T. Boone Pickens Gives Oklahoma State All It Needs, But Won't Get 387 Points

It's one thing for a player to stir up some trouble that his play is going to have to get the team out of, and it's maybe okay for the head coach, as well.

But a booster talking noise?

While on-the-record trash talking might be unacceptable from a lot of donors, the rules change when you are Oklahoma State's billionaire benefactor T. Boone Pickens. We are talking the closest thing we have to a personal owner in major college football. Pickens seems to have the run of the place in Stillwater, as he's probably entitled to since his money built most of it.

But Pickens may have gone a little too far Monday when he predicted to the Oklahoma media that the Cowboys will beat the SEC's Georgia Bulldogs by a score of 387-24. Obviously, there was a lot of tongue-and-cheek going on there, but it's going overboard to even imply the high-powered offense the Oklahoma State Cowboys are expected to have this season is capable of putting up triple-digits against the Bulldogs.

Who wants to bet next to the big circle around their Sept. 5th season opener in Georgia's locker room today is this article from Tuesday's Tulsa World? Trust that Georgia coach Mark Richt didn't miss this opportunity to provide a little extra incentive to his regrouping Bulldogs.

Here are a few facts Pickens might want to chew on these next couple weeks: Georgia is 3-0 all-time against Oklahoma State, including the Bulldogs 35-14 win two years ago. The Bulldogs are also 14-7 all-time against the Big 12 members and they've won eight straight road openers.

It would be one thing if Pickens was actually going to throw a block to protect OSU quarterback Zac Robinson's blindside, or if he was going to apply the pressure on Georgia's new starting quarterback. All the 81-year-old Pickens has contributed to this fight is a check that covered a nice chunk of the $286 million state of the art renovation to the place the two teams will play opening weekend -- T. Boone Pickens Stadium.

But it isn't the first time Pickens has talked trash when it comes to his beloved Cowboys. You see him being interviewed during pre-game or halftime anytime the Cowboys play on television a la Jerry Jones. And Pickens famously supported a prediction by a columnist earlier this summer that OSU could be 11-0 when it travels to play rival Oklahoma in the regular-season finale. Maybe a little more contrite Monday, Pickens still stuck to his guns with reporters.

"I know I stuck my neck out in that Tulsa World column when I said we're going to be 11-0," Pickens said. "And I still believe that's what we're going to be, but it's going to be tough getting there.

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Louisville's Lincoln Carr, front, puts down a board to get ammo across without touching the yellow parts of the course during an Army leadership development exercise Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at Fort Knox, Ky. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

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Latest College Football Images

Louisville's Lincoln Carr, front, puts down a board to get ammo across without touching the yellow parts of the course during an Army leadership development exercise for the Louisville football team Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at Fort Knox, Ky. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Louisville football players Victor Anderson, back, and Anthony Conner try to get the dummy across the obstacle during a leadership development course at Fort Knox, Ky., Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Louisville football players Daniel Brown, front, and Andrew Robinson try to get a dummy across an obstacle course called "Cate's Culvert" during a leadership development course Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at Fort Knox, Ky. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Staff Sgt. Dennis Kovalchick, center, gives instructions to the Louisville football team before a relay race course Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at Fort Knox army base in Kentucky. Members of the Louisville football team took part in an Army leadership development course. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Staff Sgt. Dennis Kovalchick, center, gives instructions to the Louisville football team before a relay race course Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at Ft. Knox Army Base in Kentucky. Members of the Louisville football team took part in an Army leadership development course. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Staff Sgt. Dennis Kovalchick, center, gives instructions to the Louisville football team before a relay race course Sunday, Aug. 16, 2009, at Ft. Knox Army Base in Kentucky. (AP Photo/Patti Longmire)

Boston College quarterback David Shinskie, center, takes part in practice during NCAA college football media day, Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, in Boston. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

In this Oct. 25, 2008 photo provided by the University of Miami, Miami Hurricanes football player Chris Hayes (49) hugs his mother Kathie after Miami's win over Wake Forest. Hayes, a walk-on college football player gets word that his father, without warning, has taken his own life. He leaves the team to be at his mother's side for the funeral, is summoned back for game day so he can suit up for the first time, gets lost on the way to the stadium, is sent onto the field for the final play and is carried off atop his teammates' shoulders. (AP Photo/University of Miami, JC Ridley)

Photo provided by University of Miami, shows Miami football player Chris Hayes (49) is carried off the field after the Hurricanes defeated Wake Forest Oct. 25, 2008 in Coral Gables, Fla. The low point in Hayes' life came on the previous Monday, when he got the phone call that his dad had committed suicide. The high point of this Miami walk-on's life came five days later when his team carried off the field. (AP Photo/University of Miami, JC Ridley)

"We have to beat Georgia first if we're going to be 11-0, so I think we're going to win that game."

Most predict the Cowboys will win a lot of games this season and they should challenge Oklahoma and Texas for supremacy in the Big 12 South. After averaging 40.7 points per game last seaaon (ninth best in the nation), OSU should again have one of the most explosive offenses in the country with most of the key players returning.

But run the table against the likes of Texas and then on the road against what could be a pretty good Baylor team? It's possible, but hard to imagine for a program that's had maybe one good sniff at the South division title you don't really want to go making those bulletin board predictions.

The thing about Pickens is, like most boosters, he just wants to see his alma mater win big in his lifetime. He's given fifth-year head coach Mike Gundy all the amenities previous OSU coaches could have only dreamed of.

The rich winning tradition aside, the Cowboys now have all the bells and whistles in terms of facilities that have allowed Texas and Oklahoma stockpile talented recruits. Pickens has been very generous in providing the dollars to make that happen.

Now he's looking for a return on his investment.

"When a (prospective) recruit comes in here and sees what we have, they know we're serious," Pickens said. "You're not going to have these kinds of facilities and have a lackluster attitude about whether we're going to win or not."

And the aging oil tycoon is talking about winning sooner rather than later.

"We have to move fast, because I want to see it," Pickens said to the Oklahoma media. "I don't want them plugging away and doing a good job and I (die) and five years later they've got a championship team. I want it as soon as we can get it."