th in rushing offense (154 yards per game).

Nobody is complaining. Because nobody is beating the Sooners.

Oklahoma has its highest national ranking since 1988. And in Stoops’ season and a half, the Sooners have won more games (13) than they did in three years under his predecessor, John Blake (12-22).

That has a lot to do with Stoops. He defended Kentucky’s spread offense as a defensive coordinator at Florida and now has implemented the Wildcats’ offense at Oklahoma.

“Here’s Kentucky, running this offense in the SEC with probably not the best players,” Stoops said. “And yet they score points on everybody. They move the ball on everybody. I figured if they could do it there, we ought to be able to do it here.”

The reason the Sooners can do it is Heupel.

“The team feeds off Josh and his excellent play,” said Stoops. “He’s just exceptional.”

So exceptional that in three Big 12 games, Heupel is 70 of 107 for 995 yards with no interceptions and six TDS (two via the run). Against the rush of Kansas State, the senior was 29 of 37 for 374 yards.

What makes Heupel so unbelievable is that he hit so many places before he hit it big. From Aberdeen, S.D., Heupel went to Weber State to Snow JC in Ephraim, Utah, to Oklahoma.

Now he is fourth in total offense in the country (320 yards per game), fifth in passing efficiency (157.8 rating) and working his way onto some Heisman ballots. The Oklahoma SID office sent out a flood of e-mail to voters on Heupel this week. More is sure to come.

But everyone will have to wait a week. The Sooners are off today. Next week, No.1 Nebraska comes to Norman for what should be a preview of the Big 12 title game.

Rivalry Redux

Pity Mike O’Cain.

For seven years, he failed to beat North Carolina while head coach at North Carolina State. The last defeat, last year’s 10-6 loss to a pitiful 3-8 Carolina team, cost O’Cain his job.

But the former Clemson quarterback landed on his feet. He accepted a job at North Carolina as offensive coordinator under Carl Torbush. Then Saturday, he watched his former top recruit, quarterback Philip Rivers and the rest of his former Wolfpack players, beat his new players at UNC 38-20. O’Cain has now been on the losing side of the bitter rivalry eight years in a row.

“It wasn’t going to be a fun game for me either way,” O’Cain told the Raleigh News and Observer. “Obviously, it would have been a lot more fun if we’d won. But I’ve known all along that it was going to be a tough situation. I had a lot of different emotions out there.”

Smoot Smack

Mississippi State cornerback Fred Smoot has become one of the most entertaining players in the SEC, as much for his play as for his postgame quotes. He is also the subject of one of the South’s best Websites. Four fans, who claim Smoot has 4.4 foot speed and 4.1 mouth speed, have set up SmootSmack.com. The site chronicles Smoot’s season and, more importantly, his quotes.

Here are just a few of the Smacklets:

“Yeah, I read in the paper earlier in the week (Auburn wide receiver Rodney Daniels) said he couldn’t wait. This was his `breakout game.’ He broke out, all right, what, with five catches for 7 yards? It must have been a rash he broke out with.” - Following MSU’s 17-10 win over Auburn.

“Where is that famous BYU offense we heard about? I haven’t seen it, I haven’t seen nothing.” - From the sideline at the BYU game in the second quarter with MSU leading 24-7.

“It’s only 2:30, but it’s going to be a long day. A long day.” - To the Florida receivers in the middle of MSU’s 47-35 win over Florida.

By the numbers

83 - Number of times Drew Brees threw the ball last time Purdue visited Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium. The Boilermakers are there again today.

12- Years since Tennessee (2-3) entered the Alabama game with a losing record.

39 - Years it has been since Big Ten leader Minnesota has been to the Rose Bowl.

80 - Games between Big Ten shutout wins for Illinois. The Illini beat Iowa 31-0 last week.

13,080 - dollars donated from the sale of programs at the Minnesota-Ohio State game to a fund for Penn State freshman Adam Taliaferro, who suffered a paralyzing spinal cord injury at OSU on Sept. 23.

2 - number of coaches (UNLV’s John Robinson and Cal’s Tom Holmoe) who have taken their teams to see “Remember the Titans” on Friday night before the game. Both teams won the next day.

Say what?

“It’s football, film and food, and my day is over.” - Virginia Tech quarterback Michael Vick describing his typical fall day.

No books? No wonder Vick said this week that he would return for his junior year.