Reality Rankings: Fatality edition
Fifty-one rushing plays. Three hundred forty-three yards rushing. Eight touches for Trey Millard for 164 total yards. (It took three years to feed the best fullback in the nation.) It's like the Sooner coaches listened to the masses.
Whether they actually did or not, the outcome was absolute devastation in the Red River Shootout that I didn't think was possible. Everything the Sooners needed to do, they accomplished. Everything they needed to shore up, they did. Even the supposed weak link, the offensive line, dominated Texas.
OU dominated a football program backed by the richest athletic department in the nation. The Sooners dominated a team that owns the heart of the most talent-laden state in the country. They dominated a team that consistently pulls in better athletes than 97 percent of all other programs. Defensive stats before the Stoops brothers pulled the first team midway through the fourth quarter: 140 total yards, 9 first downs, 0 points allowed. Utter. Domination.
It was like OU was playing air. Gripe about Stoops all you want, and I have done it as well, but he straight up owns Mack Brown's soul. If the Sooners played every game like they play the Red River Shootout, he'd have five national titles at least.
Nothing calms the seething masses like a beatdown of Texas. I often wondered what would keep Bob Stoops around if he never won another national title. I've found the answer: Thorough reaming of the Burnt Orange Nation.
Will this dominant victory finally vault the Sooners into the Reality Rankings?
1. Alabama (1) - Tide keep rolling over mediocre competition. Best win is against a team that beat Air Force by six (Michigan). Worst performance: Trailed against a team that Texas rolled by 35 (Ole Miss).
2. Notre Dame (3) - Leapfrogs Florida by getting a hard-nosed victory over a very solid Stanford team for the Fighting Irish's best win of the season. Worst performance: Needing a last-minute drive to beat 3-3 Purdue.
3. Florida (2) - Best win: Knocking off LSU by holding the Tigers to eight first downs and 42 yards rushing. Worst performance was this week, trailing early to a 2-4 Vanderbilt team.
4. Oregon (4) - Oregon keeps winning, but like Alabama, has only played mediocre competition. Best win was a 49-0 shutout of underrated Arizona. Worst performance: Lethargic second half in 42-25 win against 4-3 Fresno State.
5. Kansas St (6) - Wildcats continue to buckle down and win when they have to. This week, they handled their business against a tough Iowa State team. Again, they will not lose to a lesser team this season. Best win: OU at Norman. Worst performance: Trailing early against 3-4 North Texas.
6. LSU (-) - Tigers return to the Reality Rankings with a hard-fought win over South Carolina for their best win by far of the season. Worst performance: No, not their loss, but struggling to beat 1-5 Auburn.
7. South Carolina (8) - Gave the Tigers all they could handle at Baton Rouge. Almost had their best victory in years. Best win: Pummeling then-No. 5 Georgia. Worst performance: Struggling against 2-4 Vanderbilt.
8. Oklahoma (-) - The latest two dominating wins puts the Good Guys in the Reality Rankings for the first time this year. Best win: Aforementioned destruction of the universally hated Longhorns. Worst performance: Fumbling away home game to Kansas St.
9. Ohio St. (7) - Best win: 63-38 pasting of Nebraska. Worst performance: Allowing 2-5 Indiana to rack up 481 yards in a 52-49 win.
10. Oregon St (9) - Like Ohio St., not a huge amount to brag about, but going undefeated does mean something. Best win: At 5-2 UCLA. Worst performance: Struggling against 2-4 Washington State at home.
Dropped from rankings: West Virginia (5), Florida State (10)
