OU football: Answering questions from a quasi-admirer
I got a letter the other — no kidding, a letter, an old-fashioned, came-in-an-envelope, written-in-long-hand letter — from Aaron Isaacs of Konawa. He had a lot of questions about OU football.
But his introduction was so good, I thought I’d share the whole thing with you.
“Dear Berry Tramel, you can be very overbearing, dogmatic, stubborn and non-compromising in your reporting. You are very cocky and can really rub people the wrong way! However, I consider you the most accurate and truthful report on the Oklahoman’s staff, not to mention your intelligence. I have the upmost respect for your Christian faith, honesty and integrity.
“Therefore, I believe you will give me totally honest and informative answers to the following questions…”
Let me stop for a minute. The guy didn’t exactly have me at hello. Dogmatic? Overbearing? Cocky? What happened? Konawa’s charm school close?
Anyway, the guy started growing on me, so I thought I would answer his questions.
1. Why do members of the OU staff continue to sing the praises of DeMarco Murray?
I say because he deserves. Murray is not the explosive player he once was, and I don’t know if that’s physical, mental or just a lack opening because of poor line play. But I love the way Murray runs inside. I can’t remember a guy who showed up as an electric, home run-hitting, perimeter threat and finished up as a guy who gets the tough yards inside. Murray’s touchdown against Cincinnati was a beauty; Murray gutted out a TD by fighting for a yard, then extending the ball in a safe and secure way. I think Murray is a better NFL prospect now than he was before his injuries.
2. What percentage of Bob Stoops teams outplay and beat an equally talented opponent in the second half?
Good question. I don’t know how to answer that, other than to look at second-half results. OU didn’t really get snookered last year in the second half. In 2008, the Sooners didn’t trail to either Texas or Florida, the two teams that beat them. In 2007, Colorado came from behind. But West Virginia and Tech waxed the Sooners from the outset. 2006, OU led Texas 10-7 at halftime, then lost, and OU lost a big lead late at Oregon, but you know what happened. And OU lost to Boise State, but the Broncos kicked OU early. I don’t see a big trend.
3. Why does Stoops insist on recruiting a prototypical pocket-passing quarterback? Why can’t a program that is a perennial top 10 program recruit an athletic, dual-threat QB who can take pressure of the tailback?
He doesn’t. In fact, both Blake Bell, the 2010 freshman, and Kendal Thompson, the 2011 freshman, are mobile QBs. It looks like OU is slowly moving toward a quarterback who can run.
4. Why do OU tailbacks never get gaping holes opened for them like other teams open against OU?
If you’re talking about this season, great question. I didn’t see Air Force with a lot of gaping holes — some guys got open on the option — but I saw Cincinnati find some, mostly on the perimeter. And OU can’t seem to produce the same. I say the reason is this. 1. Scheming by the opposing offenses. 2. Lack of potent blocking by the OU O-line.
5. Why do we never run a quick blast to the fullback?
Because quick blasts to the fullback in OU’s kind of offense will make three yards if they work extremely well. So if you’re only going to make three yards, why not just give the ball to Murray or Chris Brown, who are good for thee yards?
6. Why do our receivers excluding Ryan Broyles have such a difficult time getting open?
Because OU recruited inferior receivers. Absolutely no doubt about it. Now, Kenny Stills and maybe DeJuan Miller are exceptions. But OU the last two years has had mediocre receivers. Recruiting mistakes.
7. Why don’t we have our tight ends running some of the pass routes that Jermaine Gresham ran?
Easiest question of the night. Because OU doesn’t have any more Jermaine Greshams. And neither does anyone else. Have you seen Gresham with the Bengals? They are flanking him out. You’re talking about an NFL tight end, so good he can split out, and you want OU to do the same things now they did with him?
8. Whatever happened to the Utah pass that Quentin Griffin and Renaldo Works had so much success with?
Great question. I love the shovel pass. I don’t know why it hasn’t been used in recent years. Remember the old Yogi Berra line, “that restaurant is so crowded, nobody goes there anymore”? Same with the Utah pass. That play is so successful, nobody uses it anymore.
