Perhaps, as we near the end of our preseason desert journey and I expect an oasis, I am simply miraging gaps in the armor. If I am though, then they are merely exaggerations of actual cracks. OU appears to have the same kind of problems we’ve had over the past two years with their suddenly depleted LB’s and DB’s. I realize, though, that the difference is Stoops coaching them versus Mack, and therefore we probably won’t see the same inattention to problems that we’ve seen here. Still, he can’t make good talent out of bad talent, so the effect should show itself in a muted version of what happened to us. Perhaps it’s just the edge that we need to be able to move the ball on them, and perhaps we’ll have enough defensive firepower to make our “just enough” offense just enough to win.

As for Tech, it doesn’t look good, but I know I’m turning a camel into a tank (to continue the desert imagery) somewhere. The offense will be the same, but it will be at home, and we lost much of our offense that will be on the road, so the best to hope for is that our defense rises to the challenge.

I haven’t said anything about Missouri, and that’s an overlook (as are a few other games to worry about, but today’s terror-meter is just at orange for them, while it’s red for these guys). I guess I’m just less fearful since I’ll be there in person, if that makes any sense. It actually doesn’t, but it’s probably something to do with psychology.