Remember the Alamo.....bowl!!!

It was exactly six years ago to the day, when I made the trip to San Antonio to watch Oklahoma State play against The Ohio State University (that's how they call it, don't ask me why).  My good friends hooked me up with a ticket (thank you to Barry and Connie Bloyd) that actually turned out to be a great seat.  I had a great trip to San Antonio (well except the Greyhound ride back home).  I got to connect with some old friends, made some new friends, visited the San Antonio Zoo and of course, the Riverwalk.  I had a blast!!  And that was as good as it got.


Come game time, it was a whole different story.  The only things that these two squads had in common was that they played football and shared the same initials.  Other than that, there were two different sets of players on the field; NFL caliber talent vs Division I football talent.  Oklahoma State just never got going against an Ohio State team that at 7-4, was having a considerably down year.


Flash forward to yesterday and it was neat to see the Cowboys round off what has been their best season in school history so far, and snap a 2 game bowl skid while they were at it.  I'm already sick and tired of hearing these commentators and analysts state the same thing, over and over and over and over...... (I could do this all day), that Oklahoma State was supposed to have been rebuilding, they had been picked to finish near the bottom of the Big 12..... and so on.  Lookie here guys, and I'm not naming anyone specific (Craig James), we've heard it since spring training, the summer workouts and the entire season!!  How about telling something that we don't already know, okay?


Catch him if you can; oh wait, YOU CANT!!!



At some point in the first quarter, Justin Blackmon got wide open for a pass that went 71 yards for a touchdown.  Arizona corner back Robert Golden was probably thinking that he would have help from a safety over the top, and when that didn't happen, Blackmon did!!  Golden didn't even bother trying to chase him down.  Somebody help me out here; Blackmon is a 1st team All-American, he has lit up just about every cornerback that single covered him, he is a Biletnikoff Award winner (given to the best receiver in the country), yet somehow, he got behind your defense!!  If I was Mike Stoops, I would have him double covered from the day he arrived in San Antonio.  I'd make sure there were 2 defenders following him EVERYWHERE he went (OK, not just about everywhere!!).


Not to be left out of the fun, the defense got in on the act collecting 5 sacks and 3 interceptions.  Markelle Martin was probably the busiest player on the defensive side.  Beside returning an interception for a touchdown, he was busy racking up personal foul penalties left and right.  I'm thinking he must have had a side-bet with someone because he was playing like a man possessed.  Whatever floats your boat, buddy.

Arizona did just about everything but score.  They held the ball for 15 more minutes, ran over 20 more plays and did everything they could to keep Oklahoma State's orange-hot offense off the field.  Only problem was that when they couldn't score, the Cowboys didn't mind showing them how it's done.  I was hoping to see a flea-flicker from OSU at some point, but I guess they didn't get around to it because Dana Holgorsen was too busy chugging a Red Bull on the sideline; talk about free publicity.

I was rather disappointed when the officials reversed Michael Harrison's obvious touchdown.  It appeared to me that he had made a clean catch, had possession as he crossed the goal line and only lost the ball after the defender tried to wrestle it from him.  Poke nation thought "touchdown", the officials ruled "incomplete pass"; oh well!!

Let's do this again sometime!!

With Arizona set to make a trip to Stillwater, OK next September, I don't think the Wildcats, Robert Golden in particular, will be looking forward to seeing Justin Blackmon around.  Prior to the game, there were rumours that Blackmon had told some fans that would be returning for his junior season.  Other rumours have it that he had submitted some paperwork to the NFL to see get an evaluation of where he would likely be drafted should he leave.

I wouldn't mind him coming back for another season, but as I've always understood with regards to the NFL draft, you leave when you're hot and your draft stock is high.  Last I checked, he was projected to be a 1st round (25th overall) pick and ranked as the 3rd best receiver in the draft.  If you're wondering why he is rated as the 3rd best receiver, don't ask me, I'm just quoting the reports.

It was really great to see Oklahoma State players having fun.  It's been a great season and San Antonio isn't a bad place to be, especially at this time of the year.  I can only imagine that the trip back home was a lot better than the last time they played in the Alamo Bowl.