Utah State a bargain
OU paid only $500,000 guarantee to Aggies
Utah State a bargain

By John Rohde

Published: September 16, 2007

NORMAN — Results this season have shown there are no guaranteed victories in college football.

But Utah State was guaranteed $500,000 for its Saturday appearance at Oklahoma, no matter what the result.

OU athletic director Joe Castiglione actually found a bargain in the Aggies, who wound up getting pummeled 54-3 on Owen Field.

Castiglione lined up the game back in 1999 when the going rate was considerably lower than it is these days.

"It's hard to believe, but you can't find them for a half million anymore,” Castiglione said. "Almost everybody wants $750,000 to $1 million. They're incredibly difficult games to find.”

Castiglione said Utah State will return to Norman again in the near future.

Arkansas hiring Jeff Long last week as its athletic director could spark a regional rivalry between the Razorbacks and Sooners.

Long served as an associate athletic director at OU for 2½ seasons under Castiglione and said it "makes a lot of sense” for the two schools to meet in numerous sports.

"Given the proximity of the two schools, to me it sounds like a logical thing to do,” Long said.

Fayetteville and Norman are 245 miles apart.

"We could virtually play in every sport,” Castiglione said.

Barring a schedule change, it will likely be a long wait in football. The Sooners already are booked with high-profile non-conference opponents through 2019

However, Oklahoma State has some openings and a new stadium to fill. Long said he also would be receptive to exploring future schedules with the Cowboys.

Arkansas already rekindled its men's basketball series with OU and plays at Norman on Dec. 15.

Long will serve as special assistant to the chancellor before officially starting his AD duties on Jan. 1.

Castiglione joked that still gave Long "plenty of time to get in that new Razorback-colored car of his and get over here for that hoops game.”

Long's initial impression of Arkansas?

"It's a hell of a place,” he said, roughly 28 hours after being introduced as Frank Broyles' replacement.

Saturday marked the first time this season OU didn't face a team with a rookie head coach.

Brent Guy, a former player and assistant coach at Oklahoma State, is in his third season at Utah State.

Previous victims Todd Dodge of North Texas and Randy Shannon at Miami are in their first seasons.

The Sooners face another rookie this week in Tulsa's Todd Graham on Friday night.

On Oct. 20, Iowa State rookie Gene Chizik gets OU in Ames.

As if facing the third-ranked Sooners wasn't difficult enough, doing so as a first-year coach has to be particularly brutal.

Had Malcolm Kelly had just 19 more yards receiving and Chris Brown gained 38 more yards rushing, OU would have had three 100-yard rushers and two 100-yard receivers in the same game.

The guess here is that's never happened with any team at any level in the history of college football.

Saturday was coach Bob Stoops' 50th home victory in 52 starts, and all of them have been sellouts.

Sooners kicker Garrett Hartley had two field goals against Utah State, including a career-long 53-yarder, and has now converted his last 14 attempts.

His last miss was a 44-yarder that was blocked at Oregon last season.

In fact, Hartley has missed three extra points since missing his last field goal. He has missed two PATs this season.

After outscoring the visitors 184-26 in the first three games — an average victory margin of 52.7 points — OU doesn't play another home game until Oct. 13 against Missouri.

They play at Tulsa on Friday, at Colorado on Sept. 29 and against Texas in Dallas on Oct. 6.

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