OU football: Stoops prefers tailbacks on kickoff returns?
Bob Stoops listed his candidates to return kickoffs and mentioned five guys. Four tailbacks and one receiver. Only Trey Franks is a receiver. The tailbacks Stoops mentioned were Roy Finch, Dominique Whaley, Brandon Williams and Jonathan Miller.
“All our fast guys that can run,” Stoops said. “I prefer not to use many receivers. Those guys aren’t used to it, maybe as much as the backs, at handling those returns. I guess I got spooked all the way back to Manny Johnson when he got taken out against (Texas) Tech. Those receivers sometimes aren’t quite as thick as those backs are.”
Stoops was referring to a 2006 game in which Johnson was rung up by the Red Raiders. And you know what? Stoops was telling it straight. He had a massive shift in kickoff return philosophy after that.
In 2006, receivers had 16 kickoff returns to just seven for running backs. That’s with Juaquin Iglesias getting the majority (14). In 2005, running backs had just four kickoff returns, with Reggie Smith and Travis Wilson getting the majority. In 2004, wide receivers had all 28 kickoff returns. No running back returned a kickoff. The duty was left to Wilson, Mark Clayton, Brandon Jones, Mark Bradley and JeJuan Rankins. In 2003, same way. No running backs with a kickoff return, while Antonio Perkins, Rankins, Bradley and Clayton had all 30.
And before that, receivers were the prime kickoff returners for Stoops. People like Brandon Daniels and Jarrail Jackson and Antwone Savage.
But since 2006, Stoops has shifted away from receivers. He let Iglesias keep the duty in 2007-08, since Iglesias was one of the best in OU history. Iglesias had 29 kickoff returns in 2007 and 20 in 2008; no other receiver returned a kickoff, while running backs (primarily DeMarco Murray) became Iglesias’ partner. In 2009, running backs had 22 kickoff returns to just four for receivers. In 2010, it was 27-11, with Trey Franks the only receiver.
So there’s no doubt that Stoops is doing this. But should he? I can’t comment on the fumble or injury factor. I have no evidence one way or another. But I can tell you this. The most prolific kickoff returners in OU history have been receivers.
The record-holders for yards in a game, season and career are Daniels (game) and Iglesias (season, career). Savage has the best average for a game (57.0) for anyone with more than one kickoff return.
The only running back in the kickoff return recordbook is Murray, with a 27.6-yard career average.
The longest kickoff returns in OU history are 100-yarders by Buster Rhymes, another receiver, and Bradley. The next-longest of the Stoops era is by J.T. Thatcher, who was a safety when he returned a kick 93 yards in 2000.
So it appears Stoops is playing the safe card. He’s worried about the health and ball security of receivers, even though they have proven to be very adept at being difference-makers on kickoff returns.
OU football: Mark Mangino visits the Sooners
I ran into Mark Mangino on Tuesday in the OU parking lot. He’s in town all week, visiting the Sooner practices and staying for the Tulsa game.
Mangino, in his second year out of coaching, still lives in Naples, Fla., but tries to stay involved in football. Last week, he was in Kansas, where his son, Tommy, coaches quarterbacks at Hutchinson Community College. After a visit to Jenks, where his daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren live, Mangino came on down to Norman.
Mangino coached just three years at OU but they were memorable. He was the offensive coordinator on the 2000 national championship team. Mangino still has thick ties with Bob Stoops; still refers to the Sooners with a “we.”
Mangino coached eight years at Kansas, then was forced out, allegedly for mistreatment of players. Some ex-Jayhawks blasted Mangino’s treatment of them, but others came to his defense.
This we know. Mangino was a heck of a football coach. He went 50-48 in eight years at KU, including a 12-1 season in 2007, with an Orange Bowl victory over Virginia Tech. That’s a fabulous record at Kansas. Jules Sikes went 35-25 in six years at KU, 1948-53. No Jayhawk coach since, other than Mangino, left with a winning record. Not Jack Mitchell. Not Pepper Rodgers. Not Dan Fambrough. Not Glen Mason.
Turner Gill went 3-9 in his first Jayhawk season and already seems on the hot seat. Kansas football went from the Orange Bowl to irrelevancy very quickly. Even Mangino’s final two years were solid by KU standards; 8-5 in 2008, with an Insight Bowl victory over Minnesota, and 5-7 in 2009, after a 5-0 start.
I don’t know if Mangino will get another head coaching job. But he’s a heck of a coach.
Big 12 football: No Notre Dame
Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick reiterated his school’s commitment to independence Monday, telling the Austin American-Statesman that the Irish’s priority is committed to staying in the Big East for other sports and going at it alone in football.