9. Why do we never run misdirection packages like Adrian Peterson had success with against Texas?
Maybe because Adrian Peterson now plays in purple. Heck, I don’t know. Maybe misdirection would work. Maybe OU is using some misdirection but we can’t tell because it’s not Peterson running it. Maybe we’ve found a trend. When Gresham and Peterson use a certain type of attack, it tends to work.
Wichita State plane crash: 40-year anniversary
It’s been 40 years. Forty years since the gold plane crashed into the Colorado Rockies. Most people have forgotten. But Rusty Featherstone hasn’t forgotten. And he wants everyone to remember.
Especially the four Oklahomans killed.
Saturday is the 40-year anniversary of the Wichita State football plane crash that killed 31 people, including 14 players and head coach Ben Wilson. The Shockers were traveling in two planes; Featherstone, then an offensive lineman from Edmond and now a retired Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent, was on the black plane that landed safely in Logan, Utah.
Featherstone is headed to Wichita, Kan., for a memorial reunion Friday and Saturday. The memorial reunion is expected to include survivors, teammates, friends and family members from all across the country.
The victims of the crash have been remembered on campus each year beginning in 1971, but this year is expected to be the largest number of returning players, coaches, family members and friends. And Featherstone wants everyone in Oklahoma to remember the four Oklahomans killed in that crash.
* Donnie Christian, 20, a junior defensive back from Duncan;
* Randy Kiesau, 20, a junior defensive back from Clinton;
* Tom Shedden, 20, a junior offensive lineman from Putnam City;
* John Duren, 19, a sophomore wide receiver from John Marshall.
That week, Featherstone had replaced Shedden in the starting lineup. The starters traditionally rode the gold airplane on road trips. For whatever reason, Featherstone’s seat assignment remained on the black plane. The planes landed in Denver for refueling before taking off again. The black plane made it to Utah. The gold plane went into a Colorado canyon, near the Eisenhower Tunnel 45 miles west of Denver, and never came out.
“That was always a hard pill to swallow,” Featherstone said. “For whatever reason, the Good Lord wasn’t ready to take me and He was ready to take me. I can certainly understand why. Everyone of those guys were unique, good guys. Outstanding young men.”
Duren and Featherstone were junior high pals in Oklahoma City; Featherstone attended John Marshall through his sophomore year, before moving to Edmond.
The memories came back flooding back to Featherstone this week. He was sitting near the front of the black plane when he realized something was amiss. Muffled voices around the cockpit. A flight attendant who came back and whispered to offensive coordinator Bob Seaman. The grave look on Seaman’s face.
When the plane landed, Seaman said he had to go retrieve a message, but the players noticed all the activity around the small airport. A couple of ambulances. Police presence. Media forming. And most of all, no sign of the gold plane that had taken off first.
“Everybody knew something tragic had happened,” Featherstone said.
Seaman returned and delivered the news. The gold plane had crashed, but there were conflicting reports about survivors. Perhaps some were still alive.
The Shockers were taken to a motel, where the players tried to contact their families, a difficult task for the phone system of Logan, Utah.
Then came word that there were nine survivors; eight players and a co-pilot. The WSU coaches read off the list of survivors. Then the players began mentally listing the others they knew were on the plane. “People kept thinking of one more name,” Featherstone said. “Just a tough, tough time.”
The team walked to a nearby church for a prayer service. They walked back to the motel and were told they would be leaving at 3 a.m. for a bus trip to Salt Lake City and a commercial flight back to Wichita. Doctors were provided for anyone needing sleep medication to try and get some rest.
Featherstone knows of no one who actually slept. Sometime in the night, a throng of people showed up outside the meeting room where the Shockers congregated. It was the Utah State football players, cheerleaders, coaches, wives and girlfriends. They had made sack lunches for the Shockers.
Forty years later, Featherstone still marvels at the brotherhood of athletics. “Big ol’ guys standing in a parking lot, who in a few hours were supposed to be outdoing the other guy,” Featherstone said. “Guys who didn’t know what to say, but we knew what they were trying to say.
