Kicking off the Pigskin Pursuit for 2010 was a trip back up to Norman to see the storied Sooners of Oklahoma.The Ruf/Neks would have to the circle the wagons pretty tightly, however, because the Seminoles of FloridaState were in town.This was an enticing matchup, as two traditional powerhouses were squaring off in one of the biggest games in the country in week two.Despite both of their storied traditions, Oklahoma and FSU had only faced each other five times in history. The last time was a 13-2 defensive standoff in the 2001 BCS Title Game, where the Sooners stifled the Seminoles for their 7th National Championship.Although I had been to Norman before, this game would be an appropriate marquee matchup to start the season.
The contest itself turned out to be a bit of an unexpected mismatch.Having no dog in the fight, naturally I was hoping for a close, competitive game.Instead, Oklahoma absolutely pasted FloridaState and reasserted themselves as the team to beat in the Big 12 this year.The offense had their way with the porous FSU defense all day, to the tune of 487 yards, as Bob Stoops clearly asserted himself over little brother Mark at this years Thanksgiving dinner table (Mark Stoops is the defensive coordinator for FSU).I think the Sooner Schooner may have even worn some grooves into the Gaylord Stadium turf after circling a half dozen times throughout the day.The Sooners extended their nation leading home winning streak to 32 games, reinforcing Norman as one of the toughest places to play in the country.
Final Score: OU 47 FSU 17
Perhaps the only disappointment on the Oklahoma side was the early departure of their student section. Midway through the 4th quarter, nearly half of the OU student section had already headed for the exits. Students are supposed be the lifeblood of stadium atmosphere, and a raucous and rowdy bunch from whistle to whistle.Leaving early is expected from the wine and cheese crowd, but inexcusable for students.Besides, if my team was hanging a 40 point shellacking on the likes of FSU, I would be hanging around and savoring every last second of that contest.Poor form OU students.
A word for a minute on tickets – as I tend to get this a lot.The first question people always ask me is about tickets.Do you have tickets?How are you going to get tickets?Let me try to clear this up for a minute.If you have any desire to attend college football games, don’t let tickets be an obstacle in any way.Finding tickets to these games should be the least of your concerns.There are ALWAYS tickets available, and 95% of the time they are available at or below face value (even at the National Championship Game last year).Don’t bother with Ebay, Craigslist, and Stubhub.Just wait until you get near the stadium, and there will be throngs of tickets thrust into the air for sale (many of them by scalpers – whom you should avoid as well).Just ask around until you find someone whos friends couldn’t make the game, or had to leave his children at home.They are generally just looking to sell the tickets to anyone mildly pleasant to sit next to (not completely hammered) to recoup their money back.
Here’s how tickets worked at the Oklahoma vs FSU game, and bear in mind this was easily the biggest home game in Norman this year.Kickoff was at 2:30.I approached the stadium at about 2:23.By 2:24 a guy and his wife were walking out holding their newborn and 2 tickets in the air.Turns out, they needed a ticket for the baby as well, so they couldn’t go to the game.I offered him face value for 1 ticket (87.00) and was on my way into the stadium fifteen seconds later.(He actually offered me both for $100.00 but I declined since I had no use for the extra).
Oh by the way – the ticket was on the 50 yard line, aisle seat, 27 rows from the field.One of the best seats on the house.Face value.Consider this the next time you are worried about tickets.
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I can’t quite remember where I first heard about Blue Pig BBQ, but I know it was on one of those “Best BBQ” lists that are routinely forwarded to me from friends and relatives.The problem with such lists, is that 99% of them are generated on hype and reputation alone. The author, usually of dubious credentials (like being from the North, or raving about “sauce”), has likely never even visited half the places on their list.The fact that Sonny Bryans still manages to make “best of” lists and television shows is proof of this abhorrent and misleading practice. Therefore, as a rule, I generally ignore such lists at face value, and I usually screen for multiple data points about a BBQ joint before adding it to the esteemed ranks of the Pigskin Pursuit list. One only has so much stomach space, after all.
