Only Idiots Play it Safe

Reading the comments of a article can be more entertaining than reading the article itself. Not only are there people commenting that can't spell or "speak good", but every once in a while you come across a comment that makes you think you are dreaming. The other day I waited for the kick as I read that "Tulsa should consider benching the leading rusher, leading passer in Kinne. Take the 'L' and still have the rest of the season in front." That's right, this guy thinks a team should settle for a loss before the game even starts. You don't need to know the details to understand that this idea screams absurdity, but I will give the details so I can express how idiotic this statement truly is.

First off I'd like to say that no team should ever just settle for the "L". Sports are competitive games. If you don't want to compete every time you play, then quit. The sport doesn't want you. This principle is true even in Little League, none the less in top tier collegiate football. Coaches are being paid to do a job, and players have a responsibility to their team. To accept a loss in this fashion is synonymous to a resignation.

With that said, let's take a look at what brought about this comment. The article was looking into the Oklahoma Sooner's first game. In this game they host the Tulsa Hurricane. Tulsa is definitely the underdog in this game, but does that mean they should bench their leading passer and rusher and admit defeat, of course not. Tulsa might not be part of a BCS conference, but that doesn't mean they are a bad team. Last year they finished at 10-3, and 10 wins in any conference is a quality season. Included in that were wins against Notre Dame in South Bend and in the Hawaii Bowl where the Hurricane put up 62 against a 24th ranked Hawaii team. The Hurricane return Senior Quarterback G.J. Kinne who last season threw for 3,650 yards and 31 touchdowns with only 10 interceptions. Kinne will be leading an offense that returns 7 other starters. On the flip side the Hurricane defense has 8 returning starters. This means that on September 3rd Tulsa will field an experienced team that knows how to win.

Not only will Tulsa have talent, but it is also has the advantage of week one. The sloppiest football is always played during the first week, and this can only help the Hurricane. The Sooners won't have played a live game for over 8 months, and the transition from practice to games can be very rough at the start of the season. If Tulsa is properly prepared they could shock a Sooner team full of big heads from their preseason ranking.

These upsets are not very likely, but they do happen. I would like to take you back to Labor Day 1989. On this day the University of Memphis Tigers rolled into Southern California to take on the USC Trojans. I can imagine that USC fans thought their Trojans would steam roll the Tigers. It was the opening game and USC was hyped to have a very good season. When the final buzzer sounded the score was Memphis-24, USC-10.

Six years ago September 3 (ironically the date of the Tulsa-Oklahoma game) the TCU horned frogs entered Norman Oklahoma to take on the Sooners. The previous year TCU had a losing season (5-6), while Oklahoma went 12-0 during the regular season and played for the National Championship. At the end of the day the score rested TCU-17, Oklahoma-10. This win would boost TCU to go on to win 11 games that year and 3 Conference titles and a Rose bowl victory in the ensuing six years. Today TCU is considered an elite program, with an elite coach in Gary Patterson. Do you think they would have made it to where they are today by being scared of a tough opponent?

Tulsa may not win on September 3 and honestly I'm not expecting them to, but I wouldn't count them out. To my online friend, there is a reason why you are posting comments online, not coaching the team. Maybe next time you should think before you post.