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    <title>SBNation.com User Blog:  chrisabo</title>
    <link>http://www.sbnation.com/users/chrisabo</link>
    <description>Posts made by chrisabo on SBNation.com</description>
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      <title>Oklahoma is 1-6 in Jan. 1 or later bowls since 2004. Only win was over UConn &amp;amp; 3 losses were by...</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2013/1/5/3839628/oklahoma-is-1-6-in-jan-1-or-later-bowls-since-2004-only-win-was-over</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 05 Jan 2013 18:14:38 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;blockquote&gt;
  &lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Oklahoma is 1-6 in Jan. 1 or later bowls since 2004. Only win was over UConn &amp;amp; 3 losses were by 20 points or more.&amp;mdash; Jon Solomon (@jonsol) &lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/jonsol/status/287419710381907969&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;January 5, 2013&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/blockquote&gt;
  
&lt;div class=&quot;source&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

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      <title>So, where do we end up?</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2012/12/2/3719528/so-where-do-we-end-up</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 02 Dec 2012 23:56:29 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;I am sure this will be covered in more depth later tonight, but wondering with the media now saying that Northern Illinois will end up in the Orange Bowl, where does that leave us?  Are we headed to the Cotton Bowl?   I would assume that they would want to take us as they would most likely sell a good amount of tickets although much of that would be dependent on the opponent.  I am assuming that a match-up with A&amp;M would be less of a draw whereas a game against LSU or Georgia would be more of a draw.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is CNNSI post claiming NIU taking spot in OB:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/pete_thamel/12/02/orange-bowl-northern-illinois/index.html?sct=cf_t2_a3&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am sure this will be covered in more depth later tonight, but wondering with the media now saying that Northern Illinois will end up in the Orange Bowl, where does that leave us?  Are we headed to the Cotton Bowl?   I would assume that they would want to take us as they would most likely sell a good amount of tickets although much of that would be dependent on the opponent.  I am assuming that a match-up with A&amp;M would be less of a draw whereas a game against LSU or Georgia would be more of a draw.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Thoughts?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Here is CNNSI post claiming NIU taking spot in OB:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/pete_thamel/12/02/orange-bowl-northern-illinois/index.html?sct=cf_t2_a3&lt;/p&gt;




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      <title>Is Bob Stoops safe at Oklahoma?</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2011/12/28/2667383/is-bob-stoops-safe-at-oklahoma</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Thu, 29 Dec 2011 03:17:15 -0000</pubDate>
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&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rivals.yahoo.com/video/college-football/Is-Bob-Stoops-safe-at-Oklahoma-1101274&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Is Bob Stoops safe at&amp;nbsp;Oklahoma?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Rivals Sports interviews Yahoo Sports' Pat Forde - the answer to the title of the video is pretty expected.  He also discusses Landry's possible senior year - he expects he will be back as he has &quot;lots to improve on&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Injuries for Insight Bowl</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2011/12/10/2627120/injuries-for-insight-bowl</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 Dec 2011 01:57:40 -0000</pubDate>
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&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7339465/oklahoma-sooners-jaz-reynolds-brandon-williams-ruled-insight-bowl&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Injuries for Insight&amp;nbsp;Bowl&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Injuries continue to pile up - Reynolds, Williams, and Ripkowski&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>DeMarco Murray takes it to the house</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2011/10/23/2509282/demarco-murray-takes-it-to-the-house</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:11:15 -0000</pubDate>
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&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.nfl.com/videos/auto/09000d5d82364718/WK-7-Can-t-Miss-Play-Murray-s-91-yard-sprint&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;DeMarco Murray takes it to the&amp;nbsp;house&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Looks like DeMarco has his speed back - good to see him having some success in the NFL - hope that it continues.  I sure miss #7.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>OU - Texas Tunnel Walk - Courtesy of SoonerSports</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2011/10/11/2484598/ou-texas-tunnel-walk-courtesy-of-soonersports</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Wed, 12 Oct 2011 00:20:37 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;iframe src=&quot;http://www.youtube.com/embed/KJ9Y8p-eMcI&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; height=&quot;315&quot; width=&quot;450&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;source source-img&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;OU - Texas Tunnel Walk - Courtesy of&amp;nbsp;SoonerSports&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