Unfortunately, pressed for time, Blue Pig did not undergo my usual scrutiny for selecting a BBQ establishment and this one certainly slipped through the cracks.
I knew I was in trouble when I walked through the door and nary a hint of smoke greeted my nose.My fears were confirmed when my three meat tray arrived with a pile of nondescript meats that barely resembled BBQ.The jalapeno cheese sausage had fallen straight off the Sysco truck, and a quick nibble confirmed its mediocrity.The ribs were dry, lacked any hint of smoke, and flopped sloppily off the bone likely from sitting under a heat lamp for a few hours.Finally, there was this other grey matter that they referred to as “Brisket” on my tray.Like a five year old choking down peas, I winced through a few bites of the meat substance before paying it the ultimate insult – I “sauced” it.(Then I made a sandwich out of it.)
For those unfamiliar with the blog, for me to “sauce” any BBQ meat is an insult of the highest order.Roughly equivalent to walking into the kitchen, shooting the chef’s dog and scissor kicking him in the chest.
In fact, the best part of the meal was the cheesy potato concoction, which was actually the only thing I finished.Does Kreuz Market even offer side dishes?I wouldn’t know because I’ve never gotten past the meat.So if I’m telling you about the side dishes at a BBQ joint – take it as a warning and eat at the Denny’s across the street, or grab a pack of Combos from the Quik Trip.
The moral of this entire story is of course quite simple: Never trust Barry Switzer.
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When I first read about a BBQ joint that doubled as an RV Park, I got one of those twinkles in my eye that only comes from uncovering yet another unique roadside gem on the college football tour.If it’s one thing I’ve been searching for, it’s a place to enjoy some delicious smoked meats in the comfort of my opulent, fiberglass mobile palace.Mind you, I don’t actually own an RV, but the allure of eating BBQ in an RV park was simply too much pass up.Oklahoma: home of catfish noodlin’ and BBQ RV Parks.
In my imagination, the pitmaster for Smokin Joe’s would be a folksy hybrid character mashup of Uncle Eddie from “National Lampoons Family Vacation”, and the famous youtube celebrity “Winnebago Man”.Draped in a vintage leisure suit this character would surely dish out my BBQ with a toothy grin and a profanity laden tirade.Reality set in quickly however, when two extremely pleasant and polite women behind the counter took my usual three meat order.
While the combination of a BBQ and RV Park is an alluring story, it’s the pile of the meat on that tray that ultimately matters.I’m here to tell you that ol’ Smokin Joe ought to consider flipping the breaker on the RV hookups because this guy flat out knows how to BBQ.
The sausage was probably the most common of the three meats.I opted for the spicy sausage, which had a decent snap to it, but was clearly packed too tightly to be made in house and chewed a little too commercial for my taste.The brisket, however, was fantastic.Note the well established crust on the brisket and deep smoke ring. Clearly Joe has spent some time perfecting this finicky meat.The only drawback was that he trimmed his brisket, so it doesn’t have quite the same moistness that some of the Lockhart notables do.Finally, the ribs stole the show.These ribs were perfectly cooked, had a deep smoke ring and silky texture.Additionally, they were enormous and meaty (the pictures don’t really do them justice) and I had all I could handle to finish three of them.
It’s always nice to discover a place north of Austin that actually serves respectable cue’.Oklahoma can be a bit of an enigma when it comes to BBQ (due to the Kansas City influence from the North), so it’s quite a treasure to discover more traditional Texas style BBQ this far north.
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The last regular season game on our schedule was a return to the stretching plains of the OklahomaTerritory.We were in Norman to witness yet another one of the most storied programs in the history of College Football; the Oklahoma Sooners.Home to seven national championships, 149 consensus All Americans, five Heisman Trophy winners, and of course, Brian Bosworth.
It was rivalry week up in the SoonerState, and the Sooners themselves were hosting their hunter orange clad in state rivals from OklahomaState.“Bedlam” as the game is otherwise known, in parlance of this irritating modern trend of branding every rivalry contest.
