SOONERGUYS Blog

When I was in elementary school my after-school time was spent tossing a football around with neighborhood kids, thinking of Saturday afternoons at a place called Owen Field and fantasizing about one day being a Sooner.

Reality for me struck sometime around sixth grade. But, for a young man named Sam Bradford, those dreams became reality.

The past two seasons we have seen Bradford guide the Oklahoma Sooners to championship games and himself to the Heisman trophy. And, without fail, Bradford has proven that good guys don’t always finish last. He’s demonstrated that success can come fairly and squarely to those whose commitment to good character is ever bit as important as commitment to winning.

I don’t know if Bradford is the best quarterback to ever have played at OU. That’s sort of like saying Mom’s chicken and dumplings were better than her German chocolate cake. Please don’t make me make that choice. I wouldn’t know how to go about it, anyway.

But, there has been no player who has done more to exemplify character, especially when faced with the adversity that the Sooners have faced this year (principally as a result of their star quarterback’s season-ending shoulder injury). He has remained positive, but at the same time, human. At his press conference Monday, he announced he will have surgery this week and go to the NFL next spring. As he began making his remarks a host of fellow teammates filed in behind him to show their support for their leader.

“To make this decision and realize I’ve probably played the last game at Oklahoma….it’s really tough,” Bradford said.

But then, he said he looked forward to the challenge presented by rehabilitation. And the opportunity to prove to all that he will be as good a quarterback as he was before his injury.

There is no melodramatic Tebow here. Sam is just a good guy. Without fail, every Sooner fan knows it and appreciates it.

So, while his injury may have cut Sam short of proving he is the best Sooner quarterback of all time, let’s not ignore the fact that he is the most liked, most popular and most worthy. And he has earned it.

— Mike

Early on Saturday the offense looked like a team without any drive.

But coming out of the locker room at halftime the Sooners completed their best offensive drive of the season.

Former-backup-now-starting QB Landry Jones launched a nine-play 75-yard drive in which he completed six passes – the last for a 9-yard touchdown – and, most surprisingly, found a sure handed receiver who had been the goat of the early season: Adron Tennell.

The Sooners went up 21-6 and never looked back, going on to defeat Kansas 35-13 and dispelling any naysayer notions that the three-loss Oklahoma would fold their tent after last week’s loss to Texas.

And in so doing Offensive Coodinator Kevin Wilson called plays that capitalized on a height mismatch – Tennell’s 6-4 frame against much shorter Kansas secondary men.

Jones had the hot hand. And Wilson called the hot plays, culminating in another impressive scoring drive later in the third quarter. Jones found Senior RB Chris Brown for an 8-yard touchdown and the Sooners went up 28-6.

And, this game was over.

Tennell finished the game with six catches for 47 yards. But this is what the coaches had expected of Tennell all year long.

“It’s been pleasing to see him make some plays that we’ve known he is capable of making,” Coach Bob Stoops said after the game. “It’s exciting to see him do that today and make some big plays for us.”

It helped that Ryan Broyles had another great game. His 11 catches for 121 yards placed the Norman High grad firmly among the ranks of recent Sooner receiver greats like Mark Clayton.

And, it helped that the Sooner defense has developed into a championship calibre unit.

Oklahoma is now 4-3. Although it seemed unlikely the Sooners would have any chance to play in the Big 12 Championship this season – after the Red River Rivalry game – stranger things have happened. Like, for instance, Texas A&M defeating Texas Tech 52-30 in Lubbuck. Or, lowly Iowa State beating Nebraska 9-7 in Lincoln.

Meanwhile, Oklahoma just needs to take care of its own business.

“We just need to be making improvement,” Stoops said. “Keep chopping wood and getting better. And I thought we did. It was a huge game. Our back was against the wall.”

– Mike

For the benefit of Soonerguys outside the TV coverage region, here’s our live game comments, watching the Sooners play on ABC regional up in Lawrence: (Recent posts at the top — hit refresh to see latest)

FINAL SCORE

OKLAHOMA 35  KANSAS 13

4th Quarter

8:36  OK, we’re outta here!

10:57  Celebration time!

