AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez

If you love college football and didn’t see this game tonight you missed a real gem.

In the first regular season game at “Jerry-Land” stadium, #20 BYU upset #3 Oklahoma (who mind you is lead by current Heisman Trophy Winner Sam Bradford) 14-13.

My understanding about the scheduling of this game was that no one wanted to play Oklahoma (understandably so). BYU agreed to the match up and Ill be honest with you, I didnt think they were going to pull this off. I WAS WRONG!

Very late in the second quarter, Colbey Clawson for BYU drilled Bradford into the turf (it was clean) and the he was out for the night. I hate to see anyone get hurt in football games, and I wish him a speedy recovery. However, up to that point, Bradford hadnt done much. Statistically, BYU’s Max Hall was better. In fact, ALL of Oklahoma’s points came off turn overs. ALL of THEM. Which means BYU’s defense showed up.

So far the media has said nothing of “BYU Winning” or “BYU Upsetting”, nearly all of the articles you see on the web say: “Oklahoma Loses Bradford and Game”. This was no fluke. Granted both teams played sloppy- but the last drive by BYU was amazing: Hall was 9 for 10, 76 yards, including a 4th down conversion. The defense played outstanding all game.

Aside from the fact that I played football at BYU for 5 years, I really, REALLY enjoyed this. No one gave BYU a snow balls chance of winning tonight. They had enough guts to get into the ring with a giant, and they pulled it off. Its a beautiful thing!

Never be afraid to challenge yourself. Never be afraid of opportunities where you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Stop finding excuses to be mediocre. Identify your giants (fears), prepare yourself and face them head on.

On a sad note, I learned this morning that a good friend of mine passed away yesterday. She had been battling cancer for a while now, so we knew it was coming. This is the second friend Ive lost recently, very young…my age. I spent some time thinking about her and our conversations. She had so many dreams she shared with me….they wont be realized, at least in this lifetime. Im not saying this because I want sympathy (which I dont), but its a real eye opener and its getting me thinking again. Life is waiting for us, so many opportunities waiting, and it seems we find so many excuses to be mediocre…we never know when our time is. Im not saying my friend was mediocre, but she didnt attack life and its making me wonder about myself and what I am doing. Im constantly finding reasons to be mediocre.

Ill be posting more on this later once I get my thoughts squared away.