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      <title>Blake Griffin Top 10 Dunks</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2011/1/15/1937118/blake-griffin-top-10-dunks</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 15 Jan 2011 18:11:57 -0000</pubDate>
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&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.thesmokingjacket.com/entertainment/10-gravity-defying-blake-griffin-dunks&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Blake Griffin Top 10&amp;nbsp;Dunks&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;To get you ready for his winning performance in the dunking contest at the NBA All-Star game&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Yahoo! Sports says &quot;Amid NCAA probe, Blake steps down at UNC&quot;</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/9/6/1673689/yahoo-sports-says-amid-ncaa-probe</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:52:31 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news;_ylt=AloXQzcsZN7RFSm.YfUV27ocvrYF?slug=ap-t25-ncarolina-blakeresigns&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo! Sports says &quot;Amid NCAA probe, Blake steps down at&amp;nbsp;UNC&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Ruh r'oh....&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Mike Balogun update</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/9/3/1626605/mike-balogun-update</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Aug 2010 00:33:29 -0000</pubDate>
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  &lt;p&gt;Growing up in Oklahoma and having a big brother that was a Dallas Cowboys fan sorta left me without any real allegiance in the NFL.&amp;nbsp; I ended up being a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (I was born in Florida) since the&lt;a href=&quot;http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SE009.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; Selmon brothers &lt;/a&gt;played for them and it seemed to make as much sense as anything else.&amp;nbsp; Plus, I really actually liked those awful uniforms - well before there was &quot;Pewter Power&quot; there was &quot;Oh my gawd who rubbed Cheetos all over those guy's uniforms?&quot; - could you imagine such a uniform in today's totally corporate NFL?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is basically just a long way of saying that I don't pay much attention to the NFL.&amp;nbsp; But I do occasionally pay attention to games when former Sooners are involved and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/37261/Mike_Balogun&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Mike Balogun&lt;/a&gt; trying to make the 49ers roster made me happy to see him have a solid early pre-season game against the Colts.&amp;nbsp; Although he did not intercept Manning but the Colts back-up QB, it still counts.&amp;nbsp; He also finished with six tackles tying with two other defensive players.&amp;nbsp; He seemed to have solid, if unremarkable, performances in the other pre-season games (minus Oakland where he did not appear on the stat sheet).&amp;nbsp; The 49ers finished with their first unbeaten pre-season since 1992 and he appeared to be on the bubble when it came to making the final roster.&amp;nbsp; The 49ers had had several injuries at LB and Balogun was listed as the third string ILB on the depth chart as recently as yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alas, there was no fairy tale ending as he was cut today and missed out on making the 53 player final roster for the 49ers (also cut was another former Sooner &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/8324/Joe_Jon_Finley&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Joe Jon Finley&lt;/a&gt;).&amp;nbsp; The one glimmer of hope is that he gets signed to the practice squad and gets another shot next year as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.49ers.com/news-and-events/article-2/Off-the-Fringe-On-the-53/49f1bce5-51e1-4663-898c-02254534e7c0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Alex Boone&lt;/a&gt; was able to do this year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Growing up in Oklahoma and having a big brother that was a Dallas Cowboys fan sorta left me without any real allegiance in the NFL.&amp;nbsp; I ended up being a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (I was born in Florida) since the&lt;a href=&quot;http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/S/SE009.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; Selmon brothers &lt;/a&gt;played for them and it seemed to make as much sense as anything else.&amp;nbsp; Plus, I really actually liked those awful uniforms - well before there was &quot;Pewter Power&quot; there was &quot;Oh my gawd who rubbed Cheetos all over those guy's uniforms?&quot; - could you imagine such a uniform in today's totally corporate NFL?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That is basically just a long way of saying that I don't pay much attention to the NFL.&amp;nbsp; But I do occasionally pay attention to games when former Sooners are involved and &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/37261/Mike_Balogun&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Mike Balogun&lt;/a&gt; trying to make the 49ers roster made me happy to see him have a solid early pre-season game against the Colts.&amp;nbsp; Although he did not intercept Manning but the Colts back-up QB, it still counts.&amp;nbsp; He also finished with six tackles tying with two other defensive players.&amp;nbsp; He seemed to have solid, if unremarkable, performances in the other pre-season games (minus Oakland where he did not appear on the stat sheet).&amp;nbsp; The 49ers finished with their first unbeaten pre-season since 1992 and he appeared to be on the bubble when it came to making the final roster.&amp;nbsp; The 49ers had had several injuries at LB and Balogun was listed as the third string ILB on the depth chart as recently as yesterday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Alas, there was no fairy tale ending as he was cut today and missed out on making the 53 player final roster for the 49ers (also cut was another former Sooner &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sbnation.com/ncaa-football/players/8324/Joe_Jon_Finley&quot; class=&quot;sbn-auto-link&quot;&gt;Joe Jon Finley&lt;/a&gt;).&amp;nbsp; The one glimmer of hope is that he gets signed to the practice squad and gets another shot next year as &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.49ers.com/news-and-events/article-2/Off-the-Fringe-On-the-53/49f1bce5-51e1-4663-898c-02254534e7c0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Alex Boone&lt;/a&gt; was able to do this year.&lt;/p&gt;



