Top Teams Survive Road Tests

Sep 19, 2011

Week 3 of the 2011 college football season was billed as Road Test Weekend by the clever interns in charge of nicknames at the World Wide Leader, and judging by the results, most teams got passing grades.

While many of these so-called tests were more like pop quizzes (4Boise at Toledo? 8Wisconsin at Northern Illinois?), a couple of contests earned bona-fide mid-term status.

3LSU survived a tough challenge at 24Mississippi State, knocking off the Bulldogs 19-7 in another ugly win for Les Miles. 6Stanford bested a tough Arizona squad, 37-10, while 8Oklahoma State slaughtered Tulsa, 59-33, in a game that ended after 3:00am Eastern time thanks to yet another lengthy lightning/weather delay.

Losing grades went to 15Michigan State, which handed the Fighting Irish its first victory of the season, staving off Brian Kelly’s inevitable aneurysm for another at least another week, and the shell of the 17Ohio State Buckeyes, who couldn’t knock off fellow probation-bound club, the Miami Hurricanes.

But none of these tests were stiffer than the clash of the titans that took place Saturday night in Tallahassee – top ranked Oklahoma versus the fifth ranked Florida State Seminoles.

While Jimbo Fisher has the Noles fans thinking of the glory days again, the 47-17 drubbing the Sooners administered in Norman last year had to be fresh in the minds of the record crowd that packed Doak Campbell Stadium for the prime time tilt.

Bob Stoops knew this game would be a litmus test for his team’s national championship credibility. Many times since the Sooners won the title in 2001 has a superior Oklahoma squad succumbed to the pressures of playing tough but lesser-ranked opponents, especially on the road. (The 2007 Orange Bowl immediately comes to mind.)

But a win Saturday night should have the experts predicting a trip to Bourbon Street for the Sooners next January, with Stoops hoisting the crystal football over his head again, while a loss could leave the Noles faithful with an empty feeling, realizing they are still at least a year away from being a serious title contender again.

As it turns out, both teams earned some respect in Oklahoma’s bone-crunching 23-13 victory.

In a game that featured more devastating hits than an MMA match (three key Noles got hurt, including starting QB EJ Manuel and wide receiver Kenny Shaw, who was knocked unconscious and taken off the field on a stretcher), the Sooners survived a scare from FSU, using a clutch fourth quarter touchdown drive and a late interception to hold off the plucky Noles.

OU QB Landry Jones had a so-so game (18-27, 199yds, TD, 2INTs), but he came up big when it mattered most, hitting acrobatic wideout Kenny Stills with a 37-yard pass in the end zone to give his team a 20-13 lead moments after the Noles had tied the game on a miraculous touchdown from freshman QB Clint Trickett to Rashad Green.

It was the type of hard-fought, gut-check win that can catapult a team to a tremendous season, and the type of loss that a young, hungry, wannabe contender can build off of.

In other words, no one really flunked the test.