Blankenship: Best Oklahoma Quarterback May Be In C-USA

Bobby Lewis, NewOn6.com

TULSA, Oklahoma -- The annual meeting of the minds at Conference USA media day brought out the usual politically correct answers. You heard "we have to take it one game at a time" on more than one occasion. Coaches came with the "everybody in this conference is talented" line, even though they all know who the bottom feeders are going to be.

And then, there was new Tulsa head coach Bill Blankenship firing the first in-state barb of the season.

"The media in Tulsa has given some attention to the state of Oklahoma having some pretty good quarterbacks, and we believe that the best one is not in the Big 12," he said, with stone-faced seriousness. "We think he's probably in Conference USA."

Game on.

The Golden Hurricane's new leader is certainly confident in senior quarterback G.J. Kinne's ability to lead his team to new heights. He'll get his chance to battle the other two Oklahoma signal callers when Tulsa visits Landry Jones and the Sooners in the season opener, then hosts Brandon Weeden's OSU Cowboys two weeks later.

Still, he says those non-conference games are not the team's focus.

"Our number one goal is to get to conference play and be effective when we're there," he said. "People make a big deal about out September schedule and it's incredible. We've got three Top 10 teams on there. But, we also have a trip to Tulane. You have to go win on the road in this conference if you want to win the championship. So, I think that's the biggest game in September."

Tulsa newcomers report on Tuesday with varsity players showing up on Wednesday. The team's local media day is set for Thursday.