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Sooners' two draftees big losses
What do Ivy League also-ran Yale and national champion Oklahoma have in common? Each team had only two players selected in this year's NFL Draft. That's the fewest number picked off a No. 1 team since the NFL shortened the draft to seven rounds in 1993. This means the Sooners will be loaded as they attempt their title defense. However, the two players that Oklahoma lost, linebacker Torrance Marshall and quarterback Josh Heupel, were the leaders of the Sooners in every way possible. Nate Hybl, the transfer from Georgia, emerged from spring ball as a leading candidate at quarterback. He's talented but he doesn't have Heupel's gift of leadership. That's the hole that the Sooners won't fill easily.
Inductee -- with an asterikIt shouldn't go unnoticed that the College Football Hall of Fame finally voted in Barry Switzer this spring.The former Oklahoma coach ranks fourth on the all-time Division I-A winning percentage list and won three national championships. Yet he needed five ballots to get the votes he needed. Though you won't get anyone on the committee to say it, you can bet Switzer's wait had everything to do with the NCAA probation and outlaw status that the Sooners earned under his watch. The voters waited for the stain to fade. There won't be any mention of guns in the Sooners' dorms at Switzer's induction ceremony. If you ask me, the Hall of Fame ought to think about putting an asterisk next to Switzer's plaque.
Yes, it's broke, but don't fix itThe commissioners who brought us the Bowl Championship Series and that lovable computer formula are at it again. The BCS powers are considering a rule that would give greater weight to head-to-head competition when a berth in the championship game is at stake. It looks like a knee-jerk reaction to last season, when Miami beat Florida State yet didn't get invited to the Orange Bowl. You have to wonder whether the commissioners would have taken this action if Florida State had played well against Oklahoma.I think they're considering the change for the wrong reasons. All this time, they've been telling the public that the computers bring a welcome objectivity into the bowl business. Now they're saying, "Except when we think the computers are wrong." The BCS formula is beginning to resemble the NCAA Manual, which is ridiculously thick because you can't make a rule for every circumstance. Sports Illustrated senior writer Ivan Maisel covers the college football beat for the magazine and is a regular contributor to CNNSI.com.
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