OU will play spoiler role
Will 2009 mark the turning point when Oklahoma State becomes the dominant college football program in the state?
That suggestion would seem preposterous at the start of the 2009 season but the downward slide of the Oklahoma Sooners lends weight to that theory.
It will be tested Saturday when the No. 121Cowboys invade Norman to play the Sooners, who were embarrassed by Texas Tech Saturday, 41-13.
Oklahoma is 1-5 on the road but undefeated at home. The loss at Lubbock is the third worst in the tenure of Bob Stoops. OU lost to USC 55-19 in the 2005 national championship game. During that game, OU players told USC players they just wanted to get that game over. In October of 2005, the Sooners lost to Texas 45-12.
Some say injuries are the reason OU is on the verge of a 6-6 record (with a loss to OSU) and a possible losing season with a bowl loss (on the road).
First, OU lost All-American tight end Jermaine Gresham before the season began with knee surgery. Then Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Sam Bradford went down in the BYU game (a loss) and then had surgery after playing briefly in the Texas game (a loss).
Offensive linemen Brody Eldridge and Jarvis Jones and defensive lineman Auston English will miss the rest of the season because of injuries.
For the OSU game, OU lost starting center Ben Habern (a second teamer) and probably linebacker Ryan Reynolds and defensive tackle Adrian Taylor, both with leg injuries.
Claremore walkon Brian Lepak played center to end the Tech game.
Some say the problem is coaching, that when it became apparent that OU wouldn’t compete for a national title or a Big 12 Championship, the players and coaches let down.
Even Stoops admitted that his player didn’t seem to play hard against the Red Raiders.
“I think it’s the first time all season that our defense has looked that way,” Stoops said. “I don’t think it’s fair to say that they gave up. They weren’t as sharp as they have been all year.”
What was the problem?
“I don’t know if we came apart or not,” said defensive end Jeremy Beal. “I guess we didn’t have the focus. A lot of credit (goes) to them. I guess we didn’t come prepared to play the game.
“When the defense has been playing so well throughout the whole year, it’s disappointing to come in here and have a performance like this. It’s always disappointing.”
For the first time in memory, OU will play the spoiler in the Bedlam game. OSU has a shot at a BCS bowl if Texas goes undefeated and if the Pokes beat OU.
Oklahoma lost a shot at the Cotton Bowl - the most prestigious of the non-BCS bowls - and the best the Sooners can do with a win over OSU would be the Gator Bowl. A loss would mean a 6-6 record and probably the Alamo 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.
The excuse of playing freshman quarterback Landry Jones (to replace Bradford) is a little thin since Landry has started nine games and is a redshirt freshman.
Stoops said the road problems can’t be laid at Jones’ feet.
” I think you’re isolating one guy and I don’t know think that’s fair,” Stoops said. “It’s fair to offensively say that that’s the case and your quarterback is a part of that but receivers dropping balls doesn’t help. Their supporting cast has to be there as well and we haven’t been good away from home.”
“I think it’s something that has to do with intensity,” Jones said. “Going on the road, you just can’t expect something to happen; you’ve got to make it happen. You have to create your own energy and stuff like that we’ve been kind of talking about in practice, and that’s what we were hoping to do today. We just didn’t get it done. We didn’t execute the plays we needed to. I didn’t play very good, and obviously I need to play better for us to win.”
Jones played better in the second half against Tech (he threw a touchdown pass to Ryan Broyles) but it wasn’t enough.
“I think we did a good job, and Ryan (Broyles) did a good job getting vertical on those guys,” Jones said of the second half. “The offensive line gave me time all game. It was good to see us do that, but we came up short, and we can’t play this way if you are expected to win on the road.”
“I am really at a loss for words,” Broyles said. “We really just got outplayed more than anything. It’s been a long season. We’ve still got another game left, and we are going to prepare for that one.”
Broyles ended the day with seven receptions for 117 yards to give the sophomore 67 receptions on the season. The total is the fourth most by a Sooner receiver in a single season. Mark Clayton (2003) holds the record with 83 receptions.
Saturday’s game was seventh game this season and fifth straight that Broyles had at least seven receptions in the game. Broyles entered Saturday with three consecutive games with eight receptions.
Broyles’ 117 receiving yards marked his fourth 100+ reception yardage game this season.
Broyles’ fourth-quarter touchdown reception was the 17th of his career. His 12 receiving touchdowns this season put him in third place on the Oklahoma single season list.
Jonathan Nelson picked off his second pass in as many games with his first quarter interception of Taylor Potts. Nelson’s first career pick came last week in Oklahoma’s win over Texas A&M.
Nelson also recorded his first career start Saturday. The junior ended the day with 11 tackles, a career high.
Walk-on kicker Patrick O’Hara got his first career start Saturday and responded with field goals of 47 and 22 yards. The 47-yard kick marked the longest field goal by a Sooner since Garrett Hartley converted a 53-yard attempt in the third game of the 2007 season, a Sept. 15 win over Utah State.
Jaz Reynolds fourth quarter 57-yard reception is the longest of the freshman’s career, topping his previous long of 44 last week against Texas A&M. The yards from the catch also marked a career high for receiving yards in a game for Reynolds.
With 11 carries Saturday, Chris Brown now has 595 career rushing attempts, putting the senior at No. 6 on the OU all-time list. Kejuan Jones is fifth with 605 career attempts.
With one tackle for loss last Saturday, Gerald McCoy has recorded 52 percent of his 28 season tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
McCoy made his 38th consecutive start against Texas Tech, breaking the record for longest string of starts by a defensive interior lineman at Oklahoma. Scott Evans (1987-1990) had the old record at 37.
Travis Lewis ended the day with 13 tackles, his 11th double-digit tackle game of his career and his fifth of the season. Lewis has been the team’s leading tackler in 7 of the 11 games.