How important is this game this afternoon against Texas for Oklahoma State? Well, it’s definitely the most important in the Mike Gundy era.

     Just think about this. If the Cowboys win they just need to beat Kansas or Baylor and they will be playing Oklahoma for the Big 12 South title. Did anyone think that would happen after those early season setbacks?

     And it would keep the momemtum going that the Pokes have right now. They are playing so well on offense since Gundy inserted Zac Robinson as the starting quarterback. He has been able to come up with the big plays with both his arm and his legs.

     But what happens in the Cowboys lose? Well, if they can’t beat Texas at home, they probably won’t be able to beat Kansas at home. And then if they lose on the road at Oklahoma, you are looking at a 6-6 season. That would not be good. That might not get you a bowl invite.

     The key for the Cowboys today is being able to run the football. They need to keep the clock going. They need to keep their defense off the field. . .

     AND IN NORMAN, let’s see if the Sooners have made good use of their off-week to begin to play like they were earlier in the year. This is a team that has been going backwards in some cases. The offense looked bad against Iowa State.

     Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson says he gave quarterback Sam Bradford a break in practice.

     “Last week we let Joey Halzle and Keith Nichol get a lot of snaps in practice. The reason was that we wanted to rest Sam’s arm some. Late in the year a quarterbacks arm could get tired. I think the rest really helped Sam because earlier in the week he had his best day of practice for the entire season,” Wilson said.

     Sam has struggled in the two true road games at Colorado and Iowa State, but has been on target in Norman. He should have a lot of success against that Texas A&M defense tonight.

     There aree two things the Sooner coaches went to see. No. 1 is they have been working hard to prevent turnovers. They have not been pleased with this area recently. They can be an absolute killer in close games.

     And No. 2 they want to see if their running game can just move the ball down the field like they thought they could before the year started. The offensive line has not done a great job in pass blocking. This will be a good test because they A&M defense isn’t that bad.

     You hear Sooner fans talk about playing for a national championship. Down the stretch of this season Oklahoma has to play like a team that deserves to be in that game. And it has to start tonight by winning comfortably over the Aggies.

     I like Oklahoma State to topple Texas, 31-28 and I’ll go with OU 31-10 over Texas A&M.