SOONERGUYS Blog

I had never seen a football game where there were no huddles. Well, until Saturday.  The Sooners did not need any as they sliced and diced a Cincinnati Bearcat team that was hoping to gain some big time respectability when they arrived in Norman.  The Big East team left Saturday night beat up and broken — including losing their starting QB Dustin Grutza to a fractured fibula.

Sam Bradford’s 395-yard passing performance would be the talk of the day, except that such games are expected of him.  So, the talk of Campus Corner is about a local fellow who until today made the police news in the local paper more than the sports section — one Master Ryan Broyles.  Broyles sat out last year as punishment for taking gasoline from a service station without paying and missed last week’s game for undisclosed reasons.  But none of that kept the former Norman High star from playing like a college super star against a stingy Cincinnati secondary that lead the nation in interceptions last year.

Broyles set a school record 141 yards for a newcomer receiver. His day began on Oklahoma’s opening drive, grabbing a Bradford pass and streaking down the boundary for 31 yards. Then Bradford hit Broyles for 27 yards more for a touchdown.  He later made a leaping catch to complete a 43 yard pass play to ignite the Sooner offense.

Oklahoma’s defense had some busted coverages. But the front seven was stout.  Jeremy Beal and Travis Wilson were in on almost every play.  The Cincinnati spread offense managed only two earned touchdowns all day until the last two seconds of the game.  More serious for Oklahoma coaches is to figure out how kick off coverage collapsed on Saturday, alowing Cincinnati to return a kick for a TD.

My grades for the game: OU Offense: A-   Defense B-  Special Teams: D-

Next Up:  Washington.  I would have thought this game would be a snoozer until Wash U. came an extra point away from forcing overtime against BYU on Saturday, thanks in large part to a Pac-10 official’s decision to flag the UW QB for a TD celebration.  We are sure that conference officials will know who the conference visitors are next week in Seattle.  — Mike

Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson is an old Ohio guy himself, so he thinks he knows a thing or two about OU’s next opponent.  He coached against the Bearcats while offensive coordinator at Miami of Ohio for seven years, until 1998.

But this Cincinnati defense is not the team of former UC Coach Mark Dantonio.  Cincinnati, which rolled over Eastern Kentucky 40-7 on Thursday, is the team which lost to West Virginia 28-23 last year, playing better against the Mountaineers than Oklahoma did in the Fiesta Bowl.  They led the country with 26 interceptions a year ago. That should prove a good test for QB Sam Bradford, who lead the country in pass efficiency last year — mostly because of his carefulness in avoiding interceptions.

But if there is a weakness to UC’s defense it may be in the running game. West Virginia amassed 295 of their 435 total yards against Cincinnati last year on the ground.  Then again, Oklahoma’s defense gave up 349 yards to Pat White and friends in the Fiesta Bowl.  So, that may be no reflection of defenses at all.

The Oklahoma offense vs. Cincinnati defense may be a wash. Where Oklahoma should hope to capitalize is when the Sooner defense goes against UC’s offense.  Some Bearcat fans have been wary of their new quarterback Dustin Grutza (he complete 21 of 28 passes for 298 yards and three touchdowns against Eastern Kentucky), who stepped into the vacancy left by Ben Mauk, who was out suing people to gain another year of eligibility (a losing cause, apparently).  His inexperience could lead Brent Venables to call on Austin English and Jeremy Beal to put some heat on the new QB.

Cincinnati is not ranked. But they received enough votes to place them No. 31 in the AP Poll.

-Mike