Stewart Mandel checks in from Norman and confirms what pretty much everyone knows is the key to a Blazer upset; making the Sooners win through the air. To wit:

During Wednesday's practice, (new starting QB) Thompson was mostly solid with the underneath routes but often floated the ball or underthrew his receivers when going downfield.

And then the inevitable caveat:

With Adrian Peterson in the backfield and a defense that should be one of the nation's best, it's not like the Sooners need Thompson to throw for 3,000 yards. But they can't afford to be one-dimensional, either, particularly with stud receivers like Malcolm Kelly (who made two out-of-this world catches Wednesday) at their disposal.

With Rick Christophel, the man who had the Blazer defense ranked fifth overall and first against the run during the 2001 season (his second and last year at that position), back in control of the defense and a D-line and linebacking corp returning plenty of game experience and depth, hopefully history can repeat itself.