Columnist Berry Tramel says the key to success for Brian Kelly and the Notre Dame football team lies in the Big 12. AP PHOTO
The benefits of the Big 12 are not the problem. Stability is the problem. How could the Big 12 sell Notre Dame or Arkansas on stability? How could the Irish or Razorbacks be convinced that the Big 12 has long-term viability? Maybe the league will disprove the doubters, but who on Earth could have faith the Big 12 will be here in five years?
Notre Dame isn’t going to walk away from more than a century of independence by joining a league that could crumble. If Notre Dame wanted to join a league, it has options. Starting with the Big East, a league of which it already is a member. Or the Big Ten, which for decades has been pining for Notre Dame. Heck, you could see Notre Dame joining the Pac-12 before the Big 12. The Irish already play Pac-12 schools regularly; if the Pac-12 was going to expand to Oklahoma and Texas, it’s not any kookier to keep going to South Bend, Ind., especially to land Notre Dame. You could call it the Trans-Pacific 16.
Same with Arkansas. Even if the Hogs could be convinced that the Big 12 was the better situation – close enough in money, better for competition — only an irresponsible administration would OK a move to an unstable conference.
That’s why Brigham Young is the focal point of Big 12 expansion. The Cougars, who just left a dysfunctional Mountain West Conference, have little to lose. BYU is independent this season; a move to the Big 12 wouldn’t harm BYU’s legacy or pocketbook, no matter when the Big 12 might dissolve. If BYU joined the Big 12 for two seasons, then the league went bye-bye, what would BYU have lost? Nothing.
But Arkansas and Notre Dame would have lost much. The Hogs, a spot in the premier football conference in America. Notre Dame, its identity.
Sources told me that Big 12 inquiries have at least been met with courtesy. That Arkansas and Notre Dame haven’t told the Big 12 to get lost. They’ve kept dialogue open. But good luck, Big 12, with talking Arkansas and Notre Dame into joining.
OU football: TU will miss Johnson on kickoffs
The University of Tulsa apparently will be without star receiver Damaris Johnson on Saturday against OU at Owen Field. The Golden Hurricane might miss Johnson most on kickoffs.
Johnson was suspended by TU coach Bill Blankenship last week after Tulsa police questioned Johnson and arrested his girlfriend, alleging she sold him merchandise worth thousands of dollars but charged him pennies on the dollar.
Johnson was a second-team all-American last season and is the NCAA career leader in all-purpose yardage. Johnson rushed for 560 yards last season and caught 57 passes for 872 yards. But he might be most dangerous on kickoff returns — Johnson holds the NCAA record for career kickoff return yards, 3,417 yards. He’s returned two kickoffs for touchdowns.
Tulsa has a potent offense. But TU’s best scoring opportunities might come on kickoff returns, which the Sooners have been lax in covering in recent years. “He’s an electrifying punt returner as well,” Bob Stoops said.
Stoops said he figures TU won’t change its offense much at all without Johnson. “Obviously, he’s a major weapon and a constant threat,” Stoops said. “But I’m sure they’re not going to switch what they’re doing.”
College football: Dud openers for Thursday night
The week we’ve all been waiting for finally is here. College football kicks off on Thursday night. But it’s going to be a little anticlimactic. What should be a rousing start to a season instead will be a dud.
In the coming weeks, ESPN Thursday night football will provide some really solid games. OSU-Arizona. LSU at Mississippi State. California at Oregon. USC at California.
But college football 2011 kicks off with Nevada-Las Vegas at Wisconsin. Nothing against the Runnin’ Rebs, but Wisconsin will dominate UNLV.
Here are the Thursday night games involving teams from the six major conferences: Murray State at Louisville, Fordham at Connecticut, Western Carolina at Georgia Tech, North Carolina Central at Rutgers, UNLV at Wisconsin, Mississippi State at Memphis, Wake Forest at Syracuse, Montana State at Utah, Kentucky vs. Western Kentucky in Nashville (don’t ask why two Kentucky schools are playing in Tennessee) and Cal-Davis at Arizona State.
One clunker after another.
Friday night brings a good game, TCU at Baylor, along with a full slate Saturday. The way schools will move around games to accommodate television, how could ESPN not get a big-time game for opening night? Maybe Boise State-Georgia wouldn’t move to Thursday night, but surely the network could trump UNLV-Wisconsin. For instance, UCLA at Houston, which isn’t an ESPN game but probably could have been had for other considerations. Or even Brigham Young at Ole Miss. Or even TCU at Baylor? Friday
College football is a spectacle sport with great traditions and fabulous fan followings. People anticipate its start for months. Why make the actually opener such a dud?
