Burnt Orange Nation

Colt McCoy, left, and offensive tackle Adam Ulatoski celebrate after converting on a two-point conversion. Washington Post.

Tackle Adam Ulatoski is No. 27 on Tim Griffin's list of Big 12 players.

This is a tough problem to have... Two UT defensive backs want to win the the Thorpe Award.

The UT football assistant coaches and support staffers received bonuses for the season. Overall, the football program is doing quite well.

Dodds said the football program is enjoying some good times, both on the field and in financial terms. Dodds, whose athletic department pays for its own programs with no help from state funds, said an initial estimate puts football revenue from last season at $80 million to $85 million, with team expenses running $17 million. In 2007, the football team generated $53 million, which was tops in the Big 12.

The Sooners are still mad. It is all our fault that Blake Griffin did not stay healthy so that they could make the Final Four.

In the weeks after it happened, everyone thought they understood how severely OU's season was affected by Griffin's concussion on that Saturday night in late February in Austin, Texas.

The full impact of that mugging became totally and painfully apparent for the Sooners and their fans Monday as they sat in their homes and watched the national championship game on TV instead of witnessing it in person at Ford Field

Mike Sherman expects a lot from his players, on and off the field. Von Miller learned that the hard way.

Texas A&M linebacker Von Miller owns a dark secret, one once tucked beneath a mound of stinky socks and goodness knows what else.

"My locker has always been kind of messy," Miller said, shaking his head.

Don't laugh. In coach Mike Sherman's regimented world, one in which he holds his players accountable both for what happens between the pylons and even way outside them, this is a big deal.

Why Sherman smiled this past weekend when I asked him about the progress of Miller, who's a lean 6 foot 3 and 214 pounds, in the past year.

"His locker is clean," said Sherman, who then harkened to a time when it wasn't. "That was a major thing last year. And his mother went to his apartment (recently) and that was clean, as well. She called us."

I am The 12th Man doesn't seem very happy about AD Bill Byrne's salary.

OU's hitman. Sooner safety Quinton Carter is a headhunter.

Wide receiver Brandon Caleb never saw it coming. And why would he? After all, Oklahoma’s receivers and defensive backs were working on routes and coverages in a non-contact drill.

But that didn’t stop then-freshman safety Quinton Carter from laying Caleb out, prompting the Sooner coaches to throw Carter out of practice. It wouldn’t be the last time Carter was ejected for being too physical in practice, either.

The Sooner backup quarterback isn't too bad, either. Landry Jones is starting to impress everyone, including Sam Bradford.

"I think Landry is playing really well right now," Bradford said. "I think it’s night and day from what he was doing in the fall to how he’s playing right now.

"If you guys watched him play he could probably be starting at a lot of places."

According to cornerback Donimique Franks, the iincoming freshmen linebackers are an impressive trio.

"Those kids hit. They’re not scared at all,” Franks said. "From the first time we started in full pads, they’re flying in, they’re knocking people’s helmets off, getting up and talking smack and it’s like they’re at home already and it’s good to see that.”

"It surprised me. You take into consideration that those kids should be back in high school getting fitted for a tux and getting ready for the prom, they’re out here going against kids that have already been in college and they’re out here playing like they’ve been here all year.”

Some good news from the same article... Corey Wilson is back living in his apartment and going through rehab.

The Sooner defense wants to eliminate big plays.

Allowing an inordinate number of big plays last season proved to be the Achilles’ heel of the Sooner defense.

During a three-game stretch, which included a loss to Texas, the Sooners allowed 20 plays that consisted of either a run of 15 yards or more or a pass of 25 yards or more.

So far this spring, surrendering big plays continues to be a hindrance for the defense.

Sam Bradford wants to bulk up this spring.

Bradford is a tall quarterback with an outstanding arm. But heading into the NFL, Bradford is still a bit slight of frame. That's one of the things he'll be concentrating on heading into next season.

And it's not just about the NFL, with a revamped offensive line, Bradford might have to take some punishment next season. A little extra heft couldn't hurt.

"That's tough," Bradford said of where his ideal weight should be. "I'd like to get, hopefully, to between 225 and 230 before the next season. I'm about 220 right now so with five or eight more pounds, I'd be pretty happy."

News Ok's Barry Tramel weighs in on the asterisk.

I don’t understand this whole notion of OU fans wanting Texas fans to relax and accept what happened in 2008, that the Longhorns came out on the short end of the three-way tie. The Sooners advanced fair and square; they went on to win the Big 12 title, sans asterisk, and could have settled the whole thing with a victory over Florida, but that didn’t happen.

If the roles were reversed, OU fans would be revolting in the streets, too. We wouldn’t hear the end of how the Sooners beat Texas, but Texas got to play in the Big 12 title game.

One difference, I think, is there probably would have been no sign up in the OU locker room. And I’m hard-pressed to believe that Mack Brown didn’t know about the sign going up. If he didn’t, there are a lot of poor decision-makers walking around that complex. Bad Decision 1: Thinking up the goofy thing in the first place. Bad Decision 2: Don’t ask Mack about it.

Bob Stoops did not have a problem with our asterisk.

Monday, OU coach Bob Stoops said the controversy wasn’t a big deal to him.

’It doesn’t matter to me at all,’ he said. ’I know there isn’t one (an asterisk) on ours. I know where the trophy is.’

Is he talking about the glass crystal thing given out in January? That's in Florida.

Baylor lost the NIT title. It is the referees fault.

From the Post-Tribune (Northwest Indiana) comes a defense of Baylor head coach Scott Drew.

Scott Drew, our little Scott Drew, is getting lambasted by a few mostly unnamed Big 12 insiders (whatever the heck that means) for being a dirty recruiter, a terrible bench coach and a fraud.

Just exactly what is Drew guilty of? Crossing some imaginary line, according to Texas coach Rick Barnes, who told the New York Times that in a story last month. Apparently, Barnes and some of the more morally dignified coaches in the Big 12 were upset that Drew hired Dwon Clifton as Director of Player of Development. Clifton happened to be the AAU coach for John Wall, one of the best point guards in the nation. Whatever plan Drew had for luring Wall to Baylor with Clifton failed. He is reportedly headed to either Kentucky or Kansas.

Barnes doesn't operate that way, he said. Of course not. The guy has the Taj Mahal of facilities to work with. Go to Texas and they'll burp you before they put you to bed if you want.

The Valero Alamo Bowl will now be played on January 2. Not that we plan to be there.

A good use of legislative time. House Bill 4627, sponsored by Rep. Eddie Lucio III, would require preseason cognitive tests of high school athletes who play contact sports. The results would then be used  as a baseline to gauge the athlete's neurological health after a concussion.

The Big Ten Conference Commissioner has had enough. Jim Delany criticized major network college basketball analysts for remarks about his league this season. The bad part? The networks are TV partners with the conference.

Lou Holtz talks about his broadcasting career at ESPN.

“You look at me, 5-foot-10, 152 pounds, I have a lisp,” he said. “I have a physique, it appears like I've been afflicted with scurvy. I was in the lower half of my high school class. I mean, I have no ingredients for TV, but everybody needs something to do.”

And finally...

Condolences to the Red Raiders. Former Texas Tech three-time all-Southwest Conference linebacker Brad Hastings died of heart failure. He was 44.