Oklahoma 35  Kansas 6 

11:41  Brown runs to the KU 22.  Trent Williams hurt, but stays in the game. Brown runs to the end zone for score!  Eldridge great block, with a push from Brown. Ha!  Boomer! Way PAT.   I actually heard one of the OKC sports talk radio guys saying this morning he expected OU to fall flat and get blown out by Kansas today (what a loser he is). I knew that wasn’t going to happen, but expected it might be a close Oklahoma win.  At least there is one guy who is more of an idiot than me.

13:07  On 3rd and 17. Sooners backed up. Not a good possession for Sooners? Jones passes middle screen to Broyles who breaks it to Kansas 45!  Wow.  Broyles has placed himself squarely in the Mark Clayton Club at OU.  What the O-line has really done nicely in this game is they’ve avoided penalties.

14:10  Ed Cunningham at ABC/ESPN: “I think really, as i look across Bob Stoops era, i’m not sure this defense isn’t playing the best of any group they’ve had there.”  Yeah, I agree.  And it’s a good thing too, considering how our offense sputters.

14:54  Kansas on 3rd and 10 from OU 31.  Reesing gets sacked again back at the 40 by Austin English!  3rd sack for OU.  And this was from OU just rushing 4 down linemen.  Punt time again — into the end zone. Touchback.   Sooners to start from their 20.

15:00 Gerald: Our defense is doing pretty well. Keeping us in this game.

3rd Quarter

Oklahoma 28  Kansas 6 

The stadium clock broke.  3rd quarter ends. 

2:05 Another pass to Tennell.  Tennell has now official shucked any “pass dropping” affliction he had at the beginning of the season.  Sooners held on 3rd down. Punt.

2:47  This KU possession can be a turning point in the game.   On 3rd down 6 from KU 40, Reesing throws the ball out of bounds.  Defense holds (again).  Right now Oklahoma has this game under control.

3:40  Oklahoma sets up on own 20.  Slant pass on 3rd down incomplete to Caleb. Caleb just isn’t catching anything and it really hampers this offense.  Oklahoma has to punt.

5:58  KU gets help from penalty to the KU 47.  Reesing tries the draw, but gets nowhere.  McCoy smothers him.  KU puts Pick in at QB for one play. Hmmmm. Not sure what that was about.  Jayhawksk punt to OU 20.

ABC Commentator: “It’s hard to argue that this (Oklahoma) isn’t the best group (defense) in the country” 

Oklahoma 28 Kansas 6 

6:55 Brown run sets up Sooner first and goal from KU 9. What do we run now? (we’ve had trouble in the red zone all year).  From shotgun Jones hits pass in flat to Brown for TD, but flag is down.  Off sides defense! Touchdown Oklahoma!  Phew!  OK, this entire series was excellent play calling by Wilson and excellent execution by Landry Jones, receivers and the O-line giving good protection. About the best drive of the year. 

7:53  Tennell gets interfered with again on deep sideline pass attempt.  This is a great call by Kevin Wilson to go to Tennell here.  Jones has a hot hand now.  OU at KU 19.  Brown runs to the 10.  Nice misdirection run here.  Good play calling.  Jones hit last 6 passes in a row.

8:10 GREAT pass and catch to Broyles to KU 33! 

8:24  Sooners back on offense from own 29.  Start out with nice sideline pass to Brandon Caleb to 43.  Next play is short pass to Dejuan Miller (need more passes to him). 

9:50 Jeremy Beal tips Reesing pass.  Good pass rush on 2nd down and good coverage deep by Brian Jackson to deflect Reesing pass on 2nd down.  On 3rd down Reesing completes, but Jackson holds receiver short of first down. KU punts.  Stoops gives big praise to Jackson to halting KU drive. 

11:29 KU starts at their own 20. Let’s see if the defense can continue their intensity in the second half.   On first play KU throws sideline pass for 9.  KU running a hurry up offense and McCoy drops KU runner for loss. On 3rd down, Reesing runs option pitch and barely gets first down.

Oklahoma 21 Kansas 6 

11:29  Slant pass from Jones to Tennell for OU Touchdown!  Kevin Wilson sees the height advantage Tennell has on the KU corner.  Way hits PAT.  Very nice offensive production to start the second half — thanks to some Kansas errors. 

