Holiday Bowl

First, congratulations to the Oregon Ducks. They played well and deserved to win the game. They are a good team and I knew going in that it would be a tough contest (and that was all before Dez Bryant got hurt). I hate losing, but the Ducks were classy in victory and certainly earned it.

Now, some analysis and thoughts:

- It was frustrating as an alumni to watch the 'Boys go down ugly in the second half, but you had to admire the heart they showed staying in it with a big part of their offense rendered ineffective.

- It's not that Dez Bryant is OSU's whole offense, but his threat opens up chances for the others to make big plays. As we saw, others can make plays, but when you take him out of the equation it is much easier for a defense to focus on stopping the ground game and Zac Robinson.

- Dez Bryant and Zac Robinson are tough hombres. Both were legitimately injured, but kept coming back. Yes, Bryant eventually was more of a distraction than anything else, but you have to appreciate the heart of a guy who will keep going out there over the middle to catch passes. And to be honest it was a toss-up whether OSU was better off with him in there as a decoy or having someone else in the game who could go full speed. The commentators (more on this in a minute) couldn't even decide which was better.

- It turns out Zac had a separated shoulder, again you have to respect him for staying in there, standing in the pocket, running the ball, etc. He took some monster shots (only one that probably should have garnered a late hit, the rest were all legit). In a division of high profile QBs, he had a great season and should be tough to contain in 2009 (assuming a good ground game and at least one deep threat is available so that the spread attack can work).

- Jesse Palmer is a terrible commentator. Everything he says is so blatantly obvious I find myself just wishing he'd hurry up and finish talking because he's just wasting air-time. I'm not sure if he talks slow or if I just hate the sound of his voice. I really hope he doesn't become an iconic commentator because I cringe when I have to listen to him. Brent Mussberger is about the only commentator that is more irritating to listen to, well Keith Jackson is annoying too - and I'll not bother pointing out how bad Tony Kornheiser is.

- I never enjoyed reading college sports info coming from the Daily Oklahoman when I was in Stillwater, but in those days I didn't need to because information was readily available on campus and from other sources. I (and I'll probably get some criticism for this) can't stand the OU-bias at the Oklahoman. It's understandable, the publisher of the Oklahoman is the name sponsor of OU's football stadium. I'm sure if Boone Pickens had a newspaper it would be printed with orange ink. That said, reading or listening to the Oklahoman's reporting is irritating. Look, I get it that you're "in the tank" (to borrow a phrase from the election this fall often used about some other favorite media outlets of mine - MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS) for OU, so have at it during Bedlam week. But don't just be negative toward the Cowboys all the time, it just makes you an illegitimate news source. Or as Mike Gundy might say, "it's garbage!" I watched a video on the Oklahoman's website this morning with analysis from Qualcomm after the game by 2 Oklahoman reporters. You'd have thought O-State had gotten blown out listening to them. Now I'll grant you that OSU looked bad in the second half, but don't dance on their grave. Your Sooners have a tough game coming up next week, it's a virtue to be merciful to your rivals, you might need some mercy some day too.

- There is an open debate as to which provides more motivation ending a season - a bowl win as a "springboard" to the next season or a loss that provides bitter motivation through the spring and summer. I think both are reasonable points of view and any coaching staff is going to take whatever it has to work with to get their squad ready to go. I hope that out of this loss Gundy and company will prepare the returning Cowboys to be much improved in deficient areas in 2009: defense in general (especially pass defense), power ground game, kick coverage, and delivering a knockout blow.