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Tramel's ScissorTales: Boise is worth visiting. Maybe the Big 12 will give us a reason to down the road.

Berry Tramel
Oklahoman

The Oklahoma game always was Scott Frost's favorite of the football season. Driving to Lincoln through the hamlets of Nebraska was a biennial Thanksgiving tradition. 

"This is my favorite game of the year growing up, my entire life," Frost said this week. "Just like every Nebraska fan, I think.  

"Special deal. Seen a lot of 'em. Been a part of a lot of 'em." 

That's what separates Frost from most of those Children of the Corn. He cheered on all those Husker teams at Memorial Stadium. Then he was cheered on at Memorial Stadium. 

Frost, now Nebraska's head coach, quarterbacked the Cornhuskers to the 1997 national championship. He started in Big Red Rivalry games that were nothing like those November classics of his youth. Nebraska routed OU 73-21 in 1996 and 69-7 in 1997. 

And no classic is expected Saturday, when a once-grand rivalry is renewed, with the Sooner hosting Nebraska. Third-ranked OU is the six-time defending Big 12 champion. The Huskers haven't had a winning season since 2016 and have slipped into perpetual Big Ten mediocrity. 

But there was a time, let me tell you. There was a time. 

"One of the best rivalries in sports," Frost said this week. "It’s kind of a shame it went away. But it’s going to be special to be a part of it in a different role.  

"I was lucky enough to play in two of ‘em. One was coach (Tom) Osborne's 250th victory." 

This is a special week in Nebraska. Husker Nation has had little to cheer in recent years and little to cheer this season, having opened with a 30-22 loss at Illinois on Aug. 28. But Nebraska treasures its tradition and treasures its history. 

So this is a week that will be embraced. At least until kickoff. 

Frost figures he'll go easy on a deep dive with his players into Big Red lore. 

"Around Nebraska, you don’t have to tell people much, because everybody hears everything," Frost said. "I’m sure the guys will be hearing about it. We’ll probably talk about it a little bit, it’s a special rivalry, but I’m sure the guys will be inundated about it this week." 

Just as Frost was inundated as a boy growing up in Nebraska. 

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Aug 28, 2021; Champaign, Illinois, USA; Nebraska head coach Scott Frost watches his team in the first quarter with Illinois at Memorial Stadium.

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Big 12 Pregame: Casey Thompson to start at quarterback for Texas 

Casey Thompson has been around the University of Texas for awhile. Redshirted in 2018. Backup to Sam Ehlinger in 2019 and 2020. 

Saturday, Thompson is scheduled to make his first Longhorn start. His first start anywhere in more than 1,400 days, since his days at Newcastle High School

Thompson, the hero of UT’s Alamo Bowl romp of Colorado last December, lost a quarterback derby with redshirt freshman Hudson Card. But Card struggled in Texas’ 40-21 loss at Arkansas last week, and ‘Horn coach Steve Sarkisian announced Monday that Thompson, the son of former OU quarterback Charles Thompson, would get the call against Rice. 

“I thought Hudson was all antsy in the pocket," Sarkisian said of the Arkansas game. “We weren't great protecting him early on in the game, but I thought he was a little antsy and we missed some opportunities. The game could have easily gone a different direction than it did." 

Card completed eight of 15 passes for 61 yards, with three sacks, against Razorbacks. Thompson directed two second-half touchdown drives for Texas and completed five of eight for 57 yards. Thompson also rushed seven times for 44 yards and scored the two TDs. 

Sarkisian also played both Card and Thompson in an impressive 38-18 season-opening victory over Louisiana-Lafayette. Sark said he planned to play both QBs against Rice. 

"I think it would be good for Hudson to take a little bit of a deep breath coming off of last week's game, and be great opportunity for Casey to step in," Sarkisian said. 

"We're a new coaching staff. We're a new scheme. You know that the natural knee-jerk reaction is the sky is falling, we've got to change everything. We've got a system, we've got coaches that have withstood the test of time and will rely on that, and the players will continue to buy into that. And in the end, we will reap the benefits of that, so we're going to stay the course, but we definitely have to fix the errors that occurred." 

