SMQ: Norman proves its legit in win at Southmoore...

By Justin Hite

Welcome to the Saturday Morning Quarterback … Today’s Edition: Norman vs. Southmoore.

This one was viewed as one of the elite games of the week and it was. There were great swings of emotion and momentum as well as a lot of really good football to watch. Obviously, Norman prevailed on the strength of its defense and running game but Southmoore’s valiant effort in the fourth quarter showed the SaberCats could still play with the state’s top teams.

Norman breakdown: There were a lot of questions about the Norman Tigers before Friday night. Were they really that good? Who had they played? What will that defense do against a real offense? Is their offense good enough to compete at the top level?

Those answers in order are:

Yes.

Now, Southmoore — a state semifinalist from last year.

Force it into multiple mistakes and, at times, shut it down completely.

Yes.

The first thing that struck me about Norman last night was how big its entire team was. Not only in the trenches, but the linebackers, defensive backs and running backs are all big boys. When you play that style of football, size helps a lot. But when you need to drive the ball for 8 minutes, it helps a lot too.

Probably the most impressive thing that Norman did on Friday night was not defensive. It was their offense in the second half. With the lead, Norman drove 6:38 off the clock to open the second half. Then again drove the last 8 minutes off the clock. Overall, the Norman offense had possession for 18:06 of the second half. Keep in mind there’s only 24 minutes in a half. Now, that defense may have given Norman its lead, but the Tigers showed Friday that they could win a game from both sides of the ball.