Burnt Orange Nation

The Sooners are looking ahead to the 2009 season and they like their chances of winning the Big 12.

In 2009, the chances of another three-way tie involving OU and Texas are unlikely.

But if Oklahoma State, which is expected to open in the preseason Top 10, can emerge as last year’s Texas Tech, it’s possible.

And if non-conference strength of schedule becomes the deciding factor again, OU has to like its chances over Texas in spite of last week’s announcement that Idaho State — essentially Tennessee-Chattanooga Part II — would complete the Sooners’ non-conference slate.

Meanwhile, of Texas’ four 2009 non-league opponents — Louisiana-Monroe, at Wyoming, Central Florida and Texas-El Paso — none had a winning record in 2008.

SI's Stewart Mandell looks back at the 2005 quarterback class.

However, they found their current star quarterback -- three-year starter and 2008 Heisman runner-up Colt McCoy -- tucked away at a small school in rural Tuscola, Texas. In the '05 class, McCoy -- then listed at 6-foot-1, 180 pounds -- was ranked just 15th among pro-style QBs, behind Pittsburgh's Bill Stull, Notre Dame's Evan Sharpley and Wisconsin's Dustin Sherer, among others.

Davis, who watched McCoy at Texas' summer camps after his sophomore and junior seasons, said he was intrigued by the QB's athleticism (he also played basketball in high school), the praise he received from his school principal and counselor and his keenness for film study.

The moment that sold Davis, however, was watching a spring practice during McCoy's junior year of high school where "he threw for 20-to-25 minutes, and the only balls that hit the [turf] were dropped.

Barking Carnival found a great web site, Longhornstorm.com.

Basketball

Blake Griffin does not like to be called the savior of the Sooner program.

"First of all, it's not really true," the 6-10 sophomore forward says. "Second, it puts another expectation on top of you."

Missouri beat Texas Tech 97-86. Double T Nation has a report card on the game.

Rush The Court checks in on the Big 12.

Football

Sam Bradford has a Q&A with Sporting News.

Oklahoma's quarterback has a new target in junior college wide receiver Cameron Kenney.

Kenney is a huge get for coach Bob Stoops. Kenney said at the time of his visit that he wanted to go to a team with an established quarterback. Georgia junior quarterback Matthew Stafford is leaving school early for the NFL Draft, while Bradford has announced that he will play for the Sooners in 2009.

Tulsa World looks at everyone's favorite recruit Jamarkus McFarland.

"The article is all anybody wants to talk about right now, and I'm sick of it," McFarland told reporters in San Antonio. "I'm through with it. I don't care what anybody thinks about me anymore.

"I'm ready to move on to Oklahoma."

Rivals has high hopes for the Buffs next year.

This will be the fourth season for coach Dan Hawkins. He will be under the gun to produce, and I think his team will come through. The Buffs were ravaged by injuries this season, when they finished 5-7. The 2009 non-conference schedule isn't that tough, and the Buffs get Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska – in other words, their main competition in the Big 12 North – at home. The biggest concern is at quarterback. Colorado simply has not gotten solid quarterback play the past two seasons. But everything else on offense should be fine, and the defense looks to be good enough for an eight- or nine-win season.

His mom wanted a girl so she named her son Christine. Christine Lynn Michael, one of the top running backs in the state, has committed to A&M.

Growing up with a girl's name — pronounced Christin — wasn't easy for Michael. Even tougher will be reviving Texas A&M's floundering football program, to which he committed earlier this month.

“I expect to play next fall,” said Michael, who rushed for nearly 4,000 yards in three varsity seasons at Beaumont West Brook. “I don't really have any (specific) goals. I just want to go in there with a good mind-set and be a leader.”

Dave Campbell's Texas Football has revived their winter edition. It is on newsstands now.

Is the BCS to blame for the 100-0 lopsided basketball score? Dr. Saturday doesn't believe so.

This is, of course, false: Margin of victory was officially stricken as a factor in the BCS; a one-point counts exactly the same according to the computer polls as a 100-point win. Ridiculous, but very sportsmanlike. Coaches in college football react to lopsided matchups the same way as coaches in any sport. I very much doubt that Micah Grimes, now-deposed coach of the 100-point warriors at the heart of the recent firestorm, was thinking, "Yeah, I'm gonna be like Bob Stoops!" during his team's merciless romp.

The Kansas City Star explains the aerodynamics of a football.