Some might say that switching quarterbacks is knee-jerk. Either way, Thompson gets a crack at the job for which he’s waited a long time. 

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Upset special: Kansas State over Nevada 

Kansas State opened Big 12 play in 2020 with a 38-35 upset of OU. Then the Wildcats jumped to a 14-0 lead on Texas Tech. But quarterback Skylar Thompson suffered a season-ending injury, and the Wildcats started skidding. They lost their final five games and finished the season 4-6. 

KSU opened the 2021 with a commanding 24-7 victory over Stanford on a neutral field. But last week, Thompson went down again, this time against Southern Illinois, and won’t return for at least several weeks. 

Suddenly, the Wildcats’ season is on the brink. In fact, the Wildcats are two-point underdogs at home against Nevada of the Mountain West Conference. 

The Wolf Pack is no pushover. Nevada beat California 22-17 two weeks ago, and the Wolf Pack has one of the nation’s best quarterbacks in Carson Strong. 

But KSU is a proud program. Chris Klieman is a good coach. Bill Snyder Family Stadium is a tough place to play. Let’s go with the Wildcats in the upset. 

Season record: 1-1 

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Coach on the hot seat: Baylor’s Dave Aranda 

In Dave Aranda’s first season at Baylor, 2020, the Bears struggled to a 2-7 record. No biggie. The great Matt Rhule coached Baylor to a 1-11 season his maiden season. Then the 2018 Bears went 7-6, followed in 2019 by Big 12 Championship Game and Sugar Bowl appearances. 

Now Aranda is 2-0 in his second season. But those victories came against Texas State and Texas Southern. 

Baylor doesn’t really step up much in class Saturday when it plays at Kansas. But new Jayhawk coach Lance Leipold has some Buffalo transfers who seem to be making a difference, and KU wasn’t completely outclassed in a 49-22 loss last Saturday at Coastal Carolina. 

And the Jayhawks occasionally win a Big 12 home game. Texas Tech in 2019. Texas Christian in 2018. Texas in 2016. Iowa State in 2014. West Virginia in 2013. Colorado in 2010. 

A Kansas upset would derail whatever momentum Aranda has built at Baylor and shout from the Brazos River bridges that the Bears’ second-year coach is not Matt Rhule. 

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Ranking the Big 12 games 

1. Oklahoma State at Boise State, 8 p.m., Fox Sports1: OSU’s first game ever in the state of Idaho. So OSU will be down to 16 states in which it hasn’t played football. Alaska, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, Montana, New Hampshire, North Dakota, South Dakota and Vermont don’t have major-college teams or host a bowl game. But the Cowboys conceivably could make it to Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico, New Jersey and North Carolina. 

2. Virginia Tech at West Virginia, 11 a.m., Fox Sports1: Mountaineers try to avoid a second non-conference loss. The last time WVU lost two regular-season, non-conference games, 2008, the Mountaineers were in the Big East. 

3. Nevada at Kansas State, 1 p.m., ESPN Plus: Wildcats 27-24. Good game that deserves better than ESPN’s streaming. But get accustomed to it in the Big 12. OSU-KSU next week is on ESPN Plus, too. 

4. Nebraska at Oklahoma, 11 a.m., Fox: Nobody really remembers, but the two most recent OU-NU games were really tight. The Sooners rallied from 17 points down to win the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game 23-20. And Nebraska won 10-3 in 2009, when freshman Landry Jones threw five interceptions. 

5. Baylor at Kansas, 2:30 p.m., ESPN Plus: KU hasn’t beaten Baylor since 2007, and the Bears have had seasons of 2-7 and 1-11 since then. 

6. Iowa State at Nevada-Las Vegas, 9:30 p.m., CBS Sports Network: Brock Purdy, benched in the fourth quarter against Iowa, will remain the ISU quarterback, coach Matt Campbell said. Purdy is the winningest quarterback in Cyclone history. 