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      <title>Sooners No. 7 in AP Pre-Season Poll</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/8/21/1635178/sooners-no-7-in-ap-pre-season-poll</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 21 Aug 2010 18:49:57 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.newsok.com/ou-ranked-no.-7-in-ap-poll/article/3487616&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sooners No. 7 in AP Pre-Season&amp;nbsp;Poll&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;AP poll released today - Alabama #1, Ohio State, #2, Texas #5&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Pre-season football rankings - the road to #8</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/8/7/1610491/pre-season-football-rankings-the</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 07 Aug 2010 04:38:18 -0000</pubDate>
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  &lt;p&gt;USA Today released the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Top 25 Coaches Poll&lt;/a&gt; today.&amp;nbsp; There was some good news - the Sooners, ranked 8th, are the highest ranked team in the poll that did not end last season ranked in the top 25.&amp;nbsp; If you assume that means that we have to jump 6 teams to end up as one of the top two teams, let's take a quick look at what has to happen for us to end up in one of those top two slots:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr valign=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Rank &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Team  (first-place        votes)&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt; 2009 record&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Points &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Final 2009 rank&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;1.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/alabama.htm&quot;&gt;Alabama&lt;/a&gt; (55)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;14-0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,469&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;2.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/osu.htm&quot;&gt;Ohio           State&lt;/a&gt; (4)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;11-2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,392&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;3.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/florida.htm&quot;&gt;Florida&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;13-1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,245&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;4.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/texas.htm&quot;&gt;Texas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;13-1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,240&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;5.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/osu.htm&quot;&gt; Boise State &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;14-0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,215&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;6.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/acc/vatech.htm&quot;&gt;Virginia           Tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;10-3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,052&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;7.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/oklahoma.htm&quot;&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/mwest/tcu.htm&quot;&gt;TCU&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;12-1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,051&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everything below assumes that we can overcome any challenges and win our games.&amp;nbsp; That includes beating #20 Florida State at home, beating unranked (#26) Cincinnati on the road, beating #4 Texas, and then a showdown against #9 Nebraska in the Big 12 title game.&amp;nbsp; It is not impossible, but will require consistency that the Sooners did not have last year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On to the other pieces that we need to have fall into place - really it is pretty simple (if you want skip to the end, I provided a quick recap of what needs to happen):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#7 TCU faces no real tests in the season (at least based on pre-season rankings).&amp;nbsp; As expected, Utah and Air Force are expected to be the two stiffest tests, but TCU should have enough firepower to win - even facing Utah on the road.&amp;nbsp; They have a solid shot to go undefeated, but if they do it may still not be enough to overcome the Sooners who start right behind them in the poll.&amp;nbsp; I think Utah or Air Force tests them enough to put doubt in the voter's minds and these close calls drops TCU behind us  in the poll.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#6 Virgina Tech and #5 Boise State play each other to open the season, so one of them is out.&amp;nbsp; If Boise State wins, they face no other competition the rest of the season and I expect that pollsters would continue to push them into the top two.&amp;nbsp; If Virginia Tech wins, they face some additional tests, including a season-ending test at Miami.&amp;nbsp; For our scenario, our rooting interest is with the Hokies to beat the Broncos as that knocks the Broncos out of the MNC chase while leaving the Hokies with additional chances to stumble.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Beat #4 Texas on October on 10/02/10 and their season is done and they are eliminated from the chase.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That same weekend, I think most Sooner fans have to swallow their pain left over from the Orange Bowl and pull for&amp;nbsp; #3 Florida to beat #1 Alabama - Florida faces tougher tests after the Bama game while Bama has a friendlier schedule and I don't see a real challenge - even in the vaunted SSSSSEEEEEECCCC.&amp;nbsp; We have to hope then that Florida decides that this upset of 'Bama guarantees all of their future opponents to roll over and they stumble late in the season allowing us to jump them to set up a MNC match-up against....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#2 Ohio State&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the &quot;Youngstown Bowl&quot; or the &quot;Redemption Bowl&quot; or something along those lines where we will have to hear again and again about how both the Sooners and the Buckeyes have lost multiple BCS games over the past five years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, to recap:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Utes - play the Frogs close at least&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Hokies - Beat the Broncos&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Tarheels / Go Canes - Beat the Hokies&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Gators - Beat ' Bama&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Bulldogs - Beat the Gators&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;BEAT TEXAS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;BEAT THE BUCKEYES - BRING HOME # 8&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;USA Today released the &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/usatpoll.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Top 25 Coaches Poll&lt;/a&gt; today.&amp;nbsp; There was some good news - the Sooners, ranked 8th, are the highest ranked team in the poll that did not end last season ranked in the top 25.&amp;nbsp; If you assume that means that we have to jump 6 teams to end up as one of the top two teams, let's take a quick look at what has to happen for us to end up in one of those top two slots:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr valign=&quot;center&quot;&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Rank &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Team  (first-place        votes)&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt; 2009 record&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Points &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Final 2009 rank&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;1.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/alabama.htm&quot;&gt;Alabama&lt;/a&gt; (55)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;14-0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,469&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;2.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/osu.htm&quot;&gt;Ohio           State&lt;/a&gt; (4)&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;11-2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,392&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;5&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;3.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/sec/florida.htm&quot;&gt;Florida&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;13-1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,245&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;17&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;4.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/texas.htm&quot;&gt;Texas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;13-1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,240&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;2&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;5.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/bigten/osu.htm&quot;&gt; Boise State &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;14-0&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,215&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;4&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;6.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/acc/vatech.htm&quot;&gt;Virginia           Tech&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;10-3&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,052&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;10&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;45&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;7.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; width=&quot;242&quot;&gt;
&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/big12/oklahoma.htm&quot;&gt; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.usatoday.com/sports/college/football/mwest/tcu.htm&quot;&gt;TCU&lt;/a&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; height=&quot;15&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;12-1&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;74&quot;&gt;1,051&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td class=&quot;inside-copy&quot; align=&quot;right&quot; width=&quot;75&quot;&gt;6&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Everything below assumes that we can overcome any challenges and win our games.&amp;nbsp; That includes beating #20 Florida State at home, beating unranked (#26) Cincinnati on the road, beating #4 Texas, and then a showdown against #9 Nebraska in the Big 12 title game.&amp;nbsp; It is not impossible, but will require consistency that the Sooners did not have last year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;On to the other pieces that we need to have fall into place - really it is pretty simple (if you want skip to the end, I provided a quick recap of what needs to happen):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#7 TCU faces no real tests in the season (at least based on pre-season rankings).&amp;nbsp; As expected, Utah and Air Force are expected to be the two stiffest tests, but TCU should have enough firepower to win - even facing Utah on the road.&amp;nbsp; They have a solid shot to go undefeated, but if they do it may still not be enough to overcome the Sooners who start right behind them in the poll.&amp;nbsp; I think Utah or Air Force tests them enough to put doubt in the voter's minds and these close calls drops TCU behind us  in the poll.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#6 Virgina Tech and #5 Boise State play each other to open the season, so one of them is out.&amp;nbsp; If Boise State wins, they face no other competition the rest of the season and I expect that pollsters would continue to push them into the top two.&amp;nbsp; If Virginia Tech wins, they face some additional tests, including a season-ending test at Miami.&amp;nbsp; For our scenario, our rooting interest is with the Hokies to beat the Broncos as that knocks the Broncos out of the MNC chase while leaving the Hokies with additional chances to stumble.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Beat #4 Texas on October on 10/02/10 and their season is done and they are eliminated from the chase.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;That same weekend, I think most Sooner fans have to swallow their pain left over from the Orange Bowl and pull for&amp;nbsp; #3 Florida to beat #1 Alabama - Florida faces tougher tests after the Bama game while Bama has a friendlier schedule and I don't see a real challenge - even in the vaunted SSSSSEEEEEECCCC.&amp;nbsp; We have to hope then that Florida decides that this upset of 'Bama guarantees all of their future opponents to roll over and they stumble late in the season allowing us to jump them to set up a MNC match-up against....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#2 Ohio State&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In the &quot;Youngstown Bowl&quot; or the &quot;Redemption Bowl&quot; or something along those lines where we will have to hear again and again about how both the Sooners and the Buckeyes have lost multiple BCS games over the past five years.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;So, to recap:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Utes - play the Frogs close at least&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Hokies - Beat the Broncos&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Tarheels / Go Canes - Beat the Hokies&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Gators - Beat ' Bama&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Go Bulldogs - Beat the Gators&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;BEAT TEXAS&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;BEAT THE BUCKEYES - BRING HOME # 8&lt;/p&gt;



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    <item>
      <title>Sooners received invite to SEC</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/6/23/1533340/sooners-received-invite-to-sec</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Thu, 24 Jun 2010 00:41:00 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-oklahoma-sec&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Sooners received invite to&amp;nbsp;SEC&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Prez Boren says that Sooners were &quot;well positioned&quot; regardless of what happened in the conference realignment dance.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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    <item>
      <title>Sooners stick to script in Norman regional - 2nd game ends 7-6 in 10 innings</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/6/5/1503490/sooners-stick-to-script-in-norman</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 06 Jun 2010 03:50:30 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;The baseball team seemed to like their 7-6 extra inning victory over Oral Roberts on Friday so much that they decided to do the exact same thing today against North Carolina.&amp;nbsp; After leading the whole game, the Sooners bullpen gave up three runs in the bottom of the 9th (yes, North Carolina was the home team - the regionals are viewed as a neutral site, so teams alternate home / visitor).&amp;nbsp; The 9th inning ended with a strikeout with a UNC baserunner at third. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Sooners quickly ended the suspense though in the top of the 10th by driving in a single run, even though they had multiple baserunners.&amp;nbsp; UNC was not able to respond and are now paired up against Oral Roberts in the early game tomorrow with the winner of that game facing the Sooners.&amp;nbsp; If we win, we move on to the Super Regional - if we lose, then we get another shot in a game on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Box score &lt;a href=&quot;http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/20100605_game4_box.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (PDF file)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Other Big 12 teams in action:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Baylor beat Lamar 6-4 to avoid elimination - Baylor faces Arizona&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Kansas State beat Grambling 9-8 to avoid elimination - K-State faces Wazzu&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Texas beat La-Lafayette to move to the finals of their regional&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Texas A&amp;M got bludgeoned 14-1 by Miami and will face Dartmouth tomorrow in loser's bracket for another shot at Miami&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The baseball team seemed to like their 7-6 extra inning victory over Oral Roberts on Friday so much that they decided to do the exact same thing today against North Carolina.&amp;nbsp; After leading the whole game, the Sooners bullpen gave up three runs in the bottom of the 9th (yes, North Carolina was the home team - the regionals are viewed as a neutral site, so teams alternate home / visitor).&amp;nbsp; The 9th inning ended with a strikeout with a UNC baserunner at third. &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Sooners quickly ended the suspense though in the top of the 10th by driving in a single run, even though they had multiple baserunners.&amp;nbsp; UNC was not able to respond and are now paired up against Oral Roberts in the early game tomorrow with the winner of that game facing the Sooners.&amp;nbsp; If we win, we move on to the Super Regional - if we lose, then we get another shot in a game on Monday.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Box score &lt;a href=&quot;http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/okla/sports/m-basebl/auto_pdf/20100605_game4_box.pdf&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;here&lt;/a&gt; (PDF file)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Other Big 12 teams in action:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Baylor beat Lamar 6-4 to avoid elimination - Baylor faces Arizona&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Kansas State beat Grambling 9-8 to avoid elimination - K-State faces Wazzu&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Texas beat La-Lafayette to move to the finals of their regional&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Texas A&amp;M got bludgeoned 14-1 by Miami and will face Dartmouth tomorrow in loser's bracket for another shot at Miami&lt;/p&gt;



