As I’m sure all of you do, I get caught reveling in the vast improvements of our football program over the last five or so years.  Even more exciting than the success we’ve experienced is the trend developing and the prospects of where it could lead.  But every so often, we get a dose of reality.  Sure, we’ve come a long way, but we have a long ways to go.  And no one is quicker to remind us of this than Mangino, but it sets in a bit more when you see it in action as opposed to hear it via a press conference.  A couple such occasions occured within the last few days.

1. Blake Bell verballed to OU.  The news itself didn’t bother me.  And that’s the problem.  We can’t and shouldn’t expect to compete with big time programs for big time recruits.  Except when they are in-state.  If we lose out, that’s one thing.  But to barely even be in the game once OU offered is another.  This isn’t a knock on Mangino and his staff, but rather just an indicator of much further we need to go. 

Meanwhile, OU’s biggest concern right now seems to be Bradford’s shaggy hair.  Honestly, I think it helps him look a little less like a gopher.  What’s with star Oklahoma athletes and their creepy eyes?

2. I watched Texas’ spring game.  And true to form, Mack has himself a group of athletes.  Even more concerning, Muschamp has them playing some defense.  If he really is willing to spurn other head coaching offers until Mack steps down, this could be a nasty combination – keep giving Muschamp those kind of athletes and he is going to keep fielding a ridiculous defense.  If I’m Texas, my biggest worry personnel wise is DT and my biggest worry execution wise is in the running game.  For much better analysis, here’s Scipio’s reaction.  He’s extremely concerned about TE and I can’t say I blame him, but I still think it pales in comparison to their need for a consistent running game.  They figure that out and the rest is icing on the cake.  Then again, they seem to be clinging to something that didn’t even happen so maybe they need all they can get.

While we’re here, we may as well check in on our other south opponent for this year, Texas Tech.  It seems Brandon Carter, one of their returning linemen, recently went down with an undisclosed knee injury.  This could petentially be a huge loss, especially if he’s no longer emulating a professional wrestler. 

Another big obstacle to our chances in the Big 12 this year will be Nebraska.  If November 14th isn’t circled on your calendar, we’re pretty surprised to have you here at OBK.  Anyway, Corn Nation has predictably been in football mode since, well, last football season and they’ve had some nice previews of late.  Here’s a list of players to watch and others to keep an eye on.  And also on looking at the linebacking unit.  Also one analyzing the secondary.  And what may be their biggest strength (it certainly was againt us), the d-line, anchored by Suh.  Needless to say, they’ve been pretty oblivious to the supposed basketball season going on in the rest of the country for quite some time. 

And lastly, if you haven’t checked back to find Ginger’s observations from the practice he attended, you might want to do so.  As of this post, the spring game is but 124 hours away.  Current forecasts calls for mostly sunny skies, 64 degrees and a 11 mph wind out of the ESE.  Not quite as warm as we’d like or we’re used to in mid-April, but hard to complain about when you’re in dire need of a tailgate and quick look at how some of our personnel has developed.