OKC history: The Myriad’s first sporting event
The night of Nov. 1, 2005, was huge for Oklahoma City. The displaced Hornets hosted the Sacramento Kings in the first regular-season NBA game in OKC history. The Ford Center was packed and began a progression to what we see now, with the Thunder an Oklahoma City staple and an NBA success story.
But Hornets-Kings was not the first major-league basketball game in Oklahoma City.
On Nov. 8, 1972, a night after Nixon beat McGovern for the White House, the Dallas Chaparrals beat the Memphis Tams 126-118 in an ABA game played in front of 3,175 fans. It was the first sporting event played in the Myriad, the glittering downtown arena that opened that year and remains a cool place to catch a hockey game, an occasional concert or even the Big 12 women’s basketball tournament, when it rotates through town.
The Myriad would make its concert debut two nights later with Henry Mancini. But on that Wednesday night, with tickets priced at $5.50, $4.50 and $3.50, the American Basketball Association came to Oklahoma City. The Tams eventually went out of business, the Chaparrals eventually moved to San Antonio and became the Spurs, and the Myriad eventually became a bastion for college basketball. Including a rousing All-College Tournament seven weeks later.
But for that night, pro basketball ruled. No big names on either team, unless you count Memphis’ Johnny Neumann, who left Ole Miss early to turn pro. The Tams were coached by Bob Bass, who had coached Oklahoma Baptist University to an NAIA title in the ’60s and who would become a cornerstone of the Spurs and Hornets franchises.
The crowd obviously wasn’t huge in an arena that seated about 13,000 for basketball. But the All-College turnouts weren’t huge, either, in December, despite an excellent field that included Florida State and Brigham Young. Things were different then.
By 1976, the ABA had arranged a merger with the NBA, with four teams moving over and the rest folding.
Bo Overton: A China adventure
Bo Overton was not at the OU basketball alumni weekend. He was needed elsewhere. Overton this week began coaching in China, a team called Liaoning Hengye of the China WCBA.
Overton played at OU for Dave Bliss and Billy Tubbs, then was an assistant coach for Sherri Coale. This is Overton’s first coaching gig since being forced to resign from the WNBA’s Chicago Sky two years ago. This week, he filed four straight days of emails about his new adventure. Pretty educational stuff about China. I thought I would share it with out.
TUESDAY
“OK folks, everyone is wondering how the China adventure is going. Been writing a few things down and thought I would give you a sample. Couple of rules first: I will not stop to spell check (Coach Coale) or look up anything, seeing that I just can’t find any time (No TV in China or Facebook).
So here goes. 9 a.m. practice. Wie and Tiff (you’ll get to know the players as we go) banged up, did not go live. Got money exchanged and went to McDonald’s, 20-minute walk.
Man did that taste good. Interesting to order at Mickey D’s, They don’t understand me so I just point at pictures. Big Mac, fries, I think you get the picture. I don’t know what the money deal is yet. I just held out some money and the nice girl took it. I think I just bought a Big Mac for a hundred dollars. Another factoid, I’ve never seen a fast food joint run so efficiently.
Trying to get internet to work but still no luck.
Going to dinner with Hong and Bai Yu, pleasant surprise. They said they wanted to take me to Pizza Hut, want me
to feel at home. By the way, there is only one Pizza Hut in this town of five million people. Interesting Pizza Hut, they have
other foods such as soups, tuna, of course fish and other stuff I can’t pronounce.
Walked outside, Hong and Bai Yu want to take me to mall. See a donkey pulling a cart in middle of downtown, of course
I took a picture.
Yang is with us also. He is my interpreter, could not pull this off without him. If you remember the old movie “Sixteen Candles,”
with the Chinese visitor, he sounds just like him. When he talks sometimes I have to keep from smiling. Anyways, back to the
mall. Very nice mall. The players said it was a mid-level mall. Movie theatre is on top floor. Of course, there’s a lot of Jackie Chan stuff. Excited to see one of the eight movies is in English.
“Transformers 9.” Good, I haven’t seen it yet. They said it’s hard to get tickets to movies. Must get them in advance.”
WEDNESDAY
“Don’t worry, I can’t send these every day but wanted to catch up while I could remember stuff. Lot better waking up today, 7 a.m. instead of 4:30. I think my body is figuring it out.