Oddly enough, the roles were reversed this year.The perennial powerhouse Sooners were at the finale of a rather disappointing 6-5 season, largely driven by the delicate shoulder of injured Heisman winner Sam Bradford.The Norman natives were growing grumbly with long time head coach Bob Stoops.Proof that despite going to seven BCS Bowls (four championship games) and a career .801 winning percentage, your only as good as your last game in Sooner country.I for one would be more than happy to relieve them of the “visored one” for greener gridiron pastures in South Bend.
The Cowboys, on the other hand, came into the season with lofty expectations on the strength of their powerful returning offensive trio of Zac Robinson (QB), Kendall Hunter (RB) and Dez Bryant (WR).Unfortunately, Hunter went down with an injury, while Bryant managed to get himself suspended by the NCAA for the remainder of the season for talking to Deion Sanders (Proving once again that nothing good can come of conversing with Deion Sanders).Though their 9-2 record was impressive, a win over their heated in state rivals would be a nice little capstone to finish off the season, and vault them into a BCS payday.
That big payday would have to wait, however, because the Sooner defense absolutely stifled the Cowboys all day long, surprising considering Texas Tech had lit them up for 41 points the week before.In fact, smothering would be an understatement, as OSU could only manage 109 yards of total offense on the day, and didn’t convert a sole first down in the entire second half.Their punter may have needed a hip replacement after kicking the ball away a total of fourteen times.While Oklahoma’s offense wasn’t spectacular, Demarco Murray still scampered for two touchdowns and Freshman quarterback Landry Jones didn’t give the ball away.At the end of the day, Oklahoma strutted away with a dominant victory, blanking the ‘Pokes 27-0.
Despite the high caliber matchup on the field, this game was far and away the sloppiest we had seen all season.Although there were only four official turnovers in the game, in the first half alone the ball was fumbled five times.Even the officials bungled their duties, having to second review a handful of plays and dragging out an already glacially slow game.While these “official reviews” are a great time to grab a sandwich and beer at home, I wouldn’t advise it at The Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.I grew concerned that Mindy had been abducted when she disappeared for over half a quarter braving one of the woefully understaffed and serpentine lines at the concession stand.By my count there were a grand total of three soda fountains open to serve the entire 85,606 person crowd of crimson and cream.
Prior to the game, we had a chance to check out the infamous “Sooner Schooner”. The schooner is a replica covered wagon that the Oklahoma “Ruf/Neks” (no that is not a typo) parade around the endzone after each Oklahoma score.The Schooner might be one of the more impressive touchdown celebrations in College Football, as the wagon and horse team (Boomer and Sooner) race out onto the field with a Ruf/Nek precariously hanging out the back of the wagon gripping a flapping OU flag.They gallop out in an arc that nearly reaches the fifty yard line. Up close and personal, however, it’s deceptively small.Comically, the Sooner Schooner is about the size of a covered Radio Flyer pulled by a band of pygmy ponies.I think Ralphie the Buffalo is safe as the largest livestock mascot in the Big 12.
Although Norman is a storied and quintessential little college town, our trip to Oklahoma would be a short one, as we returned home promptly after the game because Mindy had caught a rather nasty bug.So on the next go around, I will be sure to swing into Earl’s RibPalace to give you some first hand reporting on their storied swine.
Despite the abbreviated trip, it was a gorgeous sunny day for football, and one could do a lot worse than spending a late fall Saturday afternoon in Norman when the Sooners are playing.
Boomer Sooner!
Special thanks to our friend, Eric, for the hospitality in the game-day village and helping us find some tickets to the game.
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Aug 24th @ Hawaii (Delaware State) Sep 21st @ Boise State (Portland State) Oct 3rd @ UTEP (Sam Houston) Oct 5th @ San Diego State (Hawaii) Oct 10th @ James Madison (Coastal Carolina) Oct 16th @ Sam Houston State (Western Kentucky) Oct 23rd @ Kennesaw State (Liberty)
Total Miles Traveled: 28,906 Total Attendance:137,684 Total Games: 7
16 Year Running Totals
Total Miles Traveled: 245,999 Total Attendance:7,380,203 Total Games: 158
