ESPN ought to send them a huge thank-you card.

Who cares what the official TV ratings turn out to be. On a scale of 1 to 10, this one was an 11.

Thanks to ESPN, the entire nation got what it deserved.

The nation got a chance to see what took place at Lewis Field as No. 8 Oklahoma survived the ultimate scare from No. 12 Oklahoma State.

OU 31, OSU 28.

It was a game worth watching, worth taping, worth seeing over and over.

The nation got a chance to see a Heisman Trophy candidate of today and a potential candidate of tomorrow.

Oklahoma State junior tailback Barry Sanders today's candidate finished with 39 carries for 215 yards and two touchdowns.

Oklahoma freshman halfback Mike Gaddis tomorrow's candidate _ finished with 18 carries for 213 yards and two touchdowns.

The nation got a chance to see an in-state showdown between two Orange Bowl hopefuls.

It got a chance to see a gut-wrenching ending.

Heartache for the Cowboys.

Heartburn for the Sooners.

Who needs Hollywood? Pat Jones and Barry Switzer provided these scripts.

For several weeks, people have been curious.

They were curious if: 1) OSU's offense truly was that good; and if 2) OSU's defense truly was that bad.

Answers: Yes and No.

They were curious if: 1) OU's remarkable success story over OSU would continue; and if 2) the talent level between the two programs was still miles apart.

Answers: Yes and No.

They were curious if: 1) All the advanced media coverage was deserved; and if 2) OU being favored by 3 1/2 was a misprint.

Answers: Yes and No.

Last year, unbeaten OSU was humiliated on national TV and lost 35-0 to Nebraska in Stillwater.

Viewers turned the channel.

ESPN switched to other games.

Doing either of those two things Saturday would have been a huge mistake even though the Cowboys started slowly (trailing 21-7 late in the first quarter).

Like a superbly written mini-series, there were terrific scenarios throughout.

There were timely conversions and costly penalties.

There were third-and-long situations and fourth-and-short.

There were hard hits and missed tackles.

There were one-handed catches and fleet-footed rushes.

There were radical decisions and conservative moves.

There were misdirections and straight-ahead plays.

There were new formations and reliable bread-and-butter plays.

There was complete domination on both sides at different times.

Coaches pleaded.

Players prayed.

Because of the Sooners' recent domination (only three losses since 1946), Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer rates the OU-OSU rivalry far behind OU-Nebraska and OU-Texas.

This sure looked like a rivalry Saturday night.

The 16 bowl scouts in attendance smiled when OSU took a 28-24 lead with 8:45 remaining.

They weren't smiling because they wanted the Cowboys to win, rather because they knew they were watching two quality teams no matter who won.

"Pretty impressive. Pretty impressive," bowl representatives mumbled in the closing minutes.

"Incredible game," said someone from the Orange Bowl. "I'm going home and watch it again."

Me, too.

Like the ultimate script, this game was made for television.