The importance of Saturday afternoon

Legend has it that after the 2006 RRS, the OU coaches had privately acknowledged a shift in the series. They used to have the great athetes, the ones who could create momentum with a big hit or big run. After ‘06 is was us, and they knew it.

I honestly thought, as did most of the grumps that populate this site, that we had flown too close to the sun and lost our wings — in this case our 6′5 250 pound wings made out of black feathers. 2007 was a big middle finger to those of us that thought we’d made the leap. Bad players, bad coaches, bad decisions and most importantly a recruiting season that left a bit to be desired. We’d taken control of the big 12 — finally — and given it right back without a fight.

This win doesn’t make 2007 any better. It was still an utter abortion and a clinic on how not to capitalize on a championship. But one good hire and a couple graduations and everything is back. This team believes in itself again. You can see the excitement that Vince Young brought. Muschamp’s intensity took awhile to sink in, the young kids needed some success first. It came, then came faster, and now there they are ranked #1 with a defense full of freshmen and sophomores and the momentum of a free-falling avalanche.

Recruits aren’t going to OU to win championships this year. The media will be focusing on us again like they should have all along. With this one win we legitimized ourselves with the fanbase, the media, the Heisman committee, and the players themselves.

We’ll probably lose once this year, the Big 12 is just too good to think you’ll get through undefeated.But we don’t have to fear the rest of our schedule — they have to fear us.