“Before anyone could talk, we all started hugging each other, tears running down our cheek.”
The classy acts of Utah State continue. Utah State’s coach from 1970, Chuck Mills, is flying in from Hawaii for the memorial reunion this weekend. Also scheduled to attend is Tony Adams, a Utah State quarterback on that team who played in the NFL.
The next afternoon, while the Shockers were hesitantly flying back to Wichita, the Utah State Aggies walked onto their home field and placed a black and gold wreath at the 50-yard line.
The NCAA quickly acted and announced that if Wichita State chose to continue the season, its freshmen would be eligible (freshmen were not eligible for the varsity in those days). The Shockers voted secret ballot, and only one player voted not to continue. Featherstone said that two years later, at a team banquet, that lone dissentor revealed himself and apologized, saying it was the biggest mistake he had ever made.
On Oct. 24, 22 days after the crash, Wichita State played a football game. The Shockers played mighty Arkansas in Little Rock. The Shockers received a pile of telegrams wishing them well, including a dispatch from President Nixon.
When the Shockers ran onto War Memorial Stadium, two of their captains were on crutches, survivors of the crash. They received a standing ovation, and when WSU made its first first down, the ovation returned.
Wichita State’s goal that day was to score. To put points on the board in honor of fallen teammates. It didn’t happen. Arkansas won 62-0. “All we wanted was to get some points on the board in memory of our buddies,” Featherstone said. “But their first-string defense, they realized we didn’t want pity, we came to play.
“When the game was over, we were pretty dejected.”
The Shockers walked off the field to another ovation. Then the ovation got louder, and the Shockers turned to see why. The entire Razorback team, led by coach Frank Broyles, jogged toward the Shockers and offered handshakes and hugs.
“Very, very emotional experience,” Featherstone said. “Anybody that was there will tell you, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”
A few weeks later, the Marshall University football plane crashed, killing everyone on board, and Wichita State’s tragedy began slipping into history. A movie was made about Marshall “We Are Marshall,” not Wichita State. Marshall has gone on to football success; Wichita State dropped its program in the 1980s.
But not everyone has forgotten the 1970 Shockers, both those who survived and those who did not.
“I want people to remember the whole team,” Featherstone said. “But especially the guys from Oklahoma, who didn’t deserve to die on a mountain going to play a football game.”
OU football: Jaz Reynolds & beware Twitter
By now you’ve heard of OU flanker Jaz Reynolds’ incredibly stupid comments on Twitter, telling Austin, Texas, in the wake of the gunman on the University of Texas campus, to “kill yourself” and “y’all will mess around n do it lmao.” Lmao is lingo for “laughing my ass off.”
But before you think that the world has gone crazy and nobody is getting any home training anymore, applaud the swift action of Bob Stoops, who suspended Reynolds from the Sooner squad with a strongly-worded statement.
“Because of his insensitive remarks on Twitter relative to Tuesday’s tragedy in Austin, we have suspended Jaz Reynolds from our team indefinitely. Our rivalry with Texas will not come at the expense of dignity and respect. We have great concern for what happened in Austin and I am incredibly disappointed that someone connected with our team would react so callously. We have taken immediate action and I hope by doing so have illustrated how seriously we view this matter.”
Yes indeed. But again, sports has an example of how athletes have no idea how powerful a tool is social networking. Guys who would give one canned quote after another to media will then get on a smart phone and tweet the most vile or goofy things, without regard to ramifications.
Some people truly don’t understand the Internet’s reach. Truly don’t understand that nothing floats into oblivion anymore. That something written or said digitally travels at warp speed and will be spotlighted.
That’s a truth that maybe not even Stoops realized two years ago, when he was hesitant to boot Josh Jarboe from the squad after Jarboe’s obscenity-laced rap about women and shooting people was placed on YouTube. Jarboe had arrived at OU after being charged with taking a gun onto his high school campus. He pled down to a misdemeanor in that case, and Stoops honored his scholarship. Stoops at first said he didn’t think he could dismiss Jarboe for the video, then 24 hours announced that Jarboe indeed would not be welcome at OU.
