This isn’t Ohio State that Oklahoma State is facing.

     Remember when Les Miles was leading the Cowboys. They faced a Big 10 team in the Alamo Bowl. Guys like Troy Smith and Ted Ginn weren’t too bad. It wasn’t much of a match as the Buckeyes were clearly the more talented team and won easily. There were those who tried to blame Miles that he didn’t have all of his attention on the game, that he was thinking more about his new, upcoming job at LSU.

     I didn’t buy that line. Again, Ohio State was the team with the better players. Just look what that program has done the past two years–play for a national championship.

     Now the Pokes get Indiana in the Insigt Bowl. Sure, the Hoosiers are better than they usually are. But the Big 10 was weak this season. Put them in a different conference and they may not be going bowling.

     What I will be interested in is the play calling of Mike Gundy. Let’s see how he does taking over for Larry Fedora. Gundy knows offense. He was like a coach in the huddle when he was quarterbacking the Cowboys in the late 1980’s.

    Let’s see how comfortable he is doing the job of making the offense click. I think that he’s almost giving himself an audition. If everything goes well and he likes what he’s doing, he’ll be the guy in the future callng all the plays. But if he thinks that he needs his attention going in other directions, then maybe he’ll let some other assitant handle these chores next season.

     Indiana has a pretty talented offensive team. The Hoosiers will score some points.. But good luck to their defense trying to stop the Cowboys high-powered attack. . .

     AND DOWN the road in the Fiesta Bowl, I like this matchup for Oklahoma. Don’t you think West Virginia could be in a little disarray after losing its coach?

     The Mountaineer players had their hearts set on playing for a national championship. All they had to do was beat a bad Pittsburgh team at home.

     Of course, they are a different team when quarterback Pat White isn’t in the game. Just like the Sooners are without Sam Bradford. Just ask Texas Tech.

     White will be the most dangerous signal caller the Sooners have faced this year. He is an extremely accurate passer, completely over two-thirds of his tosses. And he will definitely be the most dangerous running quarterback Oklahoma has faced since it went against Vince Young.

     But Oklahoma is the more talented team. The defense is better than a lot of fans around here have given credit for being this year. I also think the Sooners are the more focused team. They played extremely well in their last two games–Oklahoma State and Missouri.

     I’m going with OSU 35, Indiana 28 in the Insignt Bowl and in the Fiesta Bowl I’ll say it will be Oklahoma 35, West Viginia 24.

     There are those who are trying to say if Oklahoma gets beat by West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl, it will be like losing to Boise State a year ago. Not so!

     What many have forgotten is that the this West Virginia team was one game away from playing for a national championship. If it doesn’t lose its quarterback it probably beats Pittsburgh and is playing Ohio State for a national title.

     This is a very good offensive team the Sooners will face. In fact, it might be the most dangerous offensive club OU will have faced all season. It is a diverse offense that can both run and throw the ball. It also has tremendous speed.

     The loss of Lendy Holmes to academics is very strange. Ever since Bob Stoops has arrived at Oklahoma, the Sooners have been able to stay away from their players getting sidelined because of books. OU does a great job of staying on top of its athletes.

     The loss of Holmes obviously hurts because Reggie Smith is out with a broken toe. Holmes has played extremely well this season. It will be interesting if Brian Jackson gets the call to be the replacement starter. The Sooner coaches have been high on his ability, but he just hasn’t seen a lot of action. . .

     JUST HOW big is Oklahoma State’s matchup with Indiana in the Insight Bowl? Real big!

     Just think about it. If the Pokes win the game they have their second consecutive winning season. But if they lose it they finish with a 6-7 mark and it would be two losing seasons for Mike Gundy in his three year stay at Oklahoma State.

     Also a loss would be a setback because critics would say the Pokes are going backwards. Last year they finished with a 7-6 mark. But the truth is the program is making progress. The schedule was just tougher this season and there was absolutely no need to go to Troy State and play a game.

     There are way too many people right now that are convinced Sean Sutton can’t get the job done at Oklahoma State. Give the guy a chance.

     No, things have not gone right for the second year coach. There have been discipline problems. There have been players transferring. And most importantly there have been too many losses.

     However, this guy is just in his second season. No, he hasn’t performed any miracles and there have been times when his team doesn’t look very good–particularly this season.

     Unless, the guy is totally incompetent (please look up Howard Schnellenberger in the dictionary) you give him the chance. You let him get his players.

     I can’t believe this son of a future Hall of Fame coach doesn’t know basketball. He’s been around it all of his life. In Eddie’s last couple of years at Oklahoma State it was Sean who was coaching the offense. 

     It has appeared to me in Sean’s one-plus season  in Stillwater, that there doesn’t seem like there’s been a lot of team chemistry. There have been too many free-lancers. There has been no leadership from the players. That’s no good.

