Catbird

Gee, maybe you're right! After all, last year's QB lasted until the last cut by the Kansas City Chiefs. Too bad you didn't read the part about the front-line players who didn't play this week.

I thought you might be interested in reading the column I wrote on the game Saturday. I write them weekly (or weakly, if you like) during the football season. Again ... thanks for the hospitality. Been There, Done That I can’t remember how many times we’ve been on the receiving end of something like Saturday’s football game in Denton, Texas. I can commiserate with the Mean Green fans from the University of North Texas, because it wasn’t that long ago that the Golden Hurricane was so thin we were not able to sustain an entire game. This game started as a close, hard-fought contest, with both teams sparring and trading punts until late in the first quarter, when punter Chris Kindred thought fast and kicked an errant snap out of the end zone to avoid giving up a UNT touchdown. That was the end of the game for the Mean Green. The biggest difference in the teams Saturday was depth. While UNT has a first string that can hang pretty tough with Tulsa, once they spend just so long on the field against a constantly rotating group of fresh players … they simply can’t compete. Consider, also, the number of players TU did without in this game: running back Uril Parrish, who was nursing a sore foot; safety Bobby Klinck, who was nursing a sore hand; spur Steve Craver, who is nursing a sore shoulder; and Ashlan Davis, who was nursing a sore ego. Add to them Kedrick Alexander, who failed to satisfy the NCAA requirements on progress toward his degree, and Jeff Thibodeaux, who lost his father a few days before the game. Talk about needing the depth with which we started this season! Tulsa used 49 players Saturday night, and nearly all got significant playing time. Yet, Tulsa appeared to get stronger as the game proceeded. My, how time (and a great coaching staff) can heal the wounds of the past! There were a number of obvious highlights in the game, such as Garrett Mills’ eight catches for 148 yards, including an acrobatic flip into the end zone, and Anthony Germany’s outstanding knockdown and recovery of a pitchout. Paul Smith’s management of the game, his crisp passing, his heads-up running and his quick kicks that flustered UNT, were classic. Watching Brandon Diles power through tackles, as he did for 128 yards, is always a thrill. He is a threat any time he touches the ball, and a gutsy, powerful rusher. Cauvey Jackson and his unbelievably quick feet are a joy to behold in practice, as well as in games. But, the game wasn’t the only highlight of the 18-hour “zip trip” to Denton. When the UNT Mean Green fans tailgate … they really do it right. It was impossible to walk more than ten feet during the couple hours before the game without being offered a free beer, or a soda, or a water, or a bratwurst, or some of the 450 pounds of brisket the UNT message board posters cooked up for their tailgate. They were truly gracious, gregarious, classy hosts … and that almost made me feel bad about the ultimate outcome of the game. Almost, but not quite. Because, as I mentioned earlier … we’ve been there and done that. I may even have the t-shirt (unless I burned it awhile back). The memory still burns (no pun intended) deep within me. Right now, the Golden Hurricane is still about one-and-a-half deep in quality players, which is down from the 1.75 with which we started the season. We’re 3-4 deep at running back … two deep at quarterback … at least two deep on the D-line and at linebacker … two deep at receiver … about 1.5 deep on the O-line … and about the same at defensive back, but getting a tad thinner right now. Hopefully, we’ll get over some of the soreness that’s kept some of our great players on the bench and go forth to dominate our conference USA foes in much the same fashion as we did North Texas. More likely, though, is that we’ll face teams with roughly the same depth that we have, and have to rely on our talent, skill, conditioning, commitment and coaching to achieve the results we need. We have all that now … so bring on the Tigers and let’s kick off our membership in C-USA in style … Tulsa style! See you at the tailgate … Catbird catbird@mail.com

I'd like to thank you folks for the great hospitality shown to us visiting TU fans. It was impossible to walk ten feet in the tailgate area without being offered a water, soda, beer, brat or brisket! Thanks to Adler, the only poster I had a chance to meet, for his gracious welcome ... and to all the other fans I had a chance to chat with. Too bad it was so sultry I had to seek shade so often! LOL Don't get down on your team or coaches ... you just had the misfortune of running into a team that is finally starting to gel. The only fluke last week against OU was that we let them off the hook and didn't rack them up as we did you. It wasn't very long ago, just prior to Kragthorpe, we were in the same position as you guys ... young and without sufficient depth to stay in games long enough to mount our game. For the first time in years, Tulsa has the depth to play with the "big boys" ... and it certainly showed on Saturday in Denton. We wore you out with fresh players coming in constantly. You didn't have the depth to compete ... as I think you saw as the game wore on. Good luck to you guys the rest of the way. Stick with your kids, because I think they'll be okay. Thanks for showing us how tailgates and hospitality are supposed to be. Go Mean Grean! Go Tulsa!

If you don't play, you don't hit the stat sheet. Apparently, this writer didn't get a chance to watch the game.

Thanks! I'm sure that will be quite helpful! (Those dang maps are sooo confusing.)

Two of us are driving down from Tulsa to root for the Golden Hurricane! (But we're nice guys, we won't rub it in.)

nm

The "Picker" is a bit of an institution in Tulsa. He is irreverent ... he doesn't just "go with the crowd" ... he doesn't care who he torques off ... he is (as you've figured out) sarcastic as hell ... and he's amazingly accurate. The only one he misses with remarkable regularity is TU.

Golden Hurricane - 1 North Texas - 0 I might just as well pick the same as I did on the Tulsa board, huh?

That would be: 35-Green-25971-oxford-0016308-gold

The University of Tulsa is a private university. Undergrad enrollment is a bit under 2,900 with the total a bit more than 5,000. We are either the smallest or the second-smallest school in D-I.

How Many Tulsa Fans Are Coming? Good question. It's always hard to tell, because most Tulsans consider a trip to the Metroplex area a "day trip". LOL The bus trip organized by the Golden Hurricane Club didn't have enough responses to fill the bus ... so that's cancelled. Many Tulsans get to your area so often that they are likely to come down by car as early as Friday and come back sometime Sunday. I'm driving down and looking for friends to fill out the car. I'm not certain what the best route is ... so I'll probably MapQuest the trip. I think this'll be a darn good game!