This time, there was no hesitation.
And it’s likely that there will be no hesitation in stricter rules for OU athletes concerning Facebook and Twitter. It takes only one knucklehead to poison the entire barrel, but poison it they do.
OU employs eight full-time compliance people in its athletic department, a staff whose job is to make sure Sooner athletes stay within NCAA rules, and a large part of that staff’s job is to monitor Twitter and Facebook.
Reynolds’ act was too egrigious to ignore. He embarrassed his team, his school, his university and his state. Stoops used the right word: callous. What kind of thought process goes into posting that Tweet for all to read? It’s a complete lack of common decency and maturity. A complete lack of understanding on how the world works and how your actions have consequences.
We all have done stupid stuff. And most pay for that stupid stuff. Jaz Reynolds is paying for his stupidity and could pay for it with the loss of his OU football career.
OU football: An early OU-Texas game
Last year brought the latest date, Oct. 17, of an OU-Texas game since 1931. This year brings the earliest, Oct. 2, since ever. What in the name of the second Saturday in October is going on?
Big 12 associate commissioner Tim Allen said the only mandate the league ever has had from the schools was to play during the Texas State Fair. And truthfully, the OU-Texas game hasn’t ALWAYS been played the second Saturday of October. There have been a few games on Oct. 6 and Oct. 7.
But Oct. 2? Oct. 17? Seems awfully early and awfully late.
Allen said this game was not moved from Oct. 9, that it was originally scheduled for Oct. 2. Some had theorized that Texas wanted an open date before the Oct. 16 Nebraska game. But it seems like the Longhorns might have preferred an open date before OU. And who thinks open dates are a good thing anyway, unless your opponent already has one?
Allen said fans from both schools expressed concern about the lateness of Oct. 17. But Allen said no one much has complained about Oct. 2.
One thing that has pushed OU-Texas earlier is the Big 12′s desire to play a Week 1-A and a Week 1-B schedule. In other words, start some conference games a week earlier than normal. That’s why this week has four Big 12 games and next week has three. Spreading out the conference games to give television more attractive matchups.
Allen said in the new 10-team Big 12, OU-Texas will have a more consistent date, either the first or second Saturday of October.
By the way, the league is expected to release on Thursday its revamped 2011 conference schedule, in which every team plays every other team, for nine Big 12 games each. Allen said the schedules will end on Thanksgiving weekend, with no games scheduled for December, but that one or two games would be moved into that window.
Allen said it is easier to keep the first Saturday of December open and move a game there than fit games into December.
An OU source said Bedlam is not likely to move to December but would remain on Thanksgiving weekend.
Allen said the new format consisted of a few parameters.
1. Schools that have a neutral-site game (OU-Texas always, with Missouri-Kansas, Kansas State-Iowa State and Texas Tech-Baylor playing neutral-site games in recent years) will have four home games and four road games per year, plus the neutral site.
2. The non-Texas schools will be scheduled to play two road games per year in Texas.
3. The Big 12 South schools will be scheduled to play two road games per year in the old Big 12 North.
4. Which means every school will play one game a year in the state of Oklahoma (with the exception of Texas every other year, because of the Cotton Bowl tradition).
OU football: Meet Gale Gilbert
Garrett Gilbert quarterbacks Texas against Oklahoma for the first time on Saturday, and you’ve probably been hearing about Gilbert’s dad, Gale, and how he was an NFL quarterback.
But you might not know the rest of the story. Gale Gilbert has had quite the athletic journey.
The elder Gilbert grew up in Red Bluff, Calif., and played on the Red Bluff team that reached the 1974 Little League World Series championship game, losing to Taiwan 12-1.
Dallas Cowboys football defensive end Charles Haley (94) sacks San Diego Chargers quarterback Gale Gilbert for a 10-yard loss in the second quarter of their game Sunday, Oct. 15, 1995 in San Diego.