     Apparently Eddie (and Sean) took chances on players with questionable character. I think that has come back to bite the Cowboys. That’s why this is a team that doesn’t has great talent. There have been too many defections.

     Sean Sutton deserved to get a chance to become the Oklahoma State basketball coach. He was a player for the Cowboys and has been on campus since 1990. He has learned from a master, Eddie Sutton.

     These’s next few months are extremely important to Sean. And I don’t mean as much in wins and losses. I’m talking about recruiting. The inside talent has to be upgraded in a big way. If it isn’t, when March Madness rolls around in future years, the Pokes will be thinking NIT, not NCAA.

     Don’t look for Bob Stoops to bring in a replacement for Kevin Sumlin right. That’s not going to happen.

     Sumlin, who is heading to the Houston as the Cougars new head coach, will stick with the Sooners through the Fiesta Bowl contest with West Virginia. There really isn’t a sense of urgency to hire someone immediately.

     A name that could enter the picture is Jay Norvel, who is currently unemployed. OU fans might not remember but Norvel was on the Oklahoma staff for a short time, a very short time.

     He had been coach in the NFL with the Indianapolis Colts. Stoops then hired him to become the wide receivers coach at OU. He didn’t stay more than a couple of weeks. He had a desire to get back into the NFL and when Bill Callahan became the head coach of the Oakland Raiders, he lured Norvel to his staff.

     When Callahan got fired there he brought Norvel to Nebraska as his offensive coordinator. He stayed there for a couple of year and then went to UCLA as the offensive coordinator. The Bruins are currently looking for a new coach.

    There are some who think Stoops should hire former assistant Darrell Wyatt, but that’s not going to happen. Wyatt left OU two years ago and went to the Minnesota Vikings. He lasted one year there and the past season he was with Mike Stoops at Arizona.

     There’s no way Stoops is going to raid his younger brothers staff, especially when Mike will be fighting for his job next season.

     Some will point out that he took away Josh Heupel from Arizona. That was a different situation however because Heupel played at OU.

     And while talking abou Heupel, it will be a shock if Stoops does not promote him as co-offensive coordinator, a title that Sumlin held. Heupel is a future star in the coaching profession. When Kevin Wilson gets a head coaching job, look for the ex-Sooner quarterback to become the offensive coordinator.

     Everywhere you go these days someone has a plan for a college football playoff. And they are all different. Some have four teams, others have eight and there are those that would want 16 teams.

     I think it’s fine and dandy. Can you imagine the money that it would generate? We all think that the NCAA basketball tournament is as good as it gets. A football playoff would be even better.

     Unfortunately I don’t think it’s ever going to happen.

     The problem that you have is that the people you need to support it, are against it. That’s right, the presidents of the schools, the athletic directors of the schools and the coaches don’t want any part of it.

     I think the coaches just think it would put more pressure on them. Right now they go to bowl games and can finish their season with a win and make alumni happy. They feel a playoff would make their jobs that much more difficult.

     And the presidents keep on saying it would take the athlete away from school. That’s hogwash. Football players miss less class than any other college athlete. If you made the season two or three weeks longer it wouldn’t be a big deal.

     And athletic directors? They will side with anything their presidents say.

     Barry Switzer was always against a playoff. Why?

    “Because if you’re at Oklahoma you don’t need one. Because of it’s name OU is always going to be recognized. It will always start the season high in the preseason polls. That’s important.

     “Heck, when I was coaching a playoff would have hurt us. We were always near the top of the polls. If we had won a few more key games we would have won more national championships. But we were right there playing for them because of the name Oklahoma.”

     Yes, a playoff would be nice, but I just don’t think it’s going to happen because the important people in the decision making just don’t want it.

     For at least the last month of the season I have thought that LSU was getting too much respect, and I mean way too much respect.

     Early in the year I thought the Tigers were definitely the best team in the country. Now they weren’t great on offense, but they looked liked the best team in the country on defense. You could tell quickly just how athletic they were by the way they ran all over the field.

     But as the season progressed, I became less impressed with Les Miles’ team. The big reason? Because they weren’t very impressive. All of a sudden that defense was giving up a lot of yards and a lot of points.

     They kept on getting themselves in close encounters. You’re not going to win  all those types of games. Finally they lost two overtime contests. Heck, they lost their last regular season game of the year at home to an unranked Arkansas club.

     So why did they get so much respect? Well it’s because they’re in the Southeastern Conference. That’s it folks. But what was so great about that league this year? Sure, there were a lot of good teams in the conference.

     But notice, I used the word good, not outstanding. I thought that league was down this year.

     When you listened to the national media you just kept on hearing how good LSU was, even though the Tigers didn’t look that good on the playing field.

     There’s no doubt in my mind that the best two loss team in the nation is USC or Oklahoma. But those teams will have to sit how and watch to see if the ever talkative Miles can win his first national championship.