OU has 2 games to improve bowl
Besides pride, Oklahoma will play Texas Tech Saturday for a better bowl - probably the Cotton Bowl.
If Texas wins its final two games against Kansas and Texas A&M, the Longhorns will advance to the Big 12 championship, probably against Nebraska or Kansas State. Win or lose, Texas probably will get a BCS bid.
Should OU beat Texas Tech and win against Oklahoma State next week, the Sooners probably would get the nod from the Cotton Bowl, which loves the TV ratings and the fans that OU brings to any bowl.
The Big 12 has the following bowl ties in the following order: BCS, Cotton, Holiday, Gator (when it selects a Big 12 team), Alamo, Sun (when the Gator doesn’t take a Big 12 team), Insight, Independence and Texas.
Should OU split with Tech and OSU, they would probably fall to the Gator Bowl. Two losses and the Sooners would most likely play in the Alamo Bowl.
Beating Texas Tech in Lubbock and No. 13 Oklahoma State in Norman is no easy task.
The Red Raiders (6-4, 3-3 Big 12) have posted consecutive wins over the Sooners (6-4, 4-2 Big 12) at home by virtue of a controversial 23-21 win in 2005 and a 34-27 victory in 2007. Oklahoma leads the all-time series 12-4 but the Red Raiders are 3-3 against the Sooners in Lubbock since 1997.
In each of the last two seasons, the two squads have played the spoiler role in each other’s national title hopes. In 2007, Texas Tech posted a 34-27 win over the No. 5 Sooners to take them out of contention for the BCS Championship game. Last season, the Sooners returned the favor as they handed Tech its first loss of the season (65-21) and knocked the Red Raiders out of the national title picture.
Despite losing two of their stars from a year ago in Graham Harrell and Michael Crabtree, the Red Raiders boast the nation’s second-best passing offense (391.10), while ranking sixth in total offense (462.30).
Defensively, Tech is keeping pace with Oklahoma in the sacks department, tied for first in the Big 12 and second nationally with 3.30 per game. Defensive ends Brandon Sharpe and Daniel Howard lead the charge with 10.5 and 7.5 sacks, respectively.
OU demolished Texas A&M Saturday night, 65-10.
“Tonight was about the Oklahoma Sooners,” A&M coach Mike Sherman said after the loss. “There’s enough of a challenge there to begin with and we just didn’t do things very well. I thought we came out moving the football and obviously we fumbled the football real early giving them an easy opportunity. When the game got out of reach and I knew it was a passing game totally, that protection was going to be an issue blocking their guys. They have a heck of a defense in front and a great defense as well. Then that’s when the game started to spiral. We couldn’t get anything going. I don’t think we converted a third down in the second quarter, couldn’t stay on the field. I don’t think we’ve had that many three-and-outs all year long in one football game.”
“Texas A&M came in here leading the league in total offense, or first or second in scoring offense, and really being highly productive,” said OU coach Bob Stoops. “Offensively, we started off a little slow but then got things going. I like the fact that there were no fumbles outside of that early tip ball. Landry (Jones) took care of the football, that is a big factor. We had good balance. We’re able to run the ball effectively and throw it. Some guys came up with some big plays and we haven’t had a ton of those, the big strikes. We had some of those and that was positive. The kicking game was pretty solid too.”
OU’s defense allows just 262.4 yards-per-game (sixth nationally). The OU defense is surrendering an average of just 12.1 ppg and that ranks fifth nationally.
“They are really playing well,” Stoops said of the defense. “Just tackling well, pressuring quarterbacks and playing the run game well. What has been fun is they really have practiced well. They really are kind of clued into and get excited about the preparation and the thought process of it, and where we need to be and the discipline of it. You see them and they are really a smart group. To be where they need to be all the time and not bust something and give up something easy.”
“When you can hold an offense like that, who is No. 1 in every statistical category in the Big 12, to 230 yards that is huge,” said OU linebacker Travis Lewis. “We’ve been pretty consistent all season, that is what I’m most pleased about. We took a tough loss against Nebraska last week but we came and we still prepared the same. The result was what we wanted this time.”
He was glad to see a breakout performance by the offense.
“It was good to see those guys gaining confidence, going into next year and going into the bowl game,” Lewis said. “Just start rolling. It’s good to see those guys making plays.”
The Sooner offense, led by Jones, completed a 62-point turnaround on Saturday against Texas A&M after scoring just three points in a 10-3 loss at Nebraska two weeks ago. Offensively, the Sooners are averaging 33.3 ppg and 435.6 yards of total offense per-game.
Ryan Broyles is the leading receiver for OU with 744 receiving yards on 60 catches and has scored 11 touchdowns. Chris Brown is the leading rusher with 639 yards on 139 carries.
Oklahoma’s four losses on the season are the most by a Sooner team since 2005 when they finished the year at 8-4.