Bedlam

     ...Whew. What a crazy week. Productive, but, still...and then a game like that...

     The snowstorm started late Wednesday night, with the cold air coming through and wind picking up. Couldn't remember if we had Lit Thursday morning or not, so I walked over to Seminary, nobody showed up, so I just dropped my final off in Prof. Semrow's office and headed home. (We just had to write a letter to somebody who seemed like they could use one, told ya it was super easy.) The sleet began just after 9:30 a.m., Ryan and Shelly asked if I wanted to come over there for a while. The Galdamezes' is a nice place to be stuck in an ice storm. Read Mitford, played Scrabble, that sort of thing. Homemade doughnuts are pretty tasty. Carrie Underwood's Sound of Music remake was on NBC, watched most of that. It was better than I expected; but it seemed like they needed more rehearsal; and the guy that played Captain Von Trapp was atrocious.

     Came home that night and wrote that psych report and emailed it in, just after lunch Friday Grandpa called and asked if I wanted to come over. So went over there and watched Shark Tank and petted the dogs.
     The snow coated everything on campus, it's beautiful. Haven't taken as many pictures as I would've liked, but oh well. Made most people friendlier than usual, quicker with a grin or cheery "hello".

     Woke up(again, not sleeping especially well, strange dreams. But I did get almost right hours) with one thought on my mind, which most people shared: "It's GAME DAY." (This thought did not occur to my neighbor Steven F., but he's from Arkansas.) See, cause it's not just a football game. It's the biggest football game of the year, and it's the very difference that makes the Thunder cohesion so unbelievable. You either grow up Sooner crimson or Cowboy orange, with very, very little room in-between. And generally, the other color makes you sick. And this rivalry goes on all year long. Typically speaking in common sterotypes, OU sees OSU grads as the annoying little tagalong brother and fans as wannabes, OSU sees OU grads as a bunch of snobs and fans as hicks. (These are the sterotypes, not applicable to everybody. I know neat people who go/went to both schools.) It's called "Bedlam" for a reason. Named in the 1920s after the insane asylum during a wrestling match, it can certainly be crazy, even if it is one of college football's most historically-lopsided rivalries(OU 863-18-7).
     And it wasn't just for bragging rights this year. If the Cowboys could pull off a victory, then they'd win the Big 12, if OU could play spoiler, then the winner of the Texas-Baylor game would be conference champs. Several people I knew were there as fans, (they were insane!) Dad was working security, wondered pretty often how crazy things were getting. Danielle from YT is in the OSU band, did the instruments freeze to their mouths? (Apparently not, somehow.)
     Our terrible campus cable decided to be horrendously evil and permanently mute channel 8, and only channel 8, on today of all days!!! Facebook and Twitter exploded with complaints from angry/frustrated students. Elizabeth and I were trying to figure out how to react to this leading up to kickoff. We were gonna ask one of the RAs to open the lounge, but Jake and another guy beat us to it, we all tried to watch the game for a while in silence. That didn't go so well. So then we hook up the radio, but it's about fifteen seconds ahead of the TV broadcast. That didn't go so well, either. It was as silent as a library in the lounge; very weird experience. Definitely memorable, anyway. One of the RAs came in a bit later and several other people, Elizabeth left after one quarter, texted back and forth the rest of the way. Everybody else bolted for lunch during halftime, I came up to my dorm, updated FB, heated a container of chili for lunch and went back to the lounge and watched the third quarter by myself, coming back up to my dorm for the last fifteen minutes.
     The Cowboys received the opening kickoff and quarterback Clint Chelf promptly galloped 75 yards for a touchdown on the game's first play; but it was called back due to a holding penalty. That killed the drive. Several punts followed each other in quick succession, the first score came on a one-yard run by tailback Desmond Mason eight minutes into the game, giving the Cowboys a 7-0 lead. More punts followed, a complete breakdown in tackling techniques allowed Sooner Jalen Saunders to squirt around at least four orange jerseys with 18 seconds left on his 64-yard jaunt into the end zone, tying the game 7-7 after one quarter.
     OSU got back on top with Ben Grogan's 38-yard field goal with 8:48 to go in the second, it was matched by Michael Hunnicutt's 21-yard kick to keep it knotted at 10-all.
     Sooner QB Trevor Knight separated his shoulder late in the first half, he was replaced by Kendal Thompson, who almost immediately threw an interception, which the Cowboys gladly accepted and turned the turnover into a 15-yard Chelf-to-Roland touchdown with 13:18 left in the third quarter. Chelf later threw an interception with a mistimed low throw on a short route, former OU starter Blake Bell took over the reins of the Sooner Schooner, commandeering a long, time-consuming drive that was stopped at the Cowboy 4. Field-goal attempt coming....no, wait -  holder Grant Bothan scampered up and tossed a pass to Hunnicutt, who not only caught the throw and got into the end zone, but held on though getting crushed by a freight train of several defenders. (Play can be viewed here.) The daring call tied the game up at 17 going into the final 15 minutes, setting up a state full of anxious, and thrilled, onlookers.
     Hunnicutt put his team ahead 20-17 five minutes into the fourth quarter on a 39-yard kick, OSU reacted by putting together a seven-play, 89-yard drive that was capped off with Roland's one-yard touchdown run with 1:46 to play, State ahead 24-20. Bell marched the Sooners downfield, trying to engineer a last-second comeback, everyone in the stadium held their breath as the tension mounted. Justin Gilbert appeared to have an interception, but video replay overruled the call, keeping the OU drive alive. The officials maintained a good amount of journalistic balance; meaning both sides were very irritated by missed calls. With 19 seconds to play, Bell threw a seven-yard pass to the back right corner of the end zone, it was caught by  Saunders, giving OU the lead 27-24. The atmosphere became even more intense, if possible. Chelf was sacked with two seconds left. In desperation, OSU brought out the Hook and Ladder, hoping to pull a Boise State deja vu miracle on their hated rivals, but it was not to be. After three passes, the ball skipped onto the turf and was scooped up by Eric Striker, his touchdown putting a fitting ending on a brilliant football game that seemed to come straight from a movie script. #17 Oklahoma defeats #6 Oklahoma State 33-24, fans on both sides were stunned, according to Facebook.
     Bell was 10-of-16 for 140 yds and a TD passing, Brendan Clay led the Sooner rushing attack with 70 yds on 24 carries, while Sterling Shepard had 7 catches for 112 yds. For the Cowboys, Chelf was 19-of-35 passing for 200 yds with a TD and INT, Roland had 21 touches for 144 yds and two TDs, Josh Stewart had 7 receptions for 68 yds. OSU won the yardage battle 400-358, with rushing totals of 200-165 and passing totals 200-193. The two teams were a combined 4-of-28 on third downs, but the Sooners were 3-for-3 on fourth down conversions compared to the Cowboys' 0-for-1.
     With the win, Oklahoma improved to 10-2 on the year, 7-2 in the Big 12, while Oklahoma State fell to 10-2(7-2 Big 12) and will likely miss out on a BCS bowl.

     Great actual news story from one of our local TV stations, in other news, there was apparently an earthquake in Oklahoma that earned a 4.5 on the Richter scale, and Pearl Harbor was attacked 62 years ago today. Hoping Missouri can beat Auburn in the SEC championship, keeping on an eye on it while typing this post(this game has sound). Church is canceled tomorrow morning. Now to study for my Latin final on Monday...