By Bruce Campbell, Commentary
September 27, 2008 01:38 am
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It was a Sports Illustrated cover story in November 1957.
“Why Oklahoma Is Unbeatable.’’
Made sense at the time, as the Sooners were riding a 47-game winning streak under the legendary coach Bud Wilkinson.
Of course, OU’s next game — Notre Dame 7, Sooners 0.
So much for OU being unbeatable.
Which brings us back to a Southern California team the national media said was unbeatable.
Who would have thought Oregon State 27, USC 21.
Of course Southern Cal was supposed to have been unbeatable in 2005 — the year the Trojans lost to Texas in the Rose Bowl (a.k.a. BCS National Championship).
The 2003 OU team was proclaimed by one state sportscaster as the greatest Sooner team of all time.
That might be right, but it didn’t prevent the Sooners from losing back-to-back games to Kansas State and Louisiana State.
The 1970 Ohio State Buckeyes were supposed to be unbeatable — until they lost to Michigan.
Thanks to scholarship limits, major upsets can happen any weekend.
The Sooners might want to keep that in mind now that being ranked No. 1 in September or October doesn’t necessarily mean a trip to the BCS Championship game.
If Georgia is impressive against Alabama today, the Bulldogs might jump up to No. 1 ahead of OU, no matter what the Sooners do against Texas Christian.
The good thing for OU is this lessens the chance of three major powers being unbeaten at the end of the season.
This was the case in 2004 when USC, OU and Auburn all finished the season unbeaten. Auburn still is crying foul about finishing behind the Sooners in the last BCS rankings.
Don’t count the Trojans out either. Remember, LSU won last year’s championship with two losses. Ohio State made the championship game after a loss in November.
The beauty of college football is it’s so unpredictable.
The Sooners are in a position to control their own destiny. They were in the same position last year but blew their chances with losses to Colorado and Texas Tech.
There are roadblocks — Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and a road meeting at Oklahoma State, not to mention a predicted Big 12 Championship game with Missouri.
Georgia will have a tough time going undefeated in the SEC. Ditto for Florida, LSU and Alabama.
USC should go through the Pac 10 with no more losses.
No one can tell how it’s going to turn out.
But it’s going to be fun to watch.
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Bruce Campbell / Commentary