7. Rice at Texas, 7 p.m., Longhorn Network: Since 1965, the Owls are 1-43 vs. Texas. Southwest Conference auld acquaintance doesn’t always hold. 

8. Florida International at Texas Tech, 6 p.m., ESPN Plus: Coaching matchup of eastern Oklahoma guys. Bixby’s Butch Davis for FIU, Sallisaw’s Matt Wells for Tech

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Boise travelblog: Mountain road block 

Remember the old phrase, you can’t get there from here? We experienced that Thursday in Idaho. 

For our third day of adventures in and around Boise, we planned a trip to McCall. OSU offensive coordinator Kasey Dunn played football at the University of Idaho, and he told my pal Chris Norris to check out McCall, and Chris told me. 

So Thursday morning, off we went, north out of Boise on a state highway that took us through desert mountains, only with some cool housing additions sprinkled around, and then we hit the Boise National Forest, and suddenly we were in the Rockies that we know well. 

Magnificent trees all over the mountains and the oft-roaring Payette River hugging the highway, usually far below the road surface. It’s like we had gone from Arizona to Colorado in a matter of a few miles. 

We saw an electronic sign telling us that Smith’s Ferry would be closed Monday through Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but I was confused. I knew of no ferry we would need to get us to McCall. 

Alas, Smith’s Ferry is a little community, about 53 miles north of Eagle, the Boise suburb where we’re staying. We got to Smith’s Ferry about noon and discovered the road north was closed for two more hours, to make way for logging trucks. 

A cafe/store was about all there was at Smith’s Ferry, and it was overrun with cars and trucks waiting out the closure. 

We had a decision to make. We were in the mountains, so it’s not like there was another road 10 miles away. Our best bet to get to McCall was to return to Greater Boise and catch a highway that would loop around the national forest.  

We started doing the match. An hour back to Boise, then almost a three-hour trip back to McCall using the longer route, and, well, that wasn’t going to work. We had dinner reservations with the Norrises back in Boise at 6:45 p.m. 

So we punted on McCall. What other option did we have? At least the trip to Smith’s Ferry was beautiful. We stopped several times going and coming for photos of the river running through the mountain. 

We went back to our Eagle Springhill Suites and I quickly finished up some work – I had brought my laptop on the way to McCall – and then we headed into Boise. 

Trish the Dish had found some historic neighborhoods that seemed cool, and they were. I guess it would be Boise’s version of Heritage Hills or Mesta Park. Magnificent old homes in a fabulous neighborhood setting. Some huge, some not. 

But all pricey. One of the good things about the internet is the ability to find home values almost instantly. The Dish would spot a house she liked, then look up the square footage and value. Most of the houses seemed to go for $600 a square foot. 

That’s right; $600 a square foot. 

A few blocks over, the prices came down somewhat, but not a lot. I ran a quick comparison with Oklahoma City, and it appears that home prices are about double in Boise. 

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Idaho: Boise State University     • Location:  Boise     • Acceptance rate for 2019-2020:  77.4%     • Applicants for 2019-2020:  15,030     • Median SAT score:  1125 out of 1600     • Avg. annual cost of attendance:  $19,573     • Four-year undergraduate enrollment, fall 2018:  16,526 Boise State University is one of just a handful of large state schools to rank as the most difficult college to get into in a state. Public schools are generally less expensive than private schools, and Boise State is one of just six schools on this list with an average annual cost of attendance under $20,000. A large research university, Boise State has over 200 fields of study for students.    ALSO READ: Most Affordable Colleges With Best Outcomes in Idaho

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We drove over to the Boise State campus so that the Dish could see the Broncos’ famed blue turf. The Dish hates watching televised Boise State home games, because of the blue. 

But it’s an attraction. I had heard that people from all over come to see Albertsons Stadium, and that proved correct. 