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      <title>Huskies bounce Sooners from softball tourney</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/5/29/1492860/huskies-bounce-sooners-from</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 29 May 2010 15:58:30 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;After the Sooners took the first game in the series 6-0, the Huskies rebounded on Friday to take the next two games in the series &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-softbl/recaps/052910aaa.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;to punch their ticket to the WCWS&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; The Huskies won the second game 3-0 and took the deciding game 4-0.&amp;nbsp; I was hoping that we were going to follow in the footsteps of Tennessee who pulled a big upset over the #2 seed, Michigan to get to OKC, but it was not to be.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It looks like the Sooners ran into a buzzsaw on the Huskies in the name of Danielle Lawrie who struck out 17 (remember these are only 7 inning games) in the third game to send the Huskies to OKC.&amp;nbsp; It was a bad time for the Sooner offense to fall flat as it was the first time in the entire season that we had been shutout in back-to-back games and the first time since March  19 that we had lost back-to-back games, a span of 28 games.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Sooners lose one of their big offensive threats in Amber Flores to graduation, but graduate only one additional senior from this year's team.&amp;nbsp; Keilani Ricketts who had a stellar freshman year will return and has a good shot at setting records including strikeouts in a season that she just missed out on this year finishing just ten shy of the record.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;After the Sooners took the first game in the series 6-0, the Huskies rebounded on Friday to take the next two games in the series &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-softbl/recaps/052910aaa.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;to punch their ticket to the WCWS&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; The Huskies won the second game 3-0 and took the deciding game 4-0.&amp;nbsp; I was hoping that we were going to follow in the footsteps of Tennessee who pulled a big upset over the #2 seed, Michigan to get to OKC, but it was not to be.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It looks like the Sooners ran into a buzzsaw on the Huskies in the name of Danielle Lawrie who struck out 17 (remember these are only 7 inning games) in the third game to send the Huskies to OKC.&amp;nbsp; It was a bad time for the Sooner offense to fall flat as it was the first time in the entire season that we had been shutout in back-to-back games and the first time since March  19 that we had lost back-to-back games, a span of 28 games.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Sooners lose one of their big offensive threats in Amber Flores to graduation, but graduate only one additional senior from this year's team.&amp;nbsp; Keilani Ricketts who had a stellar freshman year will return and has a good shot at setting records including strikeouts in a season that she just missed out on this year finishing just ten shy of the record.&lt;/p&gt;



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      <title>Men's tennis upsets Texas - moves on to natl tourney quarterfinals</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/5/22/1483103/mens-tennis-upsets-texas-moves-on</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 22 May 2010 12:43:07 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;It looks like the first-season men's tennis coach, John Roddick, is taking the OU men's tennis program to the next level.&amp;nbsp; After pulling an upset of Texas Tech in the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Tourney to get to the round of 16 for the first time in the program's history, the Sooners then sent the Longhorns packing and moved on to the quarterfinals.&amp;nbsp; The win against Tech was the Sooners first win against them in five tries, the first win against them in the 2010 season, and was some revenge after Tech beat the Sooners in the Big 12 tourney at the end of April in Austin.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;The win against the No. 3 ranked Longhorns by the 20th ranked Sooners was the first win since 2005 and only the 2nd all-time.&lt;/b&gt; &amp;nbsp; BOOMER SOONER! &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Sooners now face a touch test against Georgia on their home court in Athens.&amp;nbsp; Roddick is a graduate of Georgia and a former coach there when the Bulldogs won the national championship in 2001, so he is obviously familiar with the surroundings and with the pressure.&amp;nbsp; The Sooners have overachieved up to this point and maybe that will relax them going into this match and continue the string of upsets.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are wondering, yes, Coach Roddick is Andy Roddick's older brother and was his coach from 2006-2008 in addition to running his own tennis camp from 2002-2009.&amp;nbsp; Between his hiring and the new tennis facilities, it seems like the men's tennis program is poised to make a run at the Big 12 tennis powerhouses.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;It looks like the first-season men's tennis coach, John Roddick, is taking the OU men's tennis program to the next level.&amp;nbsp; After pulling an upset of Texas Tech in the second round of the NCAA Men's Tennis Tourney to get to the round of 16 for the first time in the program's history, the Sooners then sent the Longhorns packing and moved on to the quarterfinals.&amp;nbsp; The win against Tech was the Sooners first win against them in five tries, the first win against them in the 2010 season, and was some revenge after Tech beat the Sooners in the Big 12 tourney at the end of April in Austin.&amp;nbsp; &lt;b&gt;The win against the No. 3 ranked Longhorns by the 20th ranked Sooners was the first win since 2005 and only the 2nd all-time.&lt;/b&gt; &amp;nbsp; BOOMER SOONER! &amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;The Sooners now face a touch test against Georgia on their home court in Athens.&amp;nbsp; Roddick is a graduate of Georgia and a former coach there when the Bulldogs won the national championship in 2001, so he is obviously familiar with the surroundings and with the pressure.&amp;nbsp; The Sooners have overachieved up to this point and maybe that will relax them going into this match and continue the string of upsets.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;If you are wondering, yes, Coach Roddick is Andy Roddick's older brother and was his coach from 2006-2008 in addition to running his own tennis camp from 2002-2009.&amp;nbsp; Between his hiring and the new tennis facilities, it seems like the men's tennis program is poised to make a run at the Big 12 tennis powerhouses.&lt;/p&gt;