12:14  Nice pass to Tennell and the Sooners get a first. The offense is moving the ball to the Ku 10.   Then run the ball with Brown to the 8.  Hurry offense! 

12:41  KU flagged for roughing the passer.  Is everyone trying to knock out all the OU quarterbacks? 

13:26  Jones throws incomplete deep and Tennell is interfered with — obviously.  Oklahoma set up on KU 43.  Then Jones sacked on zone read play.

14:14  Oklahoma starts the half with the ball. 3rd down and 1 at 35.  And Sooners get first penalty. Ouch.  Try again. 3rd down and 6.  And Caleb catches the pass and gets the first down!

15:00   Sooners didn’t have a penalty in the first half!  Amazing. But also only converted one third down in the first half. Not so good.  Sooners have only 28 yards rushing in the half.  Both defenses have kept their respective teams in this game.

Oklahoma 14  Kansas 6   END OF HALF

2nd Quarter

:02  4th down.  KU set up for 57 yard field goal.  With wind.  It’s good!  Well, that worked out for KU, but this whole first half has just been ugly by both teams (with exception of Sooner defense).

:21  KU runs shoft shuffle pass.  Jayhawk fans start booing. Oh, boy. Nobody is too happy about this game.  Then Kansas calls timeout with :02 left.  Poor clock management by the Jayhawks.  Good pass rush by the Sooner D. 

1:02  The D sacks Reesing back to the 48.  Ryan Reynolds.  Clock is running.  Not sure why Kansas is letting clock run.   

1:07  Jones on third down throws deep (wha!), hits an open Kinney in the hands.  Tips the ball up and intercepted by Kansas. OK, why did we run the football if the plan was to run the clock?  Then throw the football. And why does a wide open Kinney not catch a perfectly thrown ball? 

1:15  Brown runs the ball – but he runs out of bounds!  Wha!  That kinda defeats the purpose of running. 

2:03  Sooners start at their own 20.  Would be nice guys to score some points (finally).  Draw play loses yardage.  Looks like coaches are content to run the clock.  Maybe not a bad idea in this game.

Mike L: Put Jeremy Beal on the injured player pile. 

Oklahoma 14 Kansas 3

2:55 Timeout Sooners.   On 4th down at OU 23, KU lines up for field goal.  Makes 39 yard attempt.  Sooners are lucky to just give up 3 points after that turnover.  Beal limps off the field.

3:51  Tres Way fumbles the good punt snap and is drilled.  He must have thought he was an OU receiver and dropped the ball. Turnover gives KU chance to get back into game right before half.  Four miscues in this series in a row.  Way had the same sort of butter fingers that Caleb and Kinney seem to have. Does anyone besides Broyles (and Dom Franks) catch a ball for OU?

4:03   On 3rd down a short screen pass falls incomplete. Offense troubles continue.  Three miscues in a row. Mostly receiver problems are killing the OU offense. 

4:40  Sooners start on own 18.  Here, we have to get some offense going.  Two quick passes for first down to 33.  Nice pass to Caleb, who drops it (yeah, I said that — he dropped it).  On next play receiver fell down and Jones has to throw the ball away. So, here we are in a 3rd and long again. 

Hunter just sent message.  His fall ball baseball team won first game of state tournament.  He went 2 for 2.  It’s Steak N Shake time in Edmond right now.  Next game at 4:30.

4:40    Adrian Taylor sacks Reesing back to KU 39!  Good pressure.  Good coverage downfield.  On next play, good pass rush again and Reesing throws errant pass.  KU must punt. This was an important series for the D — to keep Kansas from getting back into this game.

7:50 KU will get the chance to score before the half and maybe get some momentum. So far the OU defense has played well. Offense not so much. 

9:10 Sooners sputter running the ball (their bug a boo). Third down pass is short of the first down. Must punt.  This is the sort of problem the offense has had.  Can’t sustain a drive because unable to run the football.  Short punt to KU 36.  Jones is 10 of 15 for only 67 yards passing.

10:41 Sooners get out from shadow of own field goal. Nice pass to Broyles to 15; then another pass to Broyles to the 29.  Sooners need a good drive here — run some clock and get some points.