“We are off today, so I’m starting this book about a pro basketball player that plays overseas. He did the same thing I’m doing, he just wrote things down. It’s actually pretty good if you need something to read by the pool. It’s called “Can I Keep My Jersey?”
by Paul Shirley. He played at Iowa State about eight years ago. I walked the other way from our Olympic Center in search of a grocery store.
“Just so you know, those stick figure people that turn green on the crosswalk light? You know, the ones that tell you it’s safe to walk? Well, here is what I’ve figured out they mean. 1) Look left quickly, right turns don’t stop for anything! Any bike, bike with cart in front, moped, scooter, bike with motor, cart from Vietnam or mule drawn cart have the right of way, not pedestrians. 2) Even though there is green stick figure walking, left turners from opposite direction make turns on two wheels! 3) While crossing six lanes, they never give you enough time to get across. So luckily, I have done a 30-minute hamstring stretch and I can sprint the last three lanes hurdling the family with the strollers (still don’t know if they made it or not).
“Well, I couldn’t find a store but I found a fruit stand (in a building). Said the only Chinese I could muster up and a small boy about eight with his grandfather started laughing and asked me in English if I needed any help. He was great, pointed me in the right direction and I was off.
“Saw another mule pulling a fruit cart (did not take a picture, guess I’m getting use to it).
“Yang (interpreter) called and said Big Boss (what they call owner of team) was in town and wanted to have lunch. ****! I was going to McDonald’s! But we went and again, what a lunch. At one time there are 10 to 12 entrees on table. I found some broccoli and fish soaked in I don’t know what and then toughed it out and ate everything he pointed at. Probably some frog in there somewhere. They poor wine and have many toasts (11:30 a.m.). I think most of them were to the effect that ‘if you don’t bring me a championship you will be working in rice fields until you’re 85!’
“Also, from what I could gather, he is about to buy the men’s team that’s here in Shenyang. That would be a pretty big deal.
“Headed back to apartment for rest. Hopefully I’ll have Internet tomorrow. Still haven’t seen a TV or anything about news in a week.”
THURSDAY
“Last night went to find some cereal and milk. Found a place called Tesco. I think it is their version of our Wal-Mart. After I made my way through the TVs and underwear, I found the food section. I noticed this in the dining hall, they drink milk out of a package and hot at that. Big bottles of yogurt but no milk. Finally my buddy Yang came running up with an eight-ounce plastic container of whole milk. Would be something you would find at 7-11.
“After that successful venture we headed off for cereal. You guessed it, no cereal. Anywhere. No Fruit Loops, no Captain Crunch, no Cheerios, nada. Luckily in the last place we looked
there was a paper sack with Quaker Oats Oatmeal on it. Had oatmeal this morning for breakfast.
“By the way, have a lot of catching up to do with appliances in China. I’ll start with this one. Been living here now for four days and just noticed I don’t have an oven. Not that I was going to pull out my Betty Crocker Cookbook and slap together some French dish. But really, can I heat up some toast! Oh ****. I don’t remember seeing any bread at Tesco.
“A lot of shooting at this morning’s practice. Trying to minimize pounding of legs. Players seemed fresh and were having fun. Great to see! First day for our post player that was sent home from
National Team this week. I think she will help; big body and a veteran to go along with these young very talented players.
“First lunch I actually knew what I was eating today. Almost like eating at Panda Express, sweet and sour pork with rice. Also had a salad. I sure miss Ranch dressing.”
FRIDAY
“At the Training Center, lunch is a happening. Players will start getting antsy if it looks like our morning workout will make them late for lunch.
“There is no wrist band to enter, credit card, punch card or cash being transacted. They scan your face!!! Yes, you stand in front of this screen and it scans your face.
“I hope no homeless person is out there attacking Olympic athletes and tearing off faces so they can use them for gaining entrance to dining facilities. When the light turns green, you walk through the turnstile. Everything is stainless steel. You pick up your tray and your chop sticks (players bought me a fork but I don’t like carrying it around) and it becomes a free for all.
“I would imagine in the U.S. it would remind you of a Luby’s operating out of a school cafeteria. As you travel around from right to left there is a nice lady on a grill making a pancake looking substance. She adds a fried egg on top and slices what appears to be a hot dog in half, puts some sauce on top and folds it over. They don’t have this everyday so my players consider this a treat and will wait in line. I skip the hot dog wrapped in a pancake delicacy and head for some salad. Throw a little dressing on top, looks like French. I slide past the watermelon (not a big fan, but I’ve learned to throw it down), where a nice man is pointing at a dark chicken- looking pan. Fang walks up and discloses that it is pig heart. I do a quick spin move and grab some rice.
