Pause To Ponder

Originally Published: Oct 10, 2010 10:28 PM CDTIt&rsquo;s amazing the perspective that a bye week can give.&#160; The Sooners sat on the coach Saturday and still

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 1:27 pm

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Oct 10, 2010 10:28 PM CDT

It’s amazing the perspective that a bye week can give.  The Sooners sat on the coach Saturday and still gained two first-place votes in the A-P poll.  Why?  Voters are discovering that some of the Sooners’ past opponents are pretty good.  In fact, the combined record of OU’s 5 foes this season is 16-11.  That includes Florida State and Air Force who are each 5-1 with only a loss to OU.  FSU has a great chance to win the ACC and Air Force will be battling TCU and Utah for the WAC title.  Justin Blackmon may not be considered on that top level of OSU receivers with Hart Lee Dykes, Dez Bryant and Rashaun Woods just yet, but you better start to think about it.  He’s on pace to score 31 touchdowns and 206 points if the Pokes play 13 games.  In his OSU record-setting season of 2008, Dez had 21 TD’s and 130 points.If you look at the national rankings, it’s not pretty for the Sooners and Cowboys defensively.  OU ranks 93rd and OSU is up to 88th this week in total defense.  So how have the defenses held it together?  They’ve forced turnovers.  The Sooners have forced 7 fumbles and intercepted 7 passes.  They’ve turned it over 3 times on interceptions and 1 time on a fumble.  OU is +10 in turnover margin.  Their average of +2.0 turnovers per game ties them for 1st nationally.  The Cowboys have taken the ball away 8 times on fumbles and 8 times on interceptions.  They have thrown it away 7 times on interceptions and fumbled it away 4 times.  OSU is +5 in turnover margin.  Their average of +1.0 per game ties them for 10th nationally.