10:56  KU driving down the field.  Jayhawk crowd out of the game, but their team is moving the ball. On 3rd and five on OU 32, Reesing throws ball out of bounds.    KU, strangely punts rather than kicks field goal. Ball is downed inside 5, so that will back Oklahoma up.  Still, an interesting “field position” call by Mangino.  Not sure I’d agree with it. But time will tell.

Oklahoma 14 Kansas 0

13:41  Dom Franks gets pick for touchdown — he read that play from the get go.  This is the play that we almost had against Texas (twice).  Really nice to see the D finally get one.  We could have used that last week.  Sooner D now has three interceptions — with points off of two of them. Sooners go up:  14-0.

14:48 Reesing gets first down. He is clearly KU’s biggest threat — his running.  Most effective running QB Oklahoma has seen this year.

15:00  KU has had one really good play — the shuffle pass. Otherwise the OU defense has done well. But now the Jayhawks are in the red zone.  We will see if Mangino pulls some trickery to score here.  KU had to call timeout coming out of the quarter break because OU defense was jumping around and play clock winding down.

1st Quarter

1:16  KU shuffle pass gets 56 yards.  Jayhawks threaten.  Poor tackling by OU.  End of Quarter.

1:30  Sooner offense blahhh… Jones overthrowing passes.  This may turn into a defensive game.  Punt back to KU.

2:45  Jayhawks forced to punt. Good defensive stand by Sooners.  Sooners receive punt at own 25.

3:49  KU first and 10 on own 30.  Gerald McCoy drops KU runner for loss of 3.  Awesome play there.

5:05  Nice pass by Jones, but Kinney drops the pass.  Imagine that. A Sooner receiver dropping a pass.  OU punts.

Mike L:  Wow, that was lucky.

5:32 Well, offensive line miscues let pass rusher cause Jones fumble. Fortuantely, KU defender was offsides.  Sooners keep the ball.

6:22  Intercepted by Jeremy Beal!  Adrian Taylor tipped the pass.  Fantastic.   The KU quarterback until then was being effective scrambling.

7:09  Goodness. Nebraska lost to Iowa State. That doesn’t help Oklahoma that much, although maybe it doesn’t matter.  Shows the weaknesses of any team that has eight turnovers. 

Oklahoma 7 Kansas 0

12:50 Touchdown Sooners! Jones QB keeper. VideoTouchdown review calls back TD, but it’s a first down.ow. A QB keeper? Cool. Sooners to the 11.

11:54 Another keeper. Short by les than a foot. A most unimaginative calling of plays.

 11:15 4^th and goal. Off left gtackle. Clapp lead blocker Brown scores TD! That was close. Tres Way kicks PAT, instead of Stevens.

Mike L : That’s a good start!

14:55 on first play, quinton carter intercepts! Good read by Carter. Sets up OU with short field on KU 47.

Kickoff. Nice day in Lawrence, it looks like.

Gerald:  Sooner!

Boomer!

 The stage hands worked all day Monday and Tuesday breaking down the enormous “Mother Ship” stage that U2 had utilized in their concert on Owen Field on Sunday night. By Wednesday the old field turf, which had been smothered by aluminum flooring for the concert, was ripped up and only a barren expanse of central Oklahoma red dirt was left (see live webcam on www.soonerguys.com).

Such is this season of Oklahoma football.

The hopes of a national championship are gone like the semi tractor trailers that hauled off the steel structure this week. And, the hopes for building a Big 12 championship are in jeopardy. This has been a Vertigo season for Oklahoma.

And yes, on the day after Texas eked out a 16-13 win over Oklahoma, it did seem like a Sunday, Bloody Sunday.

Indeed the Sooner defense played like the best of Mike Stoops’ teams.

 But the offense on Saturday seemed very Stuck in the Moment, unable to get points when needed. Much like the rest of the season thus far. The Sooners have now lost its three games by a combined total five points. In other words Oklahoma is six points away from being undefeated and likely ranked No. 3 in the country. The Sooners Still Haven’t Found What (they’re) Looking For on offense.

But, there is a lot of work to be done. This is not a Moment for Surrender.