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    <item>
      <title>Final AP Poll and Kirk H. already putting Sooners in top 5 pre-season</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2010/1/8/1241144/final-ap-poll-and-kirk-h-already</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:29:50 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, for the first time since 1999, we fall into the &quot;Others Receiving Votes&quot; category in the final AP poll.&amp;nbsp; We finished 1 point (typical) outside of the top 25, right behind West Virginia who received 91 points.&amp;nbsp; Five losses is not in and of itself apparently a barrier to being included in the poll as Clemson finished 24th in the poll after not being ranked before the bowl season.&amp;nbsp; I guess a win over a SEC powerhouse like Kentucky is what pushed them over the top?&amp;nbsp; Or less snarky, maybe it was their win over Miami (40-37 in OT) that gives them the nod.&amp;nbsp; All in all, a disappointing way to finish a very disappointing season as I had hoped that we would maybe sneak into the polls.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Our five losses came to the following ranked teams (all final AP ranks):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#2 - Texas - 16-13&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#12 - Brigham Young - 14-13&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#14 - Nebraska - 10-3&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#19 - Miami - 21-20&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#21 - Texas Tech - 41-13&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/poll/1&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Final AP Poll at ESPN&amp;nbsp; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Clemson' five losses came to the following teams (all final AP ranks):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#6 - TCU - 14-10&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;# 13 - Georgia Tech - 30-27, 39-34 (ACC Championship game)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;UNR - Maryland - 24-21&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;UNR - South Carolina - 34-17&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also, Kirk H. puts us in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4807967&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;pre-season top 5 for next year. &amp;nbsp; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another feature from ESPN -&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&amp;id=4804655&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&quot;Way-Too-Early College Football Top 25&quot;&lt;/a&gt; puts us at a somewhat more plausible (in my mind) #12.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Unfortunately, for the first time since 1999, we fall into the &quot;Others Receiving Votes&quot; category in the final AP poll.&amp;nbsp; We finished 1 point (typical) outside of the top 25, right behind West Virginia who received 91 points.&amp;nbsp; Five losses is not in and of itself apparently a barrier to being included in the poll as Clemson finished 24th in the poll after not being ranked before the bowl season.&amp;nbsp; I guess a win over a SEC powerhouse like Kentucky is what pushed them over the top?&amp;nbsp; Or less snarky, maybe it was their win over Miami (40-37 in OT) that gives them the nod.&amp;nbsp; All in all, a disappointing way to finish a very disappointing season as I had hoped that we would maybe sneak into the polls.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Our five losses came to the following ranked teams (all final AP ranks):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#2 - Texas - 16-13&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#12 - Brigham Young - 14-13&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#14 - Nebraska - 10-3&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#19 - Miami - 21-20&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#21 - Texas Tech - 41-13&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://espn.go.com/college-football/rankings/_/poll/1&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Final AP Poll at ESPN&amp;nbsp; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;&lt;br&gt;Clemson' five losses came to the following teams (all final AP ranks):&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;#6 - TCU - 14-10&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;# 13 - Georgia Tech - 30-27, 39-34 (ACC Championship game)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;UNR - Maryland - 24-21&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;UNR - South Carolina - 34-17&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Also, Kirk H. puts us in the &lt;a href=&quot;http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4807967&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;pre-season top 5 for next year. &amp;nbsp; &lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Another feature from ESPN -&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=schlabach_mark&amp;id=4804655&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&quot;Way-Too-Early College Football Top 25&quot;&lt;/a&gt; puts us at a somewhat more plausible (in my mind) #12.&lt;/p&gt;



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    <item>
      <title>McCarty officially announces retirement</title>
      <link>http://www.wingingitinmotown.com/2009/12/7/1190553/mccarty-officially-announces</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Tue, 08 Dec 2009 02:54:34 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://freep.com/article/20091207/SPORTS05/91207065/1053/Red-Wings-Darren-McCarty-retires&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;McCarty officially announces&amp;nbsp;retirement&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&quot;TORONTO &amp;mdash; Darren McCarty, a veteran of 15 NHL seasons who won four Stanley Cups with the Detroit Red Wings, officially announced his retirement today.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;The 37-year-old spent 13 seasons with the Red Wings. He appeared in 758 games overall, recording 127 goals, 288 points and 1,477 penalty minutes. He scored the Cup-winning goal in the 1997 finals against Philadelphia to end Detroit&amp;rsquo;s 42-year title drought. He also helped the Red Wings hoist the Cup in 1998, 2002 and &amp;rsquo;08.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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    <item>
      <title>WBB - Sooners pummel San Diego State, face #5 Notre Dame for PJ tourney title</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/11/27/1176252/wbb-sooners-pummel-san-diego-state</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 28 Nov 2009 00:39:10 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;The Sooner WBB team is doing their part to bring a little bit of holiday cheer to Sooner fans by winning their first two games at the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas (USVI).&amp;nbsp; As an aside - who would you rather go watch - the men's team in Anchorage, AK or the women's team in the US Virgin Islands?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yesterday they dispatched South Carolina with a close win pulling it out in the final minutes after USC had cut the lead down to two.&amp;nbsp; Whitney Hand was a key player sparking the winning 9-0 run.&amp;nbsp; Unfortunately, Hand sat out the 2nd half of today's game against San Diego State University after sustaining an apparent knee injury.&amp;nbsp; The Sooners did not really need her though this time around as they dismantled the Aztecs limiting them to only 15 points in the first half to cruise to an 87-48 win.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They face an uphill fight to lay claim to their side of the division / tourney championship against the #5 ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame tomorrow.&amp;nbsp; Interestingly, ND beat SDSU on Thursday by only 5, so maybe the Sooners can spring a big upset and get back into their usual top 10 ranking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/archive/01_gameday_central.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Soonersports.com Gameday Central &lt;/a&gt;has more details &amp; recaps of the games &amp; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://173.45.233.236/pages/women.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Paradise Jam Tourney site&lt;/a&gt; carries &lt;a href=&quot;http://paradisejam.junkanoojam.com/stats_2009/xhome.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;live stats&lt;/a&gt; for each game&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;br&gt;The Sooner WBB team is doing their part to bring a little bit of holiday cheer to Sooner fans by winning their first two games at the Paradise Jam Tournament in St. Thomas (USVI).&amp;nbsp; As an aside - who would you rather go watch - the men's team in Anchorage, AK or the women's team in the US Virgin Islands?&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Yesterday they dispatched South Carolina with a close win pulling it out in the final minutes after USC had cut the lead down to two.&amp;nbsp; Whitney Hand was a key player sparking the winning 9-0 run.&amp;nbsp; Unfortunately, Hand sat out the 2nd half of today's game against San Diego State University after sustaining an apparent knee injury.&amp;nbsp; The Sooners did not really need her though this time around as they dismantled the Aztecs limiting them to only 15 points in the first half to cruise to an 87-48 win.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;They face an uphill fight to lay claim to their side of the division / tourney championship against the #5 ranked Fighting Irish of Notre Dame tomorrow.&amp;nbsp; Interestingly, ND beat SDSU on Thursday by only 5, so maybe the Sooners can spring a big upset and get back into their usual top 10 ranking.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/archive/01_gameday_central.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Soonersports.com Gameday Central &lt;/a&gt;has more details &amp; recaps of the games &amp; the &lt;a href=&quot;http://173.45.233.236/pages/women.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Paradise Jam Tourney site&lt;/a&gt; carries &lt;a href=&quot;http://paradisejam.junkanoojam.com/stats_2009/xhome.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;live stats&lt;/a&gt; for each game&lt;/p&gt;



