It's my favorite time of year, college football season. For me, it means quite a bit of work on the ol' Web site, but for most of the 85,000 fans who pack Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, it means a Sooner-style version of Mardi Gras.

The beer flows. The girls are smokin' hot. The Sooners are winning (usually).

Norman, Okla., and a hundred other venues like it are teeming with partiers in search of a good time and a 'W' for their alma maters. During my college years, it meant an afternoon of partying and an evening of partying.

That would be a full day of partying.

For me though, the most important aspect to this annual ritual is how well my beloved Sooners are doing. Last year's 17-10 opening-game loss to TCU left me with a pounding headache the size of Texas.

After a month full of bad news in Soonerland with the gridiron expulsions of Rhett Bomar and J.D. Quinn, we're back where we started last season with Paul Thompson at quarterback. The hope is that OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson has tweaked the OU offense such that it will highlight the Thompson's strengths.

All one has to do is recall Paul's first pass attempt last season to understand why the Chuck Long system was terrible for his abilities because, truth be told, our fearless football leader can't throw the ball worth a damn.

That's OK. Josh Heupel wasn't exactly Dan Marino either.

The South Dakota southpaw worked within a system that allowed him to utilize his gift: his mind. Although Heupel's first season was full of bombs and 300-yard passing games, his second and most glorious year was full of scrambles, dump passes and brilliant decisions.

From what most of us have heard, most of the Sooners actually like Thompson better than they did his predecessor, the player head coach Bob Stoops won't even call by name.

Bomar. Bonehead. Bo Derek.

You're not going to get Stoops uttering anything that closely resembles "Bomar" or "Rhett." Stoops' anger during these past couple of months has been righteous, and his action has been swift. A buddy of mine noted that Coach Stoops' decisions and clarity regarding the OU scandal have been executed in a manner that makes the Sooner Scandal of 2006 something for the case-study annals.

You know, like the way Tylenol handled its 1982 cyanide-lacing crisis. They acted swiftly and not without cost but garnered the respect and praise of pundits and consumers around the world.

Truth is, the Bob Stoops we've come to know and appreciate here in Norman doesn't give a crap about what we think in terms of his integrity. He knows it's high, and he demonstrated it this summer.

And, with great cost. There's no way this team is better off with Paul Thompson at quarterback than it would have been with Bonehead, er, Bomar.

Or might we be staring at a blessing-in-disguise?

For starters, OU will be forced to utilize Adrian Peterson like the old Houston Oilers did Earl Campbell. Many experts expect A.D. to get 30-35 carries per game.

I like our odds of success as long as they run him out of the I formation.

Second, OU will be forced to dink-and-dunk, West Coast style. We'll get to see just how talented Malcolm Kelly, Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson are after the catch.

Third, the tight end will return to prominence in Norman. Freshman Jermaine Gresham will be a superstar right off the bat, and coaches have called Brody Eldridge and Joe Jon Finley the best blocking TEs the Sooners have had in their time in Utopia, Okla.

Fourth, the adversity OU has faced this summer, I think, means we'll see more of the riverboat gambler mentality Stoops demonstrated in his first season. Expect a ton more fakes, trick plays and risks than ever before. Just a hunch.

Fifth and finally, the summer of shock in these parts just might mean this squad is more of a cohesive unit than ever before. Some have written off the Sooners as mere Cotton Bowl contenders or worse. However, rallying around a guy you truly respect and admire, like Paul Thompson, might be just the thing to turn a bad summer into a great autumn.

Now, I don't have false expectations. Losses at Oregon, at Missouri, at Texas A&M, at Oklahoma State and to Texas are all possible. Heck, I don't discount the boys from Lubbock or those up-and-coming Baylor Bears, who took the Sooners to overtime in Norman last season.

I'd go so far to say that I'm not convinced we'll beat UAB, Washington or Middle Tennessee State. Hear me out.

UAB is a solid team, and I recall them whipping TCU in Birmingham 41-25 (two years ago) and giving other teams absolute fits, such as they did Tennessee last season. I recall watching Middle Tennessee State go into Nashville and beat Jay Cutler's Vanderbilt Commodores last season 17-15.

I would not go so far as to say that Oklahoma could lose to either team, but in this day and age, anything is possible. However, come college football season in Norman, Okla., a few things are certain.

The beer will flow. The eye-candy will be plentiful, and the Sooners will win much more often than they lose.

Nevertheless, the one thing Oklahoma fans should always keep in the back of their minds, should the season go sour, is that the moves Stoops and university president David Boren made this summer were absolutely the right ones relative to maintaining a high level of integrity.

Like I've said any number of times, the karma fairy rewards those who do the right thing. Even in football.

We'll see if I'm right. Go Sooners!