ESPN.com: One Heck of a Road Trip

NORMAN, Okla. -- It's the night before the biggest football game of Oklahoma's regular season and inside the Sooners locker room, everything seems secure. The double doors are double locked. Folding chairs rest against their backside. Three-inch chains intertwine through their handles.

And then there's Paul and Sharon Collin, laying on an air mattress, cuddled under a sleeping bag, with one eye closed for rest and the other open for safety. The husband and wife work for Sooner Security and have the assignment of guarding the locker room the night before the Red River Shootout, keeping a watchful eye on medical tape. Knee Braces. Mouthpieces.

"People just light up when we tell them what we're doing for the weekend," Sharon said. "But there's a job to do, too."

The Collin's are protecting more than Jason White's jersey, Adrian Peterson's cleats and Dan Cody's helmet. They're protecting the week's worth of work that goes into taking the Sooner football family on a two-day business trip.

They're protecting the 16-member Sooner equipment staff that sets its alarm for five in the morning on back-to-back days to ensure perfection is achieved. They're protecting the student volunteers that methodically place a package of Dentyne in precisely the same spot at 87 different lockers. It's a group that, after the Sooners beat Texas 12-0, is too busy working to watch a giant OU flag get planted in the 50-yard line.

"I always tell people it's like a family trip," assistant equipment manager David "Dukes" Littlejohn said. "Think about what it takes to get four or five people on vacation for a weekend. Then multiply that by like 100."

It's 72 hours of choreographed chaos that, when done right, is rarely ever noticed...

Read Complete Article on ESPN.Com | OU the Program

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