The battle lines were drawn and it was quite easy to figure out what side everyone was on in the Mike Gundy-J. Carlson debacle.

Coaches and former players loved what Gundy said. They liked the way a journalist was put in place when attacking another athlete. If a journalist can criticize a coach or an athlete, why can’t they fire back?

On the other end side of the spectrum, journalists stick together. They don’t like when a coach acts like that. So it was no surprise when Gundy took a big hit from the national media people. This was expected.

I’ve said it over and over again, I have no problem that he called Carlson out. I just wish he would have done it in a different way. I think he should have done it behind close doors.

This former Oklahoma State standout quarterback should have learned from former coach Pat Jones. Jones wasn’t winning a lot of games in his final years at OSU. But he wound up hanging on because the media liked him.

By the way, Jones thinks it was a mistake the way his former signal-caller handled the situation. He thinks it will hurt him in the long run. However, I do think Gundy has won over players and fans with the way he did things. However, in the end, Mike Gundy will build his future on his won-loss record. . .

IVE BEEN WRONG a lot before, and I’ll probably be wrong once again, but I still contend that the OU game with Colorado will be a lot tougher than just about everyone expects.

Maybe to me it’s just a matter of history. But Oklahoma has struggled in Boulder the last couple of decades. I realize this Cololrado team isn’t as good as others and this OU team is one of the best that has played there during this time period.

But you at the time Bob Stoops has been at OU, he’s had tremendous teams. And the bottom line is that only a handful of conference road games have been easy. This is the first true road test for the Sooners this year.

I think it’s a perfect tune-up for the Texas game. OU is going against a good defensive team and Sam Bradford will be playing against a hostile crowd for the first time in his career.

I think Colorado will make it interesting for awhile. The problem the Buffaloes will have is moving the ball. Freshman quarterback Cody Hawkins has been very inconsistent. If OU doesn’t hurt itself with a bunch of penalties or turnovers, it comes away with a victory in the Rocky Mountains.

I’ll go Oklahoma 31, Colorado 10. And Oklahoma State 52, Sam Houston State 17. Let’s see how Rhett Bomar does against Big 12 competition once again.

No one, and I mean no one could have dreamed Sam Bradford would have a debut against North Texas like he did. Sure the OU coaches thought he was playing well in practice. But what was he could to do before 80,000 fans?

Now Bradford has confidence and the Sooner staff has a lot of confidence in him. That means a bunch.

But was this fool’s gold? Was his performance all about going against a very bad defense with not a lot of very good athletes? Sure, part of it was.

However, when you’re hitting 21 out of 23 passes and you’re completing your last 18 tosses, you’re doing something special. Oklahoma looked good, really good. The Sooner coaching staff has been very confident about this team. Now maybe we know why.

Let’s not get too excited though just yet. Miami is coming to town this week. The Hurricanes will probably have the best defense Bob Stoops club will face this year. If OU can win this game, then that means there’s cause for a lot of optimism for the remainder of the season.

The same can’t be said about Oklahoma State. The Cowboys performance at Georgia was a huge disappointment. Everyone knew this was not a vintage Poke defense.

When OSU faces good teams, it’s going to have to score a lot of points. This was supposed to be one of the best offenses in the country. It didn’t play like one against the Bulldogs.

Oklahoma State had been talking about this game for the entire off-season. It had put so much time and energy into it. Mike Gundy and his staff knew how important it was to his program.

Now he has to have his team regroup after just one game. What the Cowboys have to get right now is a big dose of confidence before they open their Big 12 season against Texas Tech later this month is Stillwater.

It’s finally here.

Tomorrow we will get to see just what this Oklahoma football team is all about. When you talk with the Sooner coaching staff you get the feeling of confidence. They all think this team can be something special.

But they may not admit it to the public, but they are all a tad nervous about the quarterback situation. Sure, Sam Bradford has impressed them in practice. He’s done a nice job. However, no one, and I mean no one, has any clue how he’s going to perform in a game. You can be a good practice player and still not get it done when you’re playing before more than 80,000 fans.

People want to know what’s going to happen to hot-shot freshman Keith Nichol. My gut feeling is that if Bradford is playing well against North Texas, Nichol will not get in the game. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson has already said if Bradford has to come out of the contest, it will be Joey Halzle who will replace him.

I do think though, if Bradford gets injured this season or proves that he’s not the guy who can get it down, Nichol will be the signal caller. He has the most upside of the three quarterbacks.

It was interesting earlier this week because the Sooners had a 40 play scrimmage. And on insider quickly stated, “It looks like Bradford is separating himself from the other two.” Again, we will see what happens against the Mean Green.

There are those who think the Sooners will just run, run, run in this contest. I doubt that very much. They need Bradford to throw the ball and gain confidence. I’m putting the number at 20 to 25 passes he throws. And don’t look for an early substitution.

“We need to get Sam has many reps as we can,” said Wilson. “And we certainly don’t have any plan to to rotate the quarterbacks like we did two years ago with Paul Thompson and Rhett Bomar.”

This game against North Texas may be a great indicator of just what kind of season Oklahoma has. If Bradford plays well there has to be confidence among OU fans. If he doesn’t, there should be a reason for concern with Miami coming to town next week.