It was an interesting first weekend of the season for local college football teams, and not every game ended as predicted.

Tulsa’s defense played well in a 37-13 win at Tulane. Oklahoma State defeated No. 13 ranked Georgia, 24-10.

However, Oklahoma didn’t fair as well. The Sooners were playing without the injured Jermaine Gresham, they lost quarterback Sam Bradford to a shoulder injury in the second quarter, and lost to BYU, 14-13, in a mistake-filled game.This week, all three teams have totally different challenges in front of them.

The Golden Hurricane will play another road game as the team visits New Mexico, Saturday at 7 p.m. Although TU won and played well at Tulane, it certainly wasn’t a perfect performance. The defense gave up 325 yards and some big plays with blown coverage, and the offense committed a few mistakes.

As new quarterback G.J. Kinne settles in as the starter, and he and his teammates get more confident with his abilities at that position, we should see this TU offense really come alive.New Mexico is coming off a loss at Texas Tech, 41-6. The Lobos failed to score a touchdown, but converted on two field goal attempts. There isn’t a whole lot of offensive fire power on the New Mexico squad, as the team only gained 231 yards against a tough Texas Tech defense.

Tulsa’s defense should be able to do the same against the Lobos. As long as TU’s offense doesn’t commit very many turnovers, the Golden Hurricane shouldn’t have a difficult time scoring against New Mexico. I’m picking TU to win, 38-10.

In front of a record home crowd of 53,012 the Oklahoma State Cowboys played great defense in their win over Georgia. The Cowboys limited the Bulldogs to only 257 total yards of offense, and forced three Georgia turnovers. Receiver Dez Bryant was stellar as always, catching two TD passes from quarterback Zac Robinson, who scored a TD on a quarterback keeper.

OSU will host Houston this Saturday at 2:30 p.m. The Cougars are coming off a romp of Northwestern State, 55-7. Houston racked up 538 yards of offense, while holding the Demons to 263 total yards.

This could be a true test for OSU, but I’ll go with the Cowboys in a close one, 17-14 over Houston.

OU will have to bounce back with or without Gresham and Bradford in the lineup. OU committed too many errors in the game against BYU and will definitely have to commit fewer turnovers if they don’t want to be surprised again this season. OU takes on Idaho State at home, this Saturday at 6 p.m.

Idaho State certainly isn’t the caliber of OU or even BYU, so this really shouldn’t be much of test for the Sooners. The Bengals were blown out by Arizona State last week, 50-3, and a healthy OU team could easily top that score.

Idaho State managed only 37 yards of total offense, while giving up 407 yards to the Sun Devils. This should be no contest; I’m picking the Sooners, 58-6.

NFL PICKS

It’s always difficult to pick against your favorite team, and although I believe Terrell Owens will be a great addition to the Buffalo Bills offense, and the Bills might actually make the playoffs this year, I’m not dumb enough to think they’ll win the AFC title.

It really hurts me to have to pick New England to win the East Division of the AFC, and they will likely face San Diego in the conference championship. In the NFC, this might be the year Dallas returns to prominence. I’m going with the Cowboys to face the New York Giants in the NFC final.

I hate to say it, but the Giants may very well have the best defense in the NFL this season, and with such, will likely win the Super Bowl in a tight game over the Chargers.

[Jeff Brucculeri is the coauthor of a book entitled “Powerful People Are Inspired by Powerful Athletes,” and can be contacted via email at; jeffb@tulsabeacon.com.]

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 10th, 2009 and is filed under Sports.