Updated throughout the day with quick takes from staff.
by Spencer Hall • Dec 16, 2008 12:18 PM EST
DeMarco Murray, the Oklahoma Sooners' dynamic 1,000+ rusher, will miss the national title game on January 8th with a ruptured hamstring. The hamstring was merely diagnosed as a bruise, but an MRI revealed it to be ruptured. This is comparable to your doctor saying you might have a fever, and then coming back and telling you you have an inoperable brain tumor. Medical science remains fun.
Murray's injury only proves that offense remains an unbeatable NES game of an offense, since this leaves the Sooners with just one 1,000 yard rusher in the backfield, Chris Brown. Kill one boss, another bigger, badder one pops up behind it, and there is no cheat code to get around them. Their third-stringer, Mossis Madu, averaged 7.6 yards a carry and gained 114 yards in the Big 12 Championship game. If you've ever played the legendarily difficult Nintendo game Battletoads, you should be experiencing deja vu, since Madu is pretty much the unbeatable jumping speeder level you get to only after beating two impossible levels already.
The good news: should Oklahoma suffer further injuries and be unable to continue, Texas has graciously offered to step in and play the national title game for them. That's nice of them.
(A side note: I still get tremors and PTSD flashbacks at the very mention of Battletoads. It was to my video game playing adolescence what Moby Dick was to Ahab, and it brought me to the point of tears on multiple occasions with its impossible jumps, mind-bending speed, and reaction times an epileptic in full seizure couldn't hack. I will die thinking about this game's complete and total impossible-ness. End geek confession.)
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
21 comments
Next Post: Introduction
Read More: oklahoma sooners, bowls, bcs, ncaa football, sportingblog
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
Scoreboard data copyright © 2012 by STATS LLC. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC is strictly prohibited.
OpenCalais - Powered by Thomson Reuters
•
Odds Shark
The 5 biggest sports stories, hand-picked for your inbox. Show more info?
We’ve developed a unique newsletter that delivers the five most interesting sports stories fans are talking about, direct to your email three times a week. Each email is curated by an SB Nation editor who follows sports the way you do: as a fan. One email three times a week, with stories worth your time.
You can unsubscribe at anytime, and we'll never use your address for evil. Not interested? Make this bar go away forever. You can always sign up later.

Comments
Totally agree about Battletoads. Ridiculously difficult.
by thejoyofsobe on Dec 16, 2008 1:14 PM EST reply actions
Ah, Battletoads. That game got the best of me, too…right up until I threw it against a wall.
by ChiAdam on Dec 16, 2008 1:58 PM EST reply actions
The NC game is far away and we are already getting excuses for the loss from the land-theives. Lovely.
by AngryCorgi on Dec 16, 2008 5:03 PM EST reply actions
Its still a while until the NC game is played and already we are getting excuses for a loss by the land-thieves. Here comes a 5th straight BCS game loss with a logbook of reasons why all 5 should have been wins.
by AngryCorgi on Dec 16, 2008 5:05 PM EST reply actions
Battletoads was awesome. Makes me want to break out my old nes system again.
As far as OU v Florida is concerned that game wasn’t going to be won or lost based on a rb. Texas provided the blueprint; if Florida can get to Bradford consistantly they’ll win.
by egad on Dec 16, 2008 6:42 PM EST reply actions
Losing your best back is not the best thing that can happen, but like other good teams, everyone else will step up. If you think Texas got to Bradford, I just hope he has the same king of day he did at Texas.
by konawa on Dec 16, 2008 7:04 PM EST reply actions
Losing your best back is not the best thing that can happen, but like other good teams, everyone else will step up. If you think Texas got to Bradford, I just hope he has the same kind of day he did at Texas.
by konawa on Dec 16, 2008 7:04 PM EST reply actions
Losing your best back is not the best thing that can happen, but like other good teams, everyone else will step up. If you think Texas got to Bradford, I just hope he has the same kind of day he did at Texas.
by konawa on Dec 16, 2008 7:04 PM EST reply actions
Thats okay…Murray will be missed, yes. But all of you gators keep saying, "OU hasn’t seen a defense like Floridas, but Florida has seen a defense like OU," The question is…HAS FLORIDA SEEN AN OFFENSE LIKE OU…HELL NO…GET OUTTA HERE FLORIDA YOU GONNA GET ROMPED!!
by sooners2541 on Dec 16, 2008 7:16 PM EST reply actions
Dear sooner2541:
Got to the site a little late did you? Had to take a number? Wow, 2541, that’s way back, like Mr. Peabody back.
Perhaps you should look at Florida’s games. They actually faced a variety of offenses. As an example I offer Georgia. They put up 31 points on Alabama in the second half. They have three or four offensive stars that will leave early and be drafted in the first round. Matt Stafford will very likely go ahead of your "boy" Bradford. Their downfall was defense, not offense. Oklahoma’s offense grew fat off of keeping the first team in until the last second ran off the clock of the last six games. That helped them to look good since they were afraid Texas might get voted ahead.
