Wow, what a difference a weekend makes.

After I noted that we might as well not bother rooting for Ohio State to lose, what happened? Ohio State lost -- and, get this. They fell to No. 7 in the BCS.

The Buckeyes are out of the mix.

Oklahoma handled its business, 52-21, against Baylor and moved up to No. 4 in the BCS, one behind Kansas and one ahead of Missouri. The top two positions are Oregon and LSU, and while I'd love to see LSU lose, I don't see Mississippi, Arkansas or Tennessee (SEC title game) doing it.

On the other hand, Arizona has decided that Mike Stoops will return next year, meaning the Stoops for Brent Venables trade is off the table. However, Stoops could really do Oklahoma a big favor by knocking off Oregon on Thursday. The Ducks are everybody's fashionable pick as best-team-going, and they sit at No. 2.

In Stoops' tenure at Arizona, they have started slowly each season but gotten stronger later, and the Wildcats are particularly formidable at home. My gut of guts says Arizona will hang in there against Oregon this week, and brother Bob has already talked with Mike about how big this could be for Oklahoma.

Let's just say this out loud. I think if Arizona pulls off the upset on Thursday, Oklahoma will win in Lubbock. If Oregon rolls, I like Texas Tech in an upset. It's all about focus and discipline this time of year, and Jones Stadium is far too tough a venue for OU to be thinking about BCS scenarios.

While I thought Venables made some good adjustments on Saturday, I also know that Baylor's version of the spread is junior varsity compared to Tech's. For some reason, we are still using Ryan Reynolds to cover middle-of-the-field receivers.

I don't want to bag on the kid, but has there been a bigger disappointment this year than Reynolds? Touted as the next great linebacker coming out of Las Vegas, he's managed to miss two years to injury and spend the rest of his time giving up huge pass plays. Reynolds has made it easy on opposing quarterbacks who know to throw to whomever is in his coverage zone.

Reggie Smith had a big interception early, but I put him in the same category of disappointment. Of our cover guys in the Stoops era, Reggie is by a mile the most overhyped relative to ability. He got a Thorpe Award nomination, and a colleague very, very familiar with the Sooners said, "Why? He has not had a good year."

The key for Oklahoma success defensively comes down to pass rush and line penetration. To me, Auston English and Gerald McCoy are key. If they get off against Tech, then watch out. Furthermore, redshirt freshman Adrian Taylor was very impressive last week. That kid needs to play more.

So, I'll give Venables some props for some very basic adjustments that kept us from getting embarrassed by the worst team in the Big 12. However, there are issues and problems bigger than the Grand Canyon on Oklahoma's defense, and it has zero to do with talent. It's schemes and discipline and focus.

At the half, for the first time I can ever remember, Bob Stoops told FSN's Emily Jones that "defensively, we were just bad."

Is our visor-wearing leader having an epiphany?

Like other criticisms we fans make, Oklahoma's defense isn't nearly as bad as I make it. However, those who defend him vociferously (like Al Eschbach) are equally full of hyperbole. Fact is, Oklahoma wore down Baylor physically, but the Sooners still have more holes than that New York chick on VH1.

In other sports notes from the weekend ...

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Oklahoma State's defense is still terrible, and I'm still not that impressed with Kansas. Missouri scares me more. And, ABC's football crew Saturday night kept talking about the Big 12 Championship in "Kansas City," which had me super concerned considering I was sure it was in San Antonio.

I was correct on that one, fortunately. Kansas and Missouri might not impress me all that much, but either of them probably beats us at Arrowhead.

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Oh, by the way, everybody who thought the Big 12 was crappy in football this year should start eating crow. With three teams in the BCS Top 5 and four teams in the Top 15, the Big 12 is arguably the best conference in football this year.

Yes, I think LSU, Florida, Auburn, Tennessee, Georgia, Kentucky, etc. would all beat Kansas, but at this point, the only real thing we have to go on is record and ranking. Sorry, Big 12 is best this season.

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Oklahoma's women opened up with a 76-66 loss to No. 4 Maryland in Chapel Hill, NC. With Carlee Roethlisberger getting to play and with Jenna, Ashley and Courtney returning, the Sooners will be very strong. However, this loss just showed that we're not quite with the big teams yet. The game was actually almost a 20-point Terp lead with 2:00 left.

It will be a major disappointment if OU doesn't win the women's national title while Courtney Paris is here, and right now, there is nothing that makes me think we will. Crap, I'm Debbie Downer.

Speaking of Debbie Downer, how about a little of the brilliance who is Rachel Dratch ... This is absolutely one of my favorite SNL recurring sketches of all time.