Virginia Tech Hokies downgrade Miami Hurricanes to gentle tropical breeze:

The Florida press headlines this week were full of hope and promise for the 'Canes: UM's Jacory Harris, Quarterback U's newest phenom, is known to be a character - Season young, but Miami Hurricanes creating quite the buzz - Miami Hurricanes' early success has business booming - Miami Hurricanes offensive line shocking skeptics - Good Miami Hurricanes equal good ratings at ESPN - Miami Hurricanes Coach Randy Shannon takes everything in stride - Strong chemistry has UM O-line exceeding expectations - Virginia Tech, Oklahoma be warned! a Hurricane is coming....

And then Miami traveled to Blacksburg, Virginia and discovered reality. Susan Miller Degman of The Miami Herald summed it up quite well:

No. 11 Virginia Tech smashed the Heisman hype for UM quarterback Jacory Harris and brought the ninth-ranked Hurricanes back to earth with a 31-7 victory. The only statement UM made Saturday in front of a loud, rowdy, capacity crowd was that it is not ready to be among the country's elite.

Needless to say the Sooners should not take the Hurricanes lightly, they will be smarting and angry from their loss.

Bradford's trip to Birmingham:

It all began Friday night when television station WAPT of Jackson, Mississippi broke the story, the highlights of which are:

Late Friday night, 16 WAPT Sports can confirm that Heisman trophy winner Sam Bradford of Oklahoma is on his way to Birmingham, Ala., to meet with world renowned sports surgeon Dr. James Andrews.

Bradford was seen changing planes in Dallas' Love Field airport tonight, and then boarding a plane bound for Birmingham.

Which leaves one to wonder if WAPT has someone permanently stationed at Love Field in Dallas just in case someone like Sam Bradford happens to stroll through. The other head-scratcher is exactly how the TV station "confirmed" the story.

A little later Friday evening the Tulsa World repeated the WAPT story along with this:

During its Friday night "SportsCenter" telecast, ESPN crawled an alert across the bottom of the screen well after 11 p.m., crediting WAPT with breaking the story.

ESPN affiliate Web site OUInsider.com also reported late Friday that Bradford was seeing Andrews on Saturday, and that Andrews already had evaluated Bradford's x-rays. Bradford, the Web site reported, was traveling to Birmingham for additional evaluation.

Saturday, the story was been repeated by ESPN, Sporting News, The Oklahoma Sooners Examiner,and The Fort Worth Star-Telegram just to name a few. A tad more info came out on Saturday. ESPN added these tidbits of information:

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford was scheduled to visit renowned orthopedic surgeon James Andrews in Alabama this weekend but has not had a specific setback in his recovery from a sprained throwing shoulder, a person familiar with the situation said Saturday morning.

Instead, Bradford was traveling during Oklahoma's off week to seek clearance in an attempt to play as early as next Saturday against Miami, the source said.

The examination is part of standard procedure for an insurance policy Bradford took before the season, protecting him financially against a career-ending injury.

Early Sunday morning David Ubben of The Oklahoman cleared up who originally reported the story and how ESPN got wind of it:

"There is no talk of surgery that we know of on the record, this is further evaluation on the original injury,” said Christian Steckel, who broke the story on his ESPN radio show. "He wants to return to play next week (against Miami), and he’s been in consultation with Dr. Andrews from the beginning, but he’s going to make an appearance in front of him on this so he can make a better evaluation.”

Steckel, the sports director at WAPT, a television station in Jackson, Miss., reported that Bradford was seen changing planes at Love Field in Dallas, en route to Andrews’ Birmingham office.

Meanwhile, this leaves one wondering who Christain Steckel's source is, could it be Dr. Andrews? Or did he just happen to be terminal at Love Field at the same time as Bradford and piece the story together?

Stay tuned for more developments in the most widely publicized routine doctor's visit in history....