The new turf that will be laid this week will mark the beginning of a new season, or new group of seasons for the Sooners. It certainly is time for Oklahoma fans to Get On Your Boots.

Sam Bradford may well announce tonight that his days in an Oklahoma uniform are over. The Sooners have to fight on, with or without Sam Bradford. With or without a consistent offensive line. With or Without any hope for championships this season.

With or Without You.

Saturday may have been the first time since Oklahoma began playing Texas 109 years ago that the Sooners football team did not look ahead to playing next week’s opponent.

All Oklahoma was concerned about was getting back a healthy Sam Bradford at quarterback, shirking last week’s Miami loss, and yes, defeating a more athletic Baylor Bears than we usually expect.

The Sooners did all that in their 33-7 win.

But, now there is indeed No. 2 Texas coming up in Dallas.

We will be heading down I-35 on Friday. But most of us Sooner fans have already made the trip in our head. We are wondering where these 3-2 Sooners stack up against Colt McCoy’s seemingly unstoppable passing pipeline to Jordan Shipley. And then there is that stout Texas defense.

The pessimists say there is no chance Oklahoma will win this game. The optimists are expecting a Sooner victory because, well, it’s the Sooners.

But as we know, sometimes the favorite doesn’t win the Red River Rivalry (or Shootout, or whatever you want to call the border war in the Cotton Bowl). There have been 15 upsets in this game since World War II. That’s almost one out of every 4 games. The last one was last year, when No. 8 Texas defeated No. 1 Oklahoma 45-35.

The key to stop Longhorn fan chest beating will be the ability of OU’s linebackers to slow down that middle-of-the-field passing game that McCoy found so successful last year. MLB Ryan Reynolds is back to fill that gap, but he’s a step slower than before his injury in last year’s game. Also key will be the ability of Oklahoma’s offensive line to protect Bradford. Give Sam the time and he will throw enough passes (48 against Baylor) to almost force the butter-handed receivers to catch enough to score.

Oklahoma’s defense is No. 3 in the country, giving up just six touchdowns in five games. Individually, DE Jeremy Beal is No. 3 in sacks in the country, with six. Oklahoma’s rushing defense is No. 3, giving up only 49 yards per game. But, Texas has the No. 1 rushing defense in the country, allowing only 46 yards per game.

Like last year this game may be decided on a kicking game error (or great play, depending for whom you cheer). OU’s Dominick Frank has had an outstanding year returning punts. But, Texas has too – with three punt returns for touchdowns, including against Colorado on Saturday.

This was thought to be a challenging but promising year for Oklahoma. Instead it’s turned into a rough season, with the potential for disaster. The Sooners can begin salvaging the season with a win in Dallas and a promise of a Big 12 Championship in December. On Saturday night we will know whether this team has the fortitude to do just that.

— Mike

It wasn’t Jacory Harris’ acumen at Miami quarterback that did Oklahoma in. Nor was it the injury to star receiver Ryan Broyles (left shoulder injury). Or any coach’s play calling. Or bad officiating.

It was a suspect offensive line that many sports pundits said going into this season would be the Sooner’s achilles heal which sealed Oklahoma’s fate in their narrow 21-20 loss to the Hurricane in Miami on Saturday night.

On repeated occasions the right side of the Oklahoma offensive line gave up pass rushes, blitzes and committed holding penalties (a holding penalty means the offensive lineman is getting whipped, and he has no option left but to grab and hold).

The key play came came on the second play of the second half, when the right side of Oklahoma’s offensive line let Miami cornerback Brandon Harris to reach QB Landry Jones untouched and knock the ball from his hands before he could get a pass away. Hurricane defensiveman Joe Joseph recovered. Miami then scored on an 11-yard pass play, taking the lead at 14-10, and the game took a decidedly pro-Miami shift from which OU never recovered.

Unlike most of the last 10 years, the Sooners are playing with a notably no-name offensive line this year. Whether anyone can step up to make the big plays on offense will be seen as the Sooners go into conference play this week against Baylor.

The loss ended any hopes of a repeat to the BCS Championship game. But, the Sooners can still salvage a good season with a Big 12 Championship.

“Win out, that’s all we can do,” summed up DT Gerald McCoy.