J.R.'s Family Bar-B-Q

Let’s not blow off a 59-0 Sooners win last Saturday night over an obviously outmanned Middle Tennessee State University team. Wins are good and confidence building wins after getting shafted in Eugene, where we indeed got “Ducked”, had to make our players and coaches feel better. It did not hurt my feelings to actually be able to relax at an OU football game for a change. The team will be off this Friday and Saturday before returning to practice on Sunday afternoon/evening and getting serious, damn serious, about game preparation for Texas. My granny used to say that idle times were the devil’s workshop and let’s hope the OU players make good, mature choices on their 48 hour hiatus and use the time to rest and enjoy the fruits of their labor. We don’t need any “issues” a week before our Big 12 opener. This Sooner offensive team is sure a heck not a one dimensional until. AD is going to get his yards come hell or high water and the more guys that are placed in the “box” the better for Paul Thompson who has a bevy of talented receivers to select from lead by sophomore, 6’4” Malcolm Kelly. The old “let’s make Thompson beat us” theory works for me. No one is going to fully stop # 28 any way but go ahead and try and load the box and good luck on single covering Coach Kevin Sumlin’s guys. That includes 3 massive and athletic tight ends. One of the keys to the OU-Texas game is the Sooners young offensive line going up against a UT defensive line that is QB hungry and loves to punish the men under center. This may simply come down to who is the tougher unit and who is willing to get up more frequently when they are knocked down because there will be knock downs in this heavyweight Slobber-Knocker. On defense, let’s tackle like wild men and make UT QB young Colt McCoy’s life a living hell for 60 minutes in the Cotton Bowl. Texas has a massive O-Line that has the ability to help facilitate long, Longhorn drives which keeps AD seated and the clocking moving thus becoming our enemy. Our defensive line will no doubt have their manhood tested on October 7 and it will be interesting to see how high the fire burns under their backsides thanks to the motivation of Coach Jackie Shipp. I wish Coach Shipp had some eligibility left! It doesn’t take a genius to figure out our cornerbacks will be tested early and often. This is a huge opportunity for Texas boys Marcus Walker and Lendy Holmes to make a statement, along with the talented D.J. Wolfe. Reggie Smith at safety makes me feel more secure that no on will be running free deep on us. I attended my first OU-Texas game in 1970 which was the first game that Sooner offensive coordinator Barry Switzer incorporated the wishbone offense. We got hammered that day but came back the next year and the wishbone ran wild. This is one date on my calendar that is circled more prominently than any other day of the year. I’m not sure that is a good thing or if I am simply and obsessed Sooner football fan. Mike Gundy’s OSU Cowboys got hammered last week…by the officials. Houston is not a bad team but OSU played offensively well enough to win. The Pokes defensive has to improve but T. Boone Pickens favorite team is playing a great number of young players which should bode well for the future.Bobby Reid is potentially a great QB but the running back by committee system may not be as effective as some perceive. The men in orange and black are headed in the right direction and play OU the last game of the year in Stillwater. That’s some serious Bedlam! OSU, like OU, is off this week. The most significant game this week in the Big 12 is Tech at A&M. If the mad professor Mike Leach has his offensive rolling in this one I can see The Red Raiders outscore the Aggies in this one. If it becomes a low, scoring defensive struggle the nod goes to Franchione’s bunch. Franchione is on thin ice in College Station so it is hard to gauge just how big this game is for the Head Coach and his staff and their families. I saw where Fighting Irish Coach Charlie Weis said he got slapped in a melee last week on his sideline during the Notre Dame-Michigan State game. The Spartans deny such but if it did occur, speaking as someone who knows about multiple chins, on which chin was Coach Weis slapped?? Florida fans booing QB Chris Leak, only the # 4 ranked passer in American, should be ashamed of themselves and dapper Urban Meyer should have the Spauldings to same something about it to them. If I was an Auburn fan I would be scared to death to play Spurrier’s Game****s on the road. Auburn has a better team but that doesn’t always mean Auburn will win in South Carolina. Oregon should kill Arizona State in Tempe. The Ducks with or without the officiating help are pretty damn good. Colorado at Missouri is a feast of famine game. CU coach Dan Hawkins has the chance to build on almost winning at Georgia and to start off clean with the Big 12 North games. Stranger things have happened. Winning at Missouri is not easy as OU will find out later in the season. Mizzou in a CLOSE one. At Iowa, at night, on national TV…sounds tough to me. Ohio State has a great team but Iowa has great tradition and everything to gain in this ball game. No one expects Iowa to win so if there ever was a time to go with the home ‘dog this may be it. It’s fun to watch all the former OU Sooners now in the NFL. Man, business really picked up when Bob Stoops got into town. The number of ex-Sooners is scary now playing in the NFL. Chicago (4) and Baltimore (5), two Superbowl hopefuls, have the most former Sooners. Clint Ingrim is now seeing action at LB for Jacksonville. Brodney Pool is attempting to hold things together in the Browns’ secondary. Stephan Alexander is seeing action as Denver’s tight end. Derrick Strait is contributing to the upstart Jets, while Roy Williams is still THE man in the Dallas secondary and will bump into former Sooners Brandon Jones and Andre Woolfolk this week against Tennessee. Props also go out to OT Jamaal Brown, OU and Lawton, for doing a stellar job Monday night in the Superdome against Atlanta. The NFL Sunday ticket is the thing to have this season to support the former Sooners in the NFL. We appreciate your email feedback and don’t for get to checkout out online store, Sooner Slobber-Knocker merchandise is the perfect choice for the Sooner fan in your family. Plus we ship our sauces all over the world. Thanks and let me know if you ever purchase anything that isn’t right. J.R.