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  &lt;legend&gt;Poll&lt;/legend&gt; 
  &lt;h5 class=&quot;poll-title&quot;&gt;Do you think the Sooners beat #5 Notre Dame tomorrow and claim the Paradise Jam Tourney Island division title?&lt;/h5&gt;
  
    
&lt;div id=&quot;poll_container_56268_684534192&quot; class=&quot;poll_container&quot;&gt;
  
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      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;33%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Yes&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;67%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;No&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;4&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
  &lt;p class=&quot;poll-total-votes&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;6&lt;/strong&gt; votes
      
    | &lt;span class=&quot;poll-has-closed&quot;&gt;Poll has closed&lt;/span&gt;
  
  &lt;/p&gt;  
&lt;/div&gt;

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&lt;/fieldset&gt;

      </description>
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    <item>
      <title>'88 Bedlam highlights</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/11/26/1175180/88-bedlam-highlights</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Thu, 26 Nov 2009 20:08:01 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.gnextinc.com/ou/videos/ouosubedlam88.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;'88 Bedlam&amp;nbsp;highlights&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Waiting for Bedlam and hoping that we pull something out of this season....&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
      </description>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Murray's hit at 2:50 is why I love watching him run</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/10/11/1080711/murrays-hit-at-2-50-is-why-i-love</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 11 Oct 2009 23:51:02 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;object height=&quot;412&quot; width=&quot;486&quot;&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;movie&quot; value=&quot;http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/1681694480?isVid=1&amp;amp;publisherID=713285227&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;bgcolor&quot; value=&quot;#FFFFFF&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;flashVars&quot; value=&quot;videoId=44428578001&amp;amp;playerID=1681694480&amp;amp;domain=embed&amp;amp;&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;base&quot; value=&quot;http://admin.brightcove.com&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;seamlesstabbing&quot; value=&quot;false&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowFullScreen&quot; value=&quot;true&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;swLiveConnect&quot; value=&quot;true&quot; /&gt;&lt;param name=&quot;allowScriptAccess&quot; value=&quot;always&quot; /&gt;&lt;embed name=&quot;flashObj&quot; bgcolor=&quot;#FFFFFF&quot; src=&quot;http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9/1681694480?isVid=1&amp;publisherID=713285227&quot; type=&quot;application/x-shockwave-flash&quot; allowfullscreen=&quot;true&quot; flashvars=&quot;videoId=44428578001&amp;playerID=1681694480&amp;domain=embed&amp;&quot; allowscriptaccess=&quot;always&quot; height=&quot;412&quot; width=&quot;486&quot;&gt;&lt;/embed&gt;&lt;/object&gt;

&lt;div class=&quot;source source-img&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Murray's hit at 2:50 is why I love watching him&amp;nbsp;run&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;

      </description>
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    <item>
      <title>Another QB goes down - Baylor's Griffin out for season</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/9/27/1057852/another-qb-goes-down-baylors</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 03:06:14 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4508851&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Another QB goes down - Baylor's Griffin out for&amp;nbsp;season&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Unfortunate for the Bears as their visit to Norman just got a whole lot tougher, although they have a senior QB - Blake 
&lt;br /&gt;Szymanski, described in the Baylor media guide as &quot;a veteran with 13 career starts who ranks in the top 10 of eight 
&lt;br /&gt;career passing categories and owns five single- 
&lt;br /&gt;game school records.&quot;   
&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
      </description>
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    <item>
      <title>ESPN explains Bradford visit to Dr. Andrews/UAB for clearance to play against Miami</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/9/26/1056049/espn-explains-bradford-visit-to-dr</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 26 Sep 2009 18:09:35 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4505672&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;ESPN explains Bradford visit to Dr. Andrews/UAB for clearance to play against&amp;nbsp;Miami&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lots of sources reporting this - ESPN says it is for clearance to play against Miami related to his insurance policy, not because of a setback in his recovery.  Let's hope this is not a replay of the Gresham situation.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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    <item>
      <title>CBS says UVa planning to go after Capel</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/3/16/800568/cbs-says-uva-planning-to-g</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Tue, 17 Mar 2009 00:33:04 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11510214&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Virginia fires Leitao; Sooners' Capel the target?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even with the lackluster play of the MBB lately, it looks like the rumors about Capel moving to other pastures will continue to pop up. &amp;nbsp;UVa built a new b-ball stadium and is having a hard time filling it after their worst season in quite some time. &amp;nbsp;In a quick tour around the intertubes, this story seems to be playing according to the &quot;official&quot; storyline for the most part (he resigned) rather than the &quot;unofficial&quot; (he was fired so that they could &quot;possibly&quot; go after Capel) storyline that Gary Parrish puts forth.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/story/11510214&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Virginia fires Leitao; Sooners' Capel the target?&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Even with the lackluster play of the MBB lately, it looks like the rumors about Capel moving to other pastures will continue to pop up. &amp;nbsp;UVa built a new b-ball stadium and is having a hard time filling it after their worst season in quite some time. &amp;nbsp;In a quick tour around the intertubes, this story seems to be playing according to the &quot;official&quot; storyline for the most part (he resigned) rather than the &quot;unofficial&quot; (he was fired so that they could &quot;possibly&quot; go after Capel) storyline that Gary Parrish puts forth.&lt;/p&gt;