You should not underestimate your opponent. Give them lots of love and lull them into a false sense of security, then, while they are sleeping place them in the oven for dinner.
Blessings.
by Reverend DCQ on Dec 17, 2008 1:50 AM EST reply actions
This is funny Reverend DCQ, you said sooners2541 should not underestimate your opponent
-but that’s exactly waht the Gator faithful are doing!!! Both these teams have points ot interest, but OU has seen UFla before, just varing shades (t.u./Okie State/MIZZOU all run versions of Urban’s Spread Option Attack)-so don’t think your team is so unique! As for defenses, neither team has dealt with teams that have the speed that both the Sooners and Gators have, both have speedy LBs / speed DBs, and both have strong DLs; so this will be a challenge of who can truly adjust fast & continue to make adjustments!!! This is a case of a 1st half team (OU) versus a 2nd half team (UFla)-who maintains the momentum the longest will win, and seeing that both teams like fast break basketball-this should be a very entertaining national championship!!!(ps: OU weren’t worried about t.u., losing late in the season to Tech was their own doing!!! the shorthorns had twop opportunities to be playing the Gators; 1 the FS should have caught the gift Graham Harrell threw directly to him & 2 why didn’t they have better coverage on Michael Crabtree??? And seeing that in that lost to TTech that put t.u. @ 4th place in the BIG12 (OU-MIZZOU-TTech-t.u.), so you can’t play for the title from 4th place!!!)
by clumzy aggie on Dec 17, 2008 7:49 AM EST reply actions
Hey, clumzy aggie!
UT hammers #1 u.o. and barely loses in the last seconds to #7 TTech at Tech.
Florida lost to who? and where? Hmmm….
And Florida is playing for the MNC?
by J Bone A on Dec 17, 2008 9:29 AM EST reply actions
J Bone A — why don’t you go back and look at the stats on the ut-ou game. it was hardly a hammering.
a loss is a loss is a loss. if it would have handled business instead of letting crabtree make a ridiculous catch then they wouldn’t have to worry about it. instead, they beat you and we beat them creating a 3-WAY TIE. UT has no room to b!tch because if they got it then they would have won "unfairly" because TTU beat them. HEAD TO HEAD DOES NOT MATTER, 3 WAY TIE!!!
by utfansrdouchebags on Dec 17, 2008 10:32 AM EST reply actions
You really expect me to take what someone says with a moniker like utfansrdouchebags seriously?
By the way, my comment has more to do with Florida losing to Ole Miss and playing for the MNC than it has to with what happened in the Big 12. Oh yeah, 3 of the last 4. Stick the stats where the sun don’t shine.
by J Bone A on Dec 17, 2008 11:15 AM EST reply actions
do you rreally want to get into stats for the last 10 years or so? because ou has won 6 of the last 10. including a couple blow outs. as for my "moniker", i am simply stating a fact. i probably should change it to whiney douchebags.
by utfansrdouchebags on Dec 17, 2008 1:45 PM EST reply actions
You’re a real class act.
Oh yeah, Texas leads the series 58-40-5. As long as we’re going back, let’s go ALL the way back.
by J Bone A on Dec 17, 2008 2:06 PM EST reply actions
how many national championships does ut have? thats what i thought.
by utfansrdouchebags on Dec 17, 2008 3:07 PM EST reply actions
You guys can argue all you want, but I can’t believe that clumzy aggie referred to Florida as a "2nd half team"… whaaa?
by uncle worm on Dec 18, 2008 1:16 PM EST reply actions
Maybe he meant 2nd half of the season team.
Still can’t figure how you lose to Ole Miss at home and play for the MNC.
by J Bone A on Dec 18, 2008 1:33 PM EST reply actions
I agree… as a Gator fan, I value our basketball championships much more than our football ones. I can’t really give a reason as to why we’re playing in the championship, except that the human voters think we’re better… which I realize isn’t a good reason at all. And I wish I had the perfect solution for the Big 12 South situation this year, but there absolutely isn’t one.
But since you’re acknowledging that this is a "mythical national championship", I would think it wouldn’t make that big of a deal to you whehter or not Texas was playing in it.
by uncle worm on Dec 18, 2008 2:18 PM EST reply actions
My gripe is with the school presidents, ADs, and the BCS in general. In fact, my gripe is with the so-called "tradition" of the college bowl season. It has become a joke, not to mention irrelevant. Who cares about any of it? and why? I just hate to see more and more meaningless games added at the end of the year. And what’s up with the Orange Bowl this year? Is that supposed to be funny? And why is Ohio State playing in a BCS game?
I know the answers to both of those questions, but I still want someone to explain it, defend it, look me in the eye, and make me believe that there is no other way to do it.
If the regular season means SO MUCH, and every game has a PLAYOFF ATMOSPHERE, then how do you lose to unranked Ole Miss at home and still play for the MNC?
by J Bone A on Dec 18, 2008 3:08 PM EST reply actions
Comments For This Post Are Closed