As usual, Barry Switzer was right. Barry tweeted that he keeps getting the question, “Am I going to El Paso?” Barry’s reply: Hell no. My friend, Marty Robbins, got his [butt] shot last time he was out there.
Against UTEP, OU was winged in the backside. But unlike what happened in the gunslinger’s ballad, OU did not take a fatal bullet and did not die in the arms of the beautiful Feleena at a cantina.
The Sooners are back in Norman. Alive. They’re looking at the scouting report on Florida A&M. Or, perhaps even more exciting, they’re eagerly getting back to their EA Sports NCAA Football 13 video games.
OU was expected go to all video game on the UTEP defense. But the difference might have been Mike Price, who’s still a bit wily for his 66 years. He seemed to have a solid game plan until he ran out of quality athletes to execute it.
Emotion, talent and endurance were factors. Price has a roster that lists 70 Texans, but very few of them have the pedigree of OU’s 48 Texans. It had to be fun for UTEP’s 2-star athletes to outplay their 4- and 5-star counterparts on a starry Texas night on national TV (Does Baylor ring a bell?). But then came the missed kicks. And the cramps. And there was no RGIII.
When UTEP’s emotion wore off, OU’s talent endured.
FAVORITE PERFORMERS FROM WEEK 1: Justin Brown and Frank Solich. Obviously, the Cult of Penn State could’ve used Brown, who transferred to OU from State College, Pa. Penn State lost to Ohio 24-14 in another case of a wily coach (Solich) getting the most out of overlooked players. Brown could bring the disciplined routes that a Josh Heupel offense requires and Landry Jones needs. Brown, who wants to earn his degree from Penn State rather than OU, seemed a little turned around on geography when it came to West Texas. On Friday, he tweeted: “So this place is like a few miles from Mexico … Really tho.”
SIDELINE OBSERVATIONS: Toby Keith wasn’t on the sideline. He was out doing one of his Live in Overdrive tour gigs in St. Louis. Don’t expect him for Florida A&M (he’ll be in Houston) and Kansas State (Boston) … Fox Sports Net cameras didn’t find J.R. Ross until late in the fourth quarter. … Speaking of Fox cameras, commentators J.C. Pearson and Mike Morgan were obsessed over the presence of mustard on the UTEP sideline. My guess is that it was just in case an order from Chico’s Tacos made it to the sideline. … This game reminded me of OU’s 28-11 victory over Baylor in 1974. I was there. OU was a 43-point favorite, but the Sooners played like Laurel and Hardy all afternoon. Turns out that Baylor team, led by wily coach Grant Teaff won the Southwest Conference that season, a season that’s now known as the Miracle on the Brazos. … This year’s State Fair of Texas fried-food choices have been announced. Are you ready for deep fried jambalaya?
ANOTHER LANDRY JONES? On Friday, I watched Cody Thomas, who is listed by Rival.com’s as the state of Texas’ second-best senior quarterback. Thomas passed for 265 yards in leading Colleyville Heritage to a 20-2 victory against Duncanville. At 6-foot-5, 210 pounds, Thomas looks a lot like Landry in the pocket, but he has some wheels. Rivals lists him as having 4.6-second speed in the 40-yard dash, and he looked every bit of it in getting out of jams against Duncanville.
NEXT WEEK: The game is on pay per view. Should I pay $40 to see OU work out its frustrations against Florida A&M? I’ll listen to this until I make up my mind.
I'VE SEEN THINGS 
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