Gilbert went on to be a three-year starting quarterback at California; he started the game against Stanford that ended with the wild, five-lateral kickoff return for a touchdown by Cal with the Stanford band on the field. That was John Elway’s final college football game.
Gilbert played eight years in the NFL and is the only player to participate in five straight Super Bowl losses. He was a backup quarterback with Buffalo from 1990-93, then with San Diego in 1994, teams that lost Super Bowls every season.
Gilbert made just four NFL starts, going 0-4. He was 0-2 with the 1986 Seattle Seahawks, then 0-1 in both 1994 and 1995 with the Chargers. He never started a game for the Bills, backing up Jim Kelly and at times Frank Reich.
In fact, in a cool column by my Austin counterpart, Kirk Bohls, http://www.statesman.com/sports/longhorns/meet-gale-gilbert-the-forrest-gump-of-football-216753.html, Gilbert talked of the historic playoff game against Houston, when Bills backup Frank Reich filled in for the injured Kelly and led Buffalo back from a 35-3 deficit, the greatest comeback in NFL history. Gilbert was warming up, having been told that Reich had one more series to get the Bills going.
Now Gale Gilbert is in the fuel-distribution business in Greater Austin, where at Lake Travis High School Garrett Gilbert became a star quarterback himself.
OU football: No ‘Beat Texas’ hat for Stoops
Oklahoman alum Daniel Holdge, now a sports reporter for KOCO-TV, Oklahoma City’s ABC affiliate, this week trotted out on his facebook page a 1985 photo of Barry Switzer wearing a “Beat Texas” cap during the OU-Texas game.
The Oklahoman Archive
Seemed like a good time to ask Bob Stoops if it’s time to put down the visor and whip out a “Beat Texas” cap for the Saturday showdown in the Cotton Bowl.
Stoops laughed — which is a good sign, by the way; a loose coach is always a good thing — and said, “Coach Switzer had a lot more flair than I do.”
Then Stoops showed that he knows his OU history by adding, “He might have had a cigarette in (his hand), too.”
Stoops said he has a request in for a photo of Switzer in the “Beat Texas” cap. “Coach, he could get away with that,” Stoops said. “I don’t know if that’s my style.”
Probably right. But Stoops’ demeanor has to be good karma. While everyone is anguished over a two-point victory over Cincinnati, Stoops says he’s pleased with his team and that he expects it to improve.
No matter where you come down on the Cincinnati deal — good win or bad omen — you have to say that a loose Stoops portends well for the Sooners. Stoops was at ease both Monday night and Tuesday noon. He does not present a troubled spirit for his squad. If the Sooners follow their coach’s lead, they will be relaxed and ready come kickoff Saturday.
Power Lunch Chat Recap: Berry Tramel
OSU football: Highest scoring three games ever
Through three games, Oklahoma State has averaged 57.0 points a game, which is second nationally, trailing only Oregon (57.8). How historic is OSU’s scoring binge?
It’s better than any three-game explosion of the decade. The previous best was a 56.0 average in 2008, actually done over four games, since the Cowboys scored 56 on both Houston and Texas A&M, with in between games of 57 (Missouri State) and Troy (55).
OSU’s current scoring average is better than any three-game set in school history. In 1988, OSU averaged 53.3 points against Miami-Ohio, Texas A&M and Tulsa, then averaged 52.3 points against Kansas, Iowa State and Texas Tech.
In 1973, Jim Stanley’s first year coaching the Cowboys, OSU had a 54.7 average against Texas-Arlington, Arkansas and Southern Illinois. In ’76, Stanley’s Big Eight championship team averaged 44.3 points against Iowa State, UTEP and Brigham Young, and if you add in Kansas State, it’s a four-game average of 44.5.
The best three-game scoring in the Jim Lookabaugh era was 47.3 in 1942 (St. Louis, Drake and Detroit) and 42.0 in 1945 (Texas Tech, OU and Saint Mary’s in the Sugar Bowl).
