One Saturday in the fall, Part Deux

 That young woman down in Dallas, she caught the spirit of the thing. Flashed the Hook 'Em Horns sign on national TV, minus one of the Horns. Also with the wrong finger.

Yes, sir. What else would any respecting Texas fan do at the end of Oklahoma 53, Texas 45, but flip off the great all-seeing television Eye?

Her sentiments were no doubt a lot of sentiments, after Sam Ehlinger led Texas back from the pit and kept doing hero things like the ghost of James Street or Vince Young or some other Longhorn of yore, only to see those damn Okies win it in the end. What Ehlinger did (four touchdowns with his legs, two with his arm) the kid with that marvelous name (Spencer Rattler) kept matching for Oklahoma. And after four overtimes and a blocked field goal and a missed gimme field goal from a guy who never misses, it was finally over.

Almost five hours after it began, and more than an hour after Ehlinger ran and threw and hero-ed the Longhorns to two touchdowns in the last four minutes of regulation, his last pass settled softly into the arms of an Oklahoma defensive back.  And we had the final word on why Saturday football is so much better than Sunday football.

And if you were any kind of football fan at all, you wanted to flip off the camera, too. Because no one deserved to lose this one, not Ehlinger or Rattler or even the Oklahoma defense, which ultimately was the one thing Texas couldn't match.

The irony in that was as delicious as the game itself, because defense is supposed to be a mere hobby in the Big 12, and there were almost 100 points put up in this one. But if that's a knock on the Big 12, what were we to make of what the mighty rock-ribbed SEC gave us yesterday?

For starters, it gave us Alabama 63, Ole Miss 48.

Also a couple of upsets, Texas A&M 41-38 over No. 4 Florida and Missouri 44-41 over No. 17 LSU.

Also Georgia 44, Tennessee 21.

That's four SEC games, and not a defensive stop in sight. So maybe it's time to admit this is just what college football is now, and enjoy it for what it is.

Either that, or dial up Bo and Woody slogging through one of their 10-7 thrillers from back in the 1970s, speaking of rivalries.

Sorry, boys. I'll take yesterday in Dallas every time.