Boomer Sooner

Nobody wants to be like Mack Brown and be ranked #1 in all sorts of preseason polls and recruiting categories, then wind up squandering all that talent and having Steve Spurrier give you a nickname like "Mr. Football."

That said, Bob Stoops is no Mack Brown , and it's cool that Sports Illustrated has joined The Sporting News as major publications picking the Sooners to win the National Championship. Where you're ranked doesn't really mean anything until January, but the buzz is nice (especially with the John Blake era still such a recent memory). The SI cover, which features Tommie Harris, rocks.

On the topic of the Sooners, this is kind of a nice story. Michael Hawkins is a far cry from the machine-gunning, drug-dealing dorm dwellers of the last few years of Barry Switzer's regime.

[Posted at 07:50 CST on 08/07/02] [Link]