OU, OSU football are a mess right now, so thank goodness for the OKC Thunder | Carlson

A friend reached out Monday evening, saying he had been commiserating with his wife and son about their abysmal football weekend.

Oklahoma thumped by 31 points .

Dallas walloped by 38 points.

“I’m ready for basketball,” he said.

Aren’t we all?

As we reach the mid-way point of the college football season, reality has smacked us upside the head: The football around here stinks. Oklahoma. Oklahoma State . Even Dallas, which has lots of fans north of the Red River. None of the teams are good.

Both college teams might not make a bowl. Winning records are required, and the Sooners need two more wins, the Cowboys three.

Who among us believes either is a sure thing?

And Dallas? Oddsmakers give it a 37% chance of making the playoffs. I’m surprised it’s that high.

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None of these teams are historically wretched, but all carried lofty expectations heading into the season. They’d win lots of games. They’d contend for hardware.

Now, the only hardware in their future is the sledgehammer that needs to be taken to the rosters and/or coaching staffs.

But look, sports fans, what light through yonder window breaks?

It is the east (well, actually, with apologies to Shakespeare, it’s the Western Conference), and the Thunder is the sun.

Next week, the NBA season tips off, and thank goodness for that. Normally when the Thunder starts playing in October, we realize the season is getting under way and may even watch a game or two each week. But really, our attention is diverted.

It’s still football season, after all.

We only have so much time and energy to give to our sports teams, and with football hitting the stretch run, the Thunder and the NBA often sit on the back burner of our collective sports conscience until December or so.

But not this year — the Thunder is about to be the main dish.

Oh, I’m not suggesting we’ll stop paying attention to football altogether. Right now, we’re still trying to make sense of why things have gone so horribly wrong. Is it the quarterback? Offensive line? Playcalling? What about the defense?

We want to know what caused the car wreck.

We can’t help gawking.

But eventually, we’ll tire of it. We’ll look away. We’ll fixate on something else.

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No doubt the Thunder will grab our attention. Or we may grab onto it. Like a life raft in the middle of the ocean, this Thunder team looks entirely capable of saving us from this football mess.

NBA prognosticators everywhere believe this squad is among the best in the league. Oddsmakers give Oklahoma City the best odds to win the West, which is loaded again, and you’d be hard-pressed to find a pundit not picking the Thunder to make the Finals.

The roster is young and talented and fun.

Remember the barking last season?

But of course, the most fun is watching them play. Who isn’t ready to see Shai Gilgeous-Alexander slicing and weaving and shapeshifting his way to the basket? Or Chet Holmgren hitting a 3? Or Jalen Williams hammering down a dunk?

The thought of all that makes me warm and fuzzy.

And what about the veteran newcomers? Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein have become coveted players around the league as consummate professionals who are extremely talented but play super hard and are great teammates. Most teams would’ve done cartwheels had they known they could get one of those two guys this past offseason.

OKC finagled both.

It’s going to be grand fun seeing how Caruso and Hartenstein fit offensively, but even more interesting is how they’ll boost the defense, albeit in a delayed fashion given Hartenstein's hand injury .

The Thunder was already a stout defensive team with Lu Dort and Cason Wallace, Holmgren and Williams. It’s telling that the Thunder who finished highest in the defensive player of the year voting, SGA, is usually mentioned after those other players when it comes to OKC’s defense.

Add Caruso and Hartenstein to that bunch, and even Boston might get jealous.

Listen, I have no idea how good the Thunder will be. Will it win the West? Will it make the Finals? All of those answers are 82 games and at least six months away. But we don’t need to know any of that now. What we need is a distraction from these football follies, a balm for our aching sports hearts.

Starting next week, the Thunder will provide.

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Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook.com/JenniCarlsonOK, follow her at twitter.com/jennicarlson_ok, and support her work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU, OSU football are a mess right now, so thank goodness for the OKC Thunder | Carlson