Berry Tramel

Thoughts from The Oklahoman Sports Columnist Berry Tramel

OU football: Sooners dominate in-state December 01, 2010 | Comment on this article

Any chance the last Big 12 championship game could be moved to Tulsa? Or Stillwater? Heck, Cameron Stadium in Lawton. It would guarantee a Sooner victory. OU is darn near unbeatable in its home state. The Sooners’ Owen Field dominance is well-documented. But here’s the crazy part. Under Bob Stoops, OU has... Read More

OU football: Who deserves to be all-Big 12 QB? December 01, 2010 The coaches’ all-Big 12 football team is always interesting, for two reasons: 1. Coaches know way more about player talent and production than do the rest of us; 2. Coaches don’t seem to show enough concern or care to do such voting right. So you never know what you’ll get. Case in point. The Big 12... Read More

Omaha radio: Talking about Husker fans December 01, 2010 I was on an Omaha radio show today, talking some Big 12 championship game but mostly about my Monday column, which bashed Nebraska fans. Here is a link to the interview: http://www.1620thezone.com/pages/693589.php It’s a busy week up North. I’m doing another Omaha radio show tomorrow, and I did an internet... Read More

OU football: Good news on Murray November 30, 2010 DeMarco Murray’s season of redemption continues. Just like Quentin Griffin’s. Remember in 2002, when some OU fans clamored for Renaldo Works to play ahead of Griffin? By the end of the season, Griffin’s rushing total stood at 1,864 and he had had forged his way to No. 5 on the all-time OU rushing list.... Read More

OU football: Stoops talks about his dad November 30, 2010 Bob Stoops made reference to his father during his Tuesday press conference. He was just kidding around, talking about why some of college football’s most animated coaches — the Stoopses and Nebraska’s Pelinis — hail from Youngstown, Ohio. “Have to put it on our high school coaches,” Stoops said.... Read More

Big 12 football: Expand to BYU, Louisville

November 29, 2010 TCU apparently is headed for the Big East, which makes no geographic sense, but that long ago quit mattering. Tampa, Fort Worth and Syracuse, N.Y. That’s not the Big East. That’s the Big America. But anyway, TCU’s apparent decision to join the Big East is a clear indication that the Big 12 meant its stated... Read More

OSU football: A ticket solution November 29, 2010 Someone with extensive experience in marketing offered up a compromise on the Oklahoma State football ticket situation. Athletic director Mike Holder’s ticket plan — a premium game each season for which no individual-game tickets will be sold — has worked very well in expanding OSU’s season ticket base.... Read More

OU football: Aggies on the outside November 28, 2010 OU won another BCS three-way tiebreaker, its second in three years, to make the Big 12 championship game. This one wasn’t as close, of course, as 2008, when the Sooners edged Texas. OU checked in at No. 9, Oklahoma State at No. 14 and Texas A&M at No. 18. Just another example of the BCS loving OU. The BCS... Read More

Bedlam football: OU defense shines November 28, 2010 Crazy at it seems, the best unit on the field Saturday night in OU’s 47-41 Bedlam victory was the Sooner defense. As unbelievable as it seems, the least effective unit was the unit we thought, going into the game, clearly was the best. The OSU offense. I thought in general, the OU offense played really well,... Read More

Bedlam football: Stopping Justin Blackmon & Ryan Broyles November 26, 2010 Justin Blackmon vs. Ryan Broyles. That’s largely what Bedlam 2010 comes down to. I can’t remember ever seeing a football game, especially one with such intense interest to the state, in which the primary combatants are wide receivers. I’m also enough of a football novice to be mystified on how Blackmon and... Read More

OSU football: Dr. Lou offers a pep talk November 26, 2010 ESPN’s Thursday night halftimes are always entertaining, thanks to Lou Holtz. The old coach’s Dr. Lou segment is always funny and enlightening. Holtz sometimes delivers pep talks for certain players or teams. Thursday night, at halftime of the Texas A&M-Texas game, Holtz delivered a pep talk for the... Read More

Bedlam football: Diamond nothing new November 25, 2010 On Sept. 4, Oklahoma State unveiled a new formation for a few plays against Washington State. A full-house backfield, in which backup tailbacks Joseph Randle and Jeremy Smith joined Kendall Hunter on the field. One lined up in what has become known as the pistol position, a tailback lined up directly behind a... Read More

OU football: OSU tries to pin 3rd loss on Bob Stoops November 25, 2010 Bob Stoops lost to Oklahoma State in 2001 and 2002. Such was the novelty of powerhouse Sooner teams losing two straight Bedlams, that before the 2003 Bedlam game, The Oklahoman’s pregame visual was a drawing of Stoops, with orange kryptonite draped around his neck. Since then, Stoops has lost some of his... Read More

Bedlam football: Debating the stars of OU & OSU

November 24, 2010 A good Bedlam debate has bubbled throughout the season. Landry Jones or Brandon Weeden? Kendall Hunter or DeMarco Murray? Ryan Broyles or Justin Blackmon. Here’s a new twist on the subject, which in part will illuminate the seasons of the Cowboys and Sooners. Let’s debate all kinds of Bedlam pairs, in a... Read More

Power Lunch Chat Recap: Berry Tramel November 24, 2010 Chat with OU football beat writer Jake Trotter at 11 a.m. Read More

Bedlam football: A flaw in the Big 12 tiebreaker November 24, 2010 This is the Big 12′s new tiebreaker formula, as it relates to the BCS needing to break three-way ties: “The highest ranked team in the first Bowl Championship Series poll following the completion of Big 12 regular season conference play shall be the representative in the Big 12 Championship Game, unless two of... Read More

Bedlam football: Big, but not the biggest November 23, 2010 The idea is floating around that this is the biggest Bedlam game ever, which of course is silly. It’s big, but not the biggest. 1984 is the biggest, and it’s really not close. On Nov. 24, 1984, at Owen Field, the Sooners and Cowboys played a quasi-national semifinal. The week before, OU had toppled No.... Read More

Bedlam football: Throwback game at QB November 23, 2010 Bedlam 2010 figures to be a throwback game. Not low-scoring or between the tackles or anything like that. But a couple of traditional pocket passers at quarterback. Brandon Weeden and Landry Jones do not run much. They don’t like to, and their coaches don’t like them to. Which is vastly different from much... Read More

OSU football: Ex-Pokes talk Justin Blackmon

November 23, 2010 I was in Arlington, Texas, on Sunday for the Lions-Cowboys game. Which means I got a chance to chat with Oklahoma State football alums Zac Robinson and Brandon Pettigrew about OSU’s amazing 2010 season. They talked about Brandon Weeden, which I wrote about in my column for the Wednesday Oklahoman, but... Read More

OSU football: A fan who saw it coming

November 22, 2010 College football fans are notoriously optimistic. True story: some guy emailed me today saying Texas A&M could be a BCS at-large selection. I get it. (Not the A&M stuff; that’s nonsense.) Fans embrace the best-case scenario. That’s the nature of fans. But the reality is always somewhere south. Maybe... Read More