      </description>
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    <item>
      <title>Yahoo! Sports article on Jeff Capel</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/1/18/727319/yahoo-sports-article-on-je</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sun, 18 Jan 2009 19:10:58 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=jn-capel011609&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Yahoo! Sports article on Jeff&amp;nbsp;Capel&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Stupid headline (Capel more than capable) but decent read.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
      </description>
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    <item>
      <title>Another amazing set of stats from Courtney Paris' career</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/1/9/715911/another-amazing-set-of-sta</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:47:24 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;Strangely enough I was wondering last week if they even kept stats at the NCAA or elsehwere about double-doubles.&amp;nbsp; I assumed someone did, but had not had a chance to track it down yet.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then, in reading the &lt;a href=&quot;http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/010909aaa.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;preview of the OU Women's BB Big 12 opener&lt;/a&gt; tomorrow in Nebraska, I came across this summary of double-double stats for seasons and careers.&amp;nbsp; As you might expect, Paris leads the way in truly amazing fashion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Strangely enough I was wondering last week if they even kept stats at the NCAA or elsehwere about double-doubles.&amp;nbsp; I assumed someone did, but had not had a chance to track it down yet.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Then, in reading the &lt;a href=&quot;http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/010909aaa.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;preview of the OU Women's BB Big 12 opener&lt;/a&gt; tomorrow in Nebraska, I came across this summary of double-double stats for seasons and careers.&amp;nbsp; As you might expect, Paris leads the way in truly amazing fashion.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;There are several legends of WBB on this list and she has far surpassed all of them in this realm.&amp;nbsp; It would be great if she could cap off her Sooner career with a title, but I don't know that anyone will be able to take out UConn this year.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;table border=&quot;0&quot; cellpadding=&quot;3&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Single-Season Double-Doubles&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;33 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, 2006&lt;br&gt;33 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, 2007&lt;br&gt;32 - Anne Donovan, Old Dominion, 1983&lt;br&gt;31 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, 2008&lt;br&gt;30 - Cheryl Taylor, Tennessee Tech, 1986&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Single-Season Consecutive Double-Doubles&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;33 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, Nov. 12, 2006-March 25, 2007&lt;br&gt;31 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, Nov. 11, 2007-March 25, 2008&lt;br&gt;28 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, Dec. 5, 2005-March 25, 2006&lt;br&gt;18 - Cheryl Miller, Southern Cal, Nov. 28, 1984-Feb. 14, 1985&lt;br&gt;15 - Gail Koziara, Dartmouth, Jan. 16-Feb. 28, 1982&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;tr&gt;
&lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Career Double-Doubles&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;110 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, 2006-Active&lt;br&gt;90 - Cheryl Taylor, Tennessee Tech, 1984-87&lt;br&gt;78 - Janet Harris, Georgia, 1982-85&lt;br&gt;75 - Sylvia Fowles, LSU, 2005-08&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;td valign=&quot;top&quot;&gt;
&lt;b&gt;Career Consecutive Double-Doubles&lt;/b&gt;&lt;br&gt;105 - Courtney Paris, Oklahoma, Dec. 5, 2005-Active&lt;br&gt;19 - Anne Donovan, Old Dominion, Jan. 29, 1982-Dec. 29, 1983&lt;br&gt;18 - Cheryl Miller, Southern Cal, Nov. 28, 1994-Feb. 14, 1985&lt;/td&gt;
&lt;/tr&gt;
&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;



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    <item>
      <title>Courtney Paris named National Player of the Month</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/1/9/715905/courtney-paris-named-natio</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:35:09 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://soonersports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/010909aab.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Courtney Paris named National Player of the&amp;nbsp;Month&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Man - read this summary of the month that Courtney Paris had in December.  Not to mention she has kept her streak of double-doubles alive and it now stands at 105.  105!&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;&quot;Oklahoma's Courtney Paris was named the National Player of the Month of December by the Women&amp;rsquo;s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA), which made the announcement Thursday.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;It is the fifth career WBCA Player of the Month for Paris.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Paris averaged 17.2 points, 12.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.8 blocks in five games in December, while playing just 25.2 minutes a game. She shot 77.3 percent from the field, connecting on 33-of-44 field goal attempts. Her rebounds and field goal percentage led the Big 12 in December.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;She extended her NCAA record for consecutive double-double's to 104 in December and it now stands at 105 after one January game. She had 18 points and 13 rebounds at then-No. 9/7 California as the Sooner's came back from a 26-point deficit to win the game, setting an NCAA record for largest comeback in a regulation game.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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    <item>
      <title>Travis Lewis named Freshman All-American</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/1/8/714889/travis-lewis-named-freshma</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Fri, 09 Jan 2009 00:51:55 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">
&lt;h3 class=&quot;link-title&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sportswriters.net/fwaa/news/2008/allamerica090108.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;Travis Lewis named Freshman&amp;nbsp;All-American&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/h3&gt;
&lt;div class=&quot;description&quot;&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The Football Writer's Association of America announced their freshman All-American team today and Travis Lewis made the list.&lt;/p&gt;

&lt;p&gt;Other Big 12 winners:
&lt;br /&gt;DE - Brandon Harold, Kansas State
&lt;br /&gt;S - Earl Thomas, Texas
&lt;br /&gt;KR - Leonard Johnson, Iowa State&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
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      <title>Sports Illustrated Archive of 2000 NC Game</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/1/6/710987/sports-illustrated-archive</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 03:03:07 -0000</pubDate>
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  &lt;p&gt;I am getting awfully antsy with the game looming now and while looking around at various blogs, I stumbled across the Sports Illustrated archive.&amp;nbsp; They provide free access to lots (maybe all) of their past articles and highlighted on their CFB page was the article detailing the NC game from 2000.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I am getting awfully antsy with the game looming now and while looking around at various blogs, I stumbled across the Sports Illustrated archive.&amp;nbsp; They provide free access to lots (maybe all) of their past articles and highlighted on their CFB page was the article detailing the NC game from 2000.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Take a look - I am not sure it settles my nerves - but it brings back lots of memories.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp; I watched that entire game on a (maybe) 12 inch B&amp;W TV as I was at my in-laws out in the country and all they had was satellite and no local channels.&amp;nbsp; They were nice enough to fetch the antique TV from somewhere and we strung together an antenna that picked up the ABC signal.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1021492/1/index.htm&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Sooner Boomers&lt;/a&gt; - Near-perfect execution by a crunching defense clinched an unbeaten,&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;untied, unbelievable season for Oklahoma - Austin Murphy - January 8, 2001&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Favorite quote:&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&quot;That debate, mercifully, is moot. The Sooners, who entered the Orange Bowl as 11-point underdogs, are the undisputed champions, having pulled off perhaps the most stunning postseason victory since Penn State picked off Vinny Testaverde five times to beat Miami in the 1987 Fiesta Bowl. That Florida State was listed as such a heavy favorite didn't offend the Oklahoma players as much as make them feel comfortable, for the Sooners hadn't been favored in most of their other big games this season. &quot;If the oddsmakers decided who won,&quot; said Stoops two days before the Orange Bowl, &quot;we'd be 7-4.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;



