OT impressions on Oklahoma-Miami

-Did you know Miami OC Mark Whipple coached in the NFL? If you didn't you didn't have the sound on, because Musburger and Herbstreit talked about it seemingly EVERY series. The egg-sucking tic Musburger displays has grated on me ever since the 1999 UM-Penn State game, when he and Gary Danielson flipped over LaVarr Arrington every other play; meanwhile Brady lit up the Lion defense for two touchdowns in the last six minutes and won the game. The storyline? "LaVarr's dreams crushed." -"What is Britney doing with her life?" ABC/ESPN cross-promotion is really getting out of hand. I heard more references to Brett Favre and the MNF game than I did to Sam Bradford, who like Favre was not playing in the game but unlike him was actually in the stadium. -Miami's defense was ferocious at times - a level of talent and dedication Michigan needs to get back to after many years of defensive mediocrity. -Oklahoma, like all Stoops years, is FAST. Not just stopwatch-fast, but they are clearly going 100% at all times. -Miami QB Jacory Harris is a sharp interview. He might drop a couple of jive words, but for a true sophomore in his sixth start he sounded awfully on top of things after the game. Sounds like his teammates trust him in the huddle, which is big after all the QB transfers they've been through this year. -Landry Jones is a newbie and everything, and Sam Bradford is a special player, but OU really should be scoring more than 20 points against a quality opponent. -High variance defines Oklahoma's recent history - they can score huge amounts of points, but if they are going to lose a game you can usually tell from the outset. Put another way: I don't recall a lot of nail-biter game-winning drives from OU of recent vintage. OU seemed to flag against Miami's second-half momentum, and once they saw they couldn't go up and down the field started committing a lot of conduct penalties (personal fouls and unsportsmanlikes). I liken OU to a bully - running up the score on the cupcake teams, but going limp when challenged - and those penalties bore that bully nature out. -With losses to a pretty good team (BYU) and another that looks excellent (Miami), Oklahoma's shot at the national title is pretty much over in my mind. Unless we have another bevy of two-loss teams, I don't see how a team that has flailed in two quality contests should get a favorable shake. Yeah, they are missing two of their best players, but they were in position to win the two games and didn't.