The Big Payback

"The Clash of the Titans"

Muhammed Ali once said, “Champions aren’t made in the gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside of them—a desire, a dream, a vision.” Jimmy Connors gave it to us like this, “I hate to lose more than I love to win!” Vince Lombardi broke it down like a real G and said, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” and “If winning wasn’t important, why do they keep score?”

The cat that said, “It’s not important as to whether you win or lose but it’s how you play the game” only said that to make himself feel better about losing. Winning is the only reason that the game is played. In the world of college football winning tradition doesn’t get any bigger than Notre Dame and Oklahoma! This Saturday two monster programs meet in Norman for the first time since 1966. “The Clash of the Titans!”

As much as it sickens me to say it but when Notre Dame is good, college football is even better. When historic programs are good it raises the level of play all over the country. When these two powerhouses take the field on Saturday night you’ll witness two of the most accomplished programs of all-time squaring off.

There will be 18 national championships (ND 11 vs. OU 7), 13 Heisman trophies (ND 7 vs. OU 5), 171 Consensus All-Americans (ND 96 vs. OU 75), 778 NFL draft picks (ND 421 vs. OU 357) and 1,678 wins (ND 857, 3rd all-time vs. OU 821, 6th all-time) between the two programs represented. This is big time college football at its finest bruh!

Over the history of the Notre Dame/Oklahoma match up the Fighting Irish have won 8 of the 9 ball games ever played. Most notably on November 16, 1957 Notre Dame showed up in Norman and ended the Sooners 47 game win streak which was the longest in the history of college football by winning 7-0. Also the last time the Irish visited Sooner Nation in 1966 they blew the doors off of Oklahoma 38-0 en route to a national title.

Well they come in undefeated again and ranked 5th in the country but this is not your father's Notre Dame bruh! Boyz like the 4 Horseman, Rocket Ishmail, Paul Hornung & Tim Brown won’t be running out of the tunnel. Things have changed over the years and the very best cats aren’t playing in South Bend anymore. History is great to look back on but in my Janet Jackson voice, “What have you done for me lately?” Bill Parcells said it best, “No matter how much you’ve won, no matter how many games, no matter how many championships, you’re not winning now, so you stink!”

Notre Dame will figure out real quick that beating a bunch of awful Big 10 teams, robbing Stanford by going through their pockets right in front of Touchdown Jesus and struggling to get by dull BYU isn’t enough to come into Sooner Nation in 2012 and even keep it close! Bob Stoops is 79-4 at the crib, have had 59 players drafted under his watch, have won 7 Big 12 titles and delivered 2 Heisman's  in 14 seasons in Norman! Since 1950 Oklahoma has won more games than any other program in the nation! They've also been ranked #1 for more weeks (101), #2 (199), #5(383) and #10(537) more than any other program in the history of college football along with winning 43 conference championships. So we know something about winning too bruh! Believe me, boyz are salivating the payback for ending the "Streak." Yeah, it was a long time ago but it’s Oklahoma and folks don’t forget things like that around here.

So let me send my condolences in advance and make sure you send dental records because when the smoke clears on Saturday night you may not be able to recognize these boyz. I’m not a prophet but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night! However, I’ve got great news for Irish fans! I just saved 15% on my car insurance! Boomer! Sooner!

Holla At Ya Boy!
Jay Graves
Get @ me on Twitter: @jaygravesreport