The Door Is Open

There is a door open. This door has been closed for quite a bit of time. Only 2 members had the ability to enter the exclusive room behind this closed door. A 3rd party attempted to walk through that door and gain membership, yet as soon as they entered, they were immediately given “the boot”. But as it stands, this year might be the year that a 3rd member is actually accepted.

In a division that has been completely dominated by the Sooners and Longhorns, there are 2 teams that face each other Thursday night in primetime with a chance to end that domination. The winner of that game has a legitimate shot at finally gaining membership to the exclusive club of Big 12 South Champions. The last time a team not named Texas or Oklahoma won the Big 12 South Bill Clinton was President, Y2K wasn’t even a concern yet, and Titanic just won the Academy Award for Best Picture.

In 2008, Texas Tech made a valiant attempt at infiltrating the stronghold of the aforementioned dominant programs, however, they were embarrassed by Oklahoma 65-17 in late November which ended all hope they had at representing the Big 12 South.

Well, it’s now 2010. And if there’s ever been a year to make it happen, this is it. Garrett Gilbert is no Vince Young or Colt McCoy. Landry Jones is no Sam Bradford or Jason White. Mike Leach has departed Lubbock. There’s no Roy Williams, no Adrian Peterson, no Jermaine Gresham, no Brian Orakpo, no Ricky Williams. And as UCLA showed the world on Saturday by spanking Texas 34-12 in Austin, there are no longer any strongholds in the division.

The 2 teams with the best shot at crashing the party face off tonight in a must win for both. Texas A&M enters tonight’s game riding a 3-0 record and touting a Heisman Trophy caliber QB in Jerrod Johnson. The running game has been the biggest area of improvement for the Aggies as they have 2 backs capable of going over 1,000 yards this year in Christine Michael (331 yards so far) and Cyrus Gray (188 yards so far). Defensively, they have added a new Defensive Coordinator to the staff in Tim DeRuyter. He has switched the base defense to a 3-4 which allows their All-American LB, Von Miller, to fully utilize his talents rushing off the edge.

Oklahoma State (3-0) was thought to be rebuilding this year after the departure of record holders Zac Robinson and Dez Bryant. But somebody forgot to tell that to the 2010 offense. New starting QB Bradon Weeden has already thrown for 11 TDs while completing 75% of his passes and WR Justin Blackmon has already caught 8 TDs. And that familiar face in the backfield is none other than Kendall Hunter. The 2008 All-Big 12 RB who had an injury riddled 2009 season is back at full strength. His 473 yards and 6 TDs highlights the ground game of the Cowboys.

This game might have flown under the radar of some people minds, but the fact is that the winner of this game will be in a prime position to challenge Oklahoma and Texas for the Big 12 South Division title. Thursday night games don’t get much bigger than this.