“They make everything homemade right in front of the athletes. There is a noodle maker and a dumpling maker that I snatch what I can (with chop sticks). Then it’s over to what looks like my staple dish (sweet and sour pork). I’m getting leery of Yang. He has figured out that I always pick up some pork or chicken. Lately, everything I point at he says is pork. Players are smiling for some reason. After we walk by the three different pots of soup with objects floating in them, I find the boiled fish with seaweed. My plate’s too full, so I see that they are grilling sheep again today. We eat a lot of sheep here.
“There is no pop, ice tea or water. There are no glasses in the dinning hall. Yang brings me a bowl of a watered down orange substance and I’m ready to dine.”
College football: Northeastern State to play in front of big crowd in San Antonio
Northeastern State once drew some good crowds to Gable Field in Tahlequah. Maybe still does. But the RiverHawks — I still want to call them the Redmen — will open this football season in front of a crowd unlike any in school history.
NSU plays Texas-San Antonio in the Alamodome, the inaugural game in UTSA history. And the crowd could be huge, perhaps as much as 50,000.
Last week, UTSA athletic director Lynn Hickey said ticket sales have approached 45,000. That includes 29,000 tickets sold and 15,000 reserved for students. The Roadrunners have sold 10,000 season tickets. San Antonio businessman Red McCombs, former owner of the NFL Vikings, said he plans to buy 1,000 tickets and distribute them throughout the city.
UTSA is coached by Larry Coker, an NSU alumnus who served as offensive coordinator at Tulsa, OSU and OU, before going to Miami and eventually coaching the Hurricanes to the national championship. UTSA has joined the Western Athletic Conference and will play a 10-game independent schedule this season before playing a full WAC schedule next year.
Big 12 football: SMU wants in
Oh great. Here we go. Houston wants in the Big 12. And now SMU. Can Rice be far behind? And I am not making this up: Some OU fan from Dallas emailed me, making the case for North Texas.
Are you just trying to send the Sooners screaming toward the Pac-12?
I’m against Houston’s admission. I don’t want the reincarnation of the Southwest Conference. The talk about Houston is coming from A&M officials, who wisely realize that adding a public school from Texas would lessen the political fallout of the Aggies’ departure from the Big 12. But Houston is a shining city on a hill compared to SMU. I’m about ready for the Big 12 leadership to start shooting down some of this nonsense.
SMU has a 30,000-seat stadium — albeit nice and new — and says it drew 23,000 per game last year, which means about 18,000 probably showed up. Nobody cares about SMU football, same as few care about Houston football.
That’s what conference realignment is about. Adding schools with fan bases that care. Fan bases that fill a big stadium and watch religiously on television. SMU does not qualify.
Yes, SMU is in Dallas, but Dallas already watches Big 12 football, thanks to the Longhorns and Sooners and Aggies and Red Raiders and Cowboys and Bears. SMU has been relevant in Conference USA for about 15 minutes. Since hiring June Jones away from Hawaii.
Go do what TCU did. Build up your program. Play winning football for a decade or more. Seize the opportunity to make a national splash. Enhance your facility. Pour $100 million into your stadium. Then we’ll talk.
The Big 12, when A&M flees for the SEC, needs to add BYU, TCU and either Air Force or Louisville. It does not need to try to revive the Southwest Conference.
OSU football: Thursday night game vs. Arizona draws the short straw
For the third straight season, Oklahoma State hosts a Thursday night football game, this time Sept. 8 against Arizona. The Cowboys hosted Colorado in 2009 and Texas A&M in 2010 in great Thursday night games. And this one might be, too, you never know.
But no matter the result, OSU won’t get the same bang for its buck. It’s unforunate timing.
Sept. 8 is the opening of the NFL regular season. While OSU plays Arizona on ESPN, NBC offers the Green Bay Packers hosting the New Orleans Saints, in a battle of the two most recent Super Bowl winners.
Oklahomans will watch OSU-Arizona. So will Arizonans. And hard-core college football fans. But the rest of the American sporting public — the vast majority — will be tuned in to see Aaron Rodgers vs. Drew Brees. Most every other Thursday night, the ESPN college game would draw very well. Even in the second half of the NFL season, when Thursday night games come to the NFL Network, the ESPN college game will get its share, since the NFL Network remains out of the grasp of many fans.
But all eyes will be on NBC for a Thursday night opener that at times in the past four months, we weren’t sure would ever come.
So while we know the pros and cons of a Thursday night game for college programs, one of the big pros — national exposure — is lessened by the luck of the draw. Sept. 8 is the wrong night to be playing college football on ESPN.