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      <title>AP is confirming OU-BYU to open new Cowboys Stadium</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2009/1/6/710974/ap-is-confirming-ou-byu-to</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Wed, 07 Jan 2009 02:48:54 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Bumped From The FanPosts)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I had heard the rumors and now it looks like they have come true - the Sooners will face the BUY Cougars in the first college football game to be played at the new Cowboys Stadium opening next fall.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While there are other college games scheduled, this will be the first one in the stadium and will be played over the Labor Day holiday, so it will be an early season test for the Sooners against what could be a solid BYU team who just lost to another Stoops coached team.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No confirmation over on SoonerSports.com though - they seem to be busy covering some other event currently....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-oklahoma-byu-cowboysstadium&amp;prov=ap&amp;type=lgns&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;More details here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;(Bumped From The FanPosts)&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;I had heard the rumors and now it looks like they have come true - the Sooners will face the BUY Cougars in the first college football game to be played at the new Cowboys Stadium opening next fall.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;While there are other college games scheduled, this will be the first one in the stadium and will be played over the Labor Day holiday, so it will be an early season test for the Sooners against what could be a solid BYU team who just lost to another Stoops coached team.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;No confirmation over on SoonerSports.com though - they seem to be busy covering some other event currently....&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/football/news?slug=ap-oklahoma-byu-cowboysstadium&amp;prov=ap&amp;type=lgns&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;More details here&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;



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      <title>Take the Bowl Season Surprise Poll</title>
      <link>http://www.crimsonandcreammachine.com/2008/12/31/706419/bowl-season-surprise-poll</link>
      <author>chrisabo</author>
      <pubDate>Thu, 01 Jan 2009 01:22:22 -0000</pubDate>
      <description type="html">

  








  &lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bigeast.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19400&amp;ATCLID=3628724&amp;KEY=&amp;DB_OEM_ID=19400&amp;DB_LANG=&amp;IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Big East bowl teams and records (3-1)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stpetersburgbowl.com/?DB_OEM_ID=19400&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MAGICJACK ST.PETERSBURG BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;USF 41, Memphis 14&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meinekecarcarebowl.com/&quot; title=&quot;Meineke Car Care Bowl&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;West Virginia&amp;nbsp;31, North Carolina 30&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.papajohnsbowl.com/&quot; title=&quot;Papajohnsbowl.com&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Rutgers&amp;nbsp;29, North Carolina State 23&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sunbowl.org/&quot; title=&quot;Sunbowl.org&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;BRUT SUN BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Pittsburgh 0,&amp;nbsp; Oregon State 3&lt;br&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pac-10.org/sports/m-footbl/08-pac10-bowls.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pac 10 bowl teams and records&lt;/a&gt; (4-0)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lvbowl.com/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Las Vegas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Arizona 31, BYU 21&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emeraldbowl.org/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Emerald&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;California 24, Miami 17&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.holidaybowl.com/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pacific Life Holiday&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oregon 42, Oklahoma State 31&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sunbowl.org/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Brut Sun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oregon State 3, Pitt 0&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.bigeast.org/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=19400&amp;ATCLID=3628724&amp;KEY=&amp;DB_OEM_ID=19400&amp;DB_LANG=&amp;IN_SUBSCRIBER_CONTENT=&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Big East bowl teams and records (3-1)&lt;br&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.stpetersburgbowl.com/?DB_OEM_ID=19400&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MAGICJACK ST.PETERSBURG BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;USF 41, Memphis 14&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.meinekecarcarebowl.com/&quot; title=&quot;Meineke Car Care Bowl&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;MEINEKE CAR CARE BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;West Virginia&amp;nbsp;31, North Carolina 30&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.papajohnsbowl.com/&quot; title=&quot;Papajohnsbowl.com&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;PAPAJOHNS.COM BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Rutgers&amp;nbsp;29, North Carolina State 23&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sunbowl.org/&quot; title=&quot;Sunbowl.org&quot; class=&quot;bowlname&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;BRUT SUN BOWL&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Pittsburgh 0,&amp;nbsp; Oregon State 3&lt;br&gt;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.pac-10.org/sports/m-footbl/08-pac10-bowls.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pac 10 bowl teams and records&lt;/a&gt; (4-0)&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.lvbowl.com/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Las Vegas&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Arizona 31, BYU 21&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.emeraldbowl.org/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Emerald&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;California 24, Miami 17&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.holidaybowl.com/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pacific Life Holiday&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oregon 42, Oklahoma State 31&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;http://www.sunbowl.org/&quot; class=&quot;pagelinks&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Brut Sun&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;Oregon State 3, Pitt 0&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;



 	&lt;fieldset class=&quot;poll-box&quot;&gt;
  &lt;legend&gt;Poll&lt;/legend&gt; 
  &lt;h5 class=&quot;poll-title&quot;&gt;Which one is the bigger surprise so far through the bowl season?&lt;/h5&gt;
  
    
&lt;div id=&quot;poll_container_33786_1216875794&quot; class=&quot;poll_container&quot;&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;50%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Big East record at 3-1&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
    &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option clearfix&quot;&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_percentage&quot; style=&quot;display:none&quot;&gt;50%&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_result&quot;&gt;
      &lt;h5&gt;Pac 10 record at 4-0&lt;/h5&gt;
      &lt;div class=&quot;poll_option_bar&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;vote_count&quot;&gt;2&lt;/span&gt; votes&lt;/div&gt;
      &lt;/div&gt;
    &lt;/div&gt;
  
  &lt;p class=&quot;poll-total-votes&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;4&lt;/strong&gt; votes
      
    | &lt;span class=&quot;poll-has-closed&quot;&gt;Poll has closed&lt;/span&gt;
  
  &lt;/p&gt;  
&lt;/div&gt;

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