Let's Humiliate Tulsa: A Case For Running Up the Score

Oklahoma State played solid games against Louisiana-Lafayette and Arizona so far this season.  The offensive display we remember from last season is on full display this year as well.  OSU has outscored opponents 98-48, and Brandon Weeden has already broken another single game record with his 42 total completions vs. Arizona.  Justin Blackmon is 15 games into a 100+ receiving yards streak that will probably be 'Joe DiMaggio 56 game hitstreak-unbeatable' by the time he is finished.  Our stable of Backs has reloaded to be the best in the conference, and the only tough decision at Tailback U is to go with the Jazzy footwork and sure handed styling of Joseph Randle, or the Rock N' Roll, busting through at all costs powder keg of Jeremy Smith.  All signs point to another great year.

Somehow we still feel unfulfilled. 

We need a massacre.  We need to watch something weak and slow cry out bleeding, then stomp the neck as it begs for mercy.  We need to beat Tulsa relentlessly in front of the world till the world shows it's appreciation back at us, like the petted cat after it coughs up a crushed mouse head at its master's feet.  OSU fans need the satisfaction of a 12 touchdown victory in their hearts to sustain the collective OSU gravitas going into the brutal confines of "Alpo Brand Dog Food Stadium at Kyle Field" to play Texas A&M next weekend. 

(Let's Humiliate TU.  Why?  A.T.J...)

"I Felt Like Destroying Something Beautiful." -Narrator, "Fight Club" (1999)

Now, you could make the argument that last year's 37 point beatdown in Stillwater was punishment enough for TU.  You'd be wrong.  37 points is not really a beatdown.  A sound victory, perhaps.  Our win did prove to be an embarrassment to a Tulsa team that has a good, running style QB in G.J. Kinne and beat Notre Dame in South Bend last year.  But it wasn't embarrassing enough.  We let them score four TD's, two before our second string came in.  OSU called off the offensive dogs in the third stopping us from scoring even more points.

Now, there is a coaching strategy to calling off the dogs; that is to both protect key players, and to give replacements minutes for experience.  However, sometimes risk of injury is worth the reward of increased morale.  There is no espirit de corps-builder like a start to finish, 3 TD's per quarter, victory.   There are other reasons, too.

Remember that time OSU football wasn't very good?  It was called the 90's, the early 80's, the late and early 70's, the 60's, the 50's, the late and early 40's, the 30's.., you get the picture.  The point here is that OSU's rivalry with Tulsa has span almost the entire time OSU has played competitive football, and TU has taken advantage of our off years to shore up 27 wins to our 39 in the series.  The last TU victory was as recent as 1998.  We need to show the Hurricane that times have changed.  What better way than to hang three quarters of one hundred on them?

"He Ain't Pretty No More." -Tommy Como, "Raging Bull" (1980)

A way OSU could run up the score, yet do it nobly without disdain from the media is to do it for the record book.  Last year, the OSU record book could have absolutely been blown up after the game vs. Tulsa, at least passing and receiving wise.

In last years game, Brandon Weeden could have taken a 100+ yard lead in the OSU single game passing yard category had he not handed off QB duties to Clint Chelf that night.  Weeden passed for 409 of the 574 total yards with 328 of those coming in the first half (an OSU record in it's own right).  If he had stayed in, logic dictates that he would have been more productive than backup Chelf, and would have maybe broke 600.  As it is the record belongs to Weeden anyway, who threw for 435 yards in a game against Baylor last year. 

Justin Blackmon got his name in the book vs. Tulsa last year, too. His 174 yards was his own personal best up to that time and now ranks 15th all-time at OSU.  Let's get him 301 Saturday, and the top of the leaderboard.

"I Think You've Had Enough.  No?  Now, You've Had Enough.  Bitch." -Bob Barker, "Happy Gilmore" (1996)

Running up the score is not a classy move.  Yachoff isn't gonna deny that point.  But how many top ten, world-beating programs are associated with class?  Not many.  Joe Paterno at Penn State is thought of as a coach who dislikes running up scores, but when is the last time Grandpa won anything?  Not very recently. 

These days you have to show the fans, the polls, the media, and the world that winning is everything.  *Players don't take the field to lose.  *Players don't take the field to win gracefully.  *Players take the field to punch the other team in the mouth until the teeth and gums and bloody pulp that shatter forth quench some furnace of hate and rage in the soul. 

(*footnote: A large percentage of players, a majority of players actually, take the field for the P-smashing opportunities that being on a college football team provides, alone.)

Score that would satisfy Yachoff's bay for Golden Hurricane blood:  85-3 OSU

Actual Predicted Score:  68-21 OSU