Sportsmanship: Oklahoma doesn't has it

Right before FOX went to commercial after Percy Harvin got hurt, you could hear the crowd reacting to the replay. One of the Oklahoma tacklers tugged on his feet and ankles as he got up after the play. Given that he already had a gimpy ankle, I wonder what ever the defender could have been thinking when he did that. Maybe it was the same sort of thing Bob Stoops thinks about when he keeps Sam Bradford in the fourth quarter of 50-point blowout so he can rack up Heisman stats.

... and blocking

The announcers were falling over themselves praising Tebow for that first down run in the third quarter, and it was a good run. But he almost surely would have been tackled short of the line if he hadn't gotten a very effective block from the receiver, who spun around and blocked a safety (it appeared) across the 20 while Tebow was on his way to the same spot. It's so easy and natural to give all the glory (and blame) to the quarterback, and skill position players generally, but you would expect the broadcast announcers to bring a higher level of sophistication.

Roy Williams strikes again

Roy Williams (the overrated one on the Cowboys ... no, that doesn't work ... you understand) was a Sooner. The guy who just savaged Chris Rainey with a horse-collar tackle, even if not technically, is a Sooner. Coincidence? I think not. There's a reason those tackles are illegal. The receiver is going forward with all his might, but the defender is pulling him down with all his weight from behind, and it's so easy for the defender to fall on an outstretched leg with a ton of weight on it. Roy Williams tends to break people's legs, but Rainey looked like he suffered something more like a torn groin muscle. Bo Jackson dislocated his hip, I believe, on what amounted to a horse-collar, and it prematurely ended the career of one of the most promising athletes in recent NFL memory. They really need to liberalize the definition of that foul so they can call it more.

Update: According to the FOX sideline reporter, it's a sprained right ankle. I wouldn't be surprised, based on the tackle and the degree of pain Rainey appeared to be in, if his leg was broken just like Terrell Owens' was when the Roy Williams was first put into effect.

Tebow the prospect, part II

The Sooners' second (!) interception came on a great zone blitz where both tackles retreated after a half-second of trying to rush, linebackers came from the outside, and Tebow was trying to complete a crossing pattern across the middle. It was a really good call by Oklahoma because the zone blitz defending the short middle is a fantastic call against a short pass over the middle. They got lucky that was evidently the play call, but Tebow should have recognized the zone blitz and at least throw the ball away, and ideally throw it into the wider zones vacated by the blitzing linebackers.

(Boo)mer Sooner

The OU Band needs more songs. It seems like every first down they play Boomer Sooner (I assume is the name of the fight sond), in addition to obviously playing it after touchdowns. Every time I watch an Oklahoma game I get that song stuck in my head for days.

Nice touchdown drive though. It's probably a good idea to try to run at the fast-twitch Florida defense. Between that and the unusual (even if it's not that fast) offensive tempo, Florida's defense did look a little out of sorts by the end.

Tebow the prospect

Two plays in a row Tim Tebow appeared to totally fail to recognize a blitz and adjust his protection. First he took a huge shot as he threw the ball, then he managed to scramble ahead for a yard. Nobody will remember it because on the next play he threw a pass for the first touchdown of the game, but that kind of apparent inability to read the defense at the line of scrimmage is a big black mark on his resume as an NFL quarterback.