Of course, scoring is much higher today than in the old days, or even the ’80s, so a good comparison of Dana Holgorsen’s current offense is Holgorsen’s previous stops.
In two years at Houston, Holgorsen’s best three-game scoring average was 53.3, last year against Memphis, Rice and East Carolina.
In Holgorsen’s time at Texas Tech with Mike Leach, only once did the Red Raiders best OSU’s current 57.0 points average over three games. In 2005, Tech averaged 66.3 against Florida International, Sam Houston and Indiana State. More impressively, Tech in 2008 averaged 52.7 against Kansas, Texas and OSU. Other big Tech numbers were in 2003, 53.3 against Ole Miss, A&M and Iowa State (or A&M, Iowa State and OSU), and 51.0 in 2002 against Baylor, OSU and Texas.
The best modern stretch was OU’s 64.3 average over three games in 2008 against Nebraska, A&M and Tech, and 62.3 average over six games, adding Kansas State, OSU and Missouri.
Thunder: Westbrook talking football trash
UCLA beat Texas 34-12 Saturday. Robin’s alma mater beat Batman’s beloved school. Russell Westbrook’s little-respected Bruins beat Kevin Durant’s Longhorns. And don’t think that didn’t create a hot topic around the Thunder’s training facility.
New Boomer Royal Ivey, also a Texas-ex, said Westbrook basked in the victory and let the Longhorns know about it.
Westbrook said he did no trash talking, then broke into a smile when told Ivey had spilled the beans. “I’m not saying nothin’,” Westbrook said. “I’ll let them tell you.”
Said Durant of his NBA and World Championships sidekick, “He always talks. They deserve it. They beat us pretty badly.”
Ivey got in the best dig. “UCLA’s not a football school; UCLA’s a basketball school,” Ivey said. “I told him that.”
George Blanda: Stories from the old days
Don Brewington is a friend of mine. He grew up in Shawnee, went to OU to play football, then transferred to Oklahoma State and became a solid receiver in the early 1960s.
Brewington wrote me Monday night after hearing about the death of NFL legend George Blanda, who was a Chicago Bear quarterback in the 1950s, an AFL quarterback in the 1960s and an Oakland Raider kicking sensation in the early ’70s, playing to the age of 48.
“In 1963 I was a free agent signing with the Houston Oilers,” Brewington wrote. “I was 23 years old. Flew to Colorado Springs, Colo., and arrived about 2 p.m. at Colorado College, where camp was being held. The Oilers liked the high altitude there.
“I was picked up by Oiler staff along with Blanda at the airport. He and I were in the same vehicle together. Being a rookie, I knew who he was and of course he had no clue who I was. He sat in the front seat, I sat in back. He was affable as he could be. Asked me what position I played and shook my hand.
“He did ask, ‘Don did you catch alot of passes?’ I responded by saying, ‘a few.’ He said, ‘How many?’ I said, ‘about 20.’ He laughed at that.
“The coaches then were Frank ‘Pop’ Ivy, a former OU player (and coach) and Neil Armstrong. Armstrong was my position coach at OSU most of the time. I always had respected any coach I have had. I saw something the next day at practice that I had never seen before. After dressing out for the first practice, I was out catching passes and then Blanda shows up late. Coach Ivy yells, “Hey, Blanda, that will be a fine of $1,000 for being late.
“Blanda fired back disrespectfully, ‘That is OK. I can afford it. You cannot.’ I thought, wow, how can anyone talk back to a coach like that and get away with it?
“Later on at the dorm, Blanda saw me and asked me if I wanted to play some pool. Of course, I responded by saying yes. I was in awe of him anyway. We played about five games, and he wanted to play for money and he had plenty of it. I had $40 to my name. Blanda said, ‘let’s play for $10 per game.’ What was I going to say? So I said OK. We played, he got all $40 of my money. I was completely broke by then.
“When I got cut after two weeks (hurt ankle), Blanda came by my room when I was packing and gave my money back to me. Never saw him again.
“Sorry to hear of his death today. He was really a great athlete and a nice person as well.”