Boise State has a well-done athletic hall of fame in the southwest corner of the stadium, that can be accessed from outside. A little plaza allows visitors to walk out and basically be in the stadium, overlooking the field.  

The Dish and I took a few pictures and even navigated over to the stadium seats. The sun was behind much of the stadium, so the lighting wasn’t perfect. But man, that blue turf dominates. 

While we were there, three men walked up and asked us to take a picture of them. Turns out, they were from Las Vegas, 20-year Boise State fans and always wanted to see a game at Albertsons. The OSU game Saturday night is their game. 

That’s the kind of stuff I’ve been talking about when I say Boise State is a national brand.  

Soon enough, we met Chris and Julie Norris for dinner. They had flown up that morning and are headed for Sun Valley on Friday. 

For decades, the Norrises’ owned the iconic Chris’ University Spirit Shop on the OSU campus. Chris’ mother, Kay, was the collecting coordinator for OSU’s Heritage Hall, inside Gallagher-Iba Arena. 

We met at Cottonwood Grille, a classy place near the Boise River. Delightful dinner. I had monkfish, which is described as a poor-man's lobster, but I promise you, I felt quite rich when eating it. The only problem with monkfish is I got a little sad when I took my last bite. Just a great dinner with good friends. 

All in all, a great day, despite the roadblock. Maybe we’ll get to McCall on Friday. 

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Mailbag: OU-Nebraska memories 

One of the best things about this OU-Nebraska week is the memories revived by the series renewal. 

Brad: “I was 15 in 1971 and had finagled my way into the student section for the Game of the Century. My parents and their closest friends had gathered enough tickets for my dad and I to go to this game with them. My assigned seat was with Jamie, oldest sister in the other family and OU student at the time.  Security at Owen Field in 1971 was amateurish compared to security in 2021. My mom had stayed at home after our early Thanksgiving meal that day and babysat the younger girls of the two families. I’m not going to talk about the game other than to say there was at least two uncalled clips on the Johnny Rodgers punt return. When I got home, mom told me ABC had found me in the student section and followed my emotions during the game that day. Maybe they thought I was a Sheldon Cooper (of “The Big Bang Theory) of 1971. I was far from it, just a lucky kid that got to go to the Game of the Century. I had hoped to go to this 50th anniversary reunion game, but times have changed. My mother now has dementia and I’ll be babysitting her during the game. The biggest difference I hope to see is a Sooner win. My dad and I didn’t get to attend another OU-Nebraska in person until 2000. A much better result.” 

Tramel: What memories. And what a life lesson there in the recollections of a man in his 60s, recalling the halcyon days of youth. Sports can do that, you know. Give us a quite clear view of the passage of time. 

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Venue Ventures: Whistling Straits 

The 2020 Ryder Cup will be staged next week at Whistling Straits in Haven, Wisconsin, 62 miles north of Milwaukee hard by Lake Michigan. 

Whistling Straits is part of the new wave of championship courses hosting golf’s majors. Whistling Straits opened in 1998 and has hosted the PGA Championship in 2004 (won by Vijay Singh), 2010 (Martin Kaymer) and 2015 (Jason Day). 

Whistling Straits has an Oklahoma connection – it was designed by the prolific Pete Dye, who died last year at age 94 but designed more than 100 courses, including Oak Tree National and Oak Tree Country Club in Edmond. Among Dye’s designs: Carmel Valley, La Quinta, PGA West, TPC River Highlands, TPC Sawgrass, Harbor Town, Kiawah Island, Stonebridge Ranch, Mission Hills, Oakwood and Crooked Stick. 

Whistling Straits is a links course, with eight of the 18 holes along the lake. Whistling Straits takes its tone from the British seaside courses; Whistling Straits has vast rolling greens, deep pot bunkers and grass-topped dunes. The course even has three stone bridges. 

Whistling Straits is part of a golf resort along Lake Michigan. It is open to the public, but it will cost you — $410 green free, plus a required $65 caddy fee and a recommended tip of $50. 

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.