i think it's important for OU for the national picture. if they want to be part of the playoff picture at the end, this is a huge perception game for them, especially if we wind up with 8 or 9 wins.
it's big for us b/c it's an opportunity early in the season to establish real expectations and basically serve notice that, yes, we are very much back....and COULD be the start of a what could then be a very special season.
in the end, i think OU has more to lose than we do. while i don't look at that game as a for sure loss, i won't be surprised if we did lose. OU is still very good, and they will present problems for us.
either way, i expect Neyland will be on it's ear for that game. the longer we're in it, the tighter stoops will get. he's going to have a lot of pressure to win this game given all his anti SEC rants. lose to what is in reality a 2nd tier SEC team, and what does that say about the state of your program? win, and well, you were probably supposed to....moving on.