Broyles on the Big Board
On ESPN NFL Draft analyst Mel Kiper’s updated his Big Board, OU receiver Ryan Broyles is now the No. 24 overall prospect.
“Very good hands, elusive in open field after catch, productive, and has return skills — regardless of who’s throwing the ball,” Kiper wrote.
Broyles, a junior, is the only Sooner currently on the Kiper Big Board.
Broyles, who leads the nation in receptions and is second in receiving yards, could continue to climb the board with a strong performance in the Red River Rivalry. He will be facing off against two of the top cornerback prospects in Aaron Williams and Curtis Brown.
-JT
EA Simulation: OU vs. Texas
Each week, for fun the OU blog will simulate the Sooners’ opponent on NCAA 2011. If you’re not interested in fun, move along.
DALLAS — Make that five of six.
Texas extended its recent dominance over the Sooners with a resounding 35-16 win in the Cotton Bowl in this week’s EA simulation.
Garrett Gilbert led the Longhorn offense to its best performance of the season, throwing for 279 yards and two touchdowns.
Texas jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead after completely dominating the first two quarters. The Longhorns took Sooner receiver Ryan Broyles out of the game, holding Broyles to just two catches for 21 yards. With its top playmaker ineffective, the Sooner offense struggled in the first half.
But despite falling behind, OU wouldn’t go away easily. The Sooners owned the third quarter, scoring on a 13-yard TD pass from Landry Jones to Dejuan Miller, a 37-yard FG by Jimmy Stevens and a 22-yard run by DeMarco Murray (conversion failed) to cut the lead to 21-16.
But Texas iced the game with 6:46 to go in the fourth quarter, on a 33-yard touchdown run by Fozzy Whittaker, who added another touchdown after OU’s fourth-down attempt failed deep in Sooner territory.
-JT
OU’s future Big 12 schedules
Wednesday, schedules were released for the new ten-team Big 12 conference. The bad news for OU is that the Sooners have to go to Stillwater twice, this and next year. But the good news is that the Sooners don’t have to go to Lubbock, where they’ve lost three straight, until 2012.
OU’s future conference schedules
2011
TBD: *Missouri
Oct. 1: Bye
Oct. 8: vs. Texas
Oct. 15: at Kansas
Oct. 22: Texas Tech
Oct. 29: at Kansas State
Nov. 5: Texas A&M
Nov. 12: Iowa State
Nov. 19: at Baylor
Nov. 26: at Oklahoma State
*game date is to be determined because of non-conference scheduling conflicts
2012
Week 1: at Missouri
Week 2: vs Texas
Week 3: Kansas
Week 4: at Texas Tech
Week 5: Kansas State
Week 6: at Texas A&M
Week 7: at Iowa State
Week 8: Baylor
Week 9: Oklahoma State
2013 (and odd years from here on out)
Week 1: Missouri
Week 2: vs. Texas
Week 3: at Kansas
Week 4: Texas Tech
Week 5: at Kansas State
Week 6: Texas A&M
Week 7: Iowa State
Week 8: at Baylor
Week 9: at Oklahoma State
2014 (and even years from here on out)
Week 1: at Missouri
Week 2: vs. Texas
Week 3: Kansas
Week 4: at Texas Tech
Week 5: Kansas State
Week 6: at Texas A&M
Week 7: at Iowa State
Week 8: Baylor
Week 9: Oklahoma State
-JT
Turnover margin favors Sooners
Travis Lewis said it. DeMarco Murray said it. Even defensive coordinator Brent Venables said it.
If you run the ball, and take care of the ball, you win the OU-Texas game. At least that’s been the case for the last 13 years.
Going into this Red River Rivalry, it’s not likely either team will have much success running it. Texas ranks No. 76 in rush offense. Oklahoma No. 89.
But in turnovers, the Sooners have a decided edge. At least on paper. OU ranks fourth nationally in turnover margin, at plus eight. The Longhorns rank No. 92, at minus four.
That’s been the difference, perhaps more than anything else, as to why OU is undefeated, and Texas is not. The Longhorns lost the turnover battle to UCLA, 5-2, last week. The Sooners won the turnover battle against Cincinnati, 4-1.
If Landry Jones continues to take care of the ball (three INTs in four games), even if the offense can’t run, and the Sooner defense continues to be opportunistic, even if does give up yards, OU should be in good shape Saturday.
-JT
Jaz Reynolds suspended indefinitely for Twitter comments
Sophomore receiver Jaz Reynolds was suspended indefinitely from the team Wednesday, after he posted derogatory “tweets” shortly after a gunman opened fire at the University of Texas. Here’s what he said:
Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Hey everyone in Austin, tx…….kill yourself #evillaugh.
Everyone in austin, tx disregard that last tweet….y’all will mess around n do it lmao.
Here is Bob Stoops’ statement on Reynolds:
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.
Is Stoops making the right decision on this? Should Reynolds be kicked off the team? He was previously suspended for academic reason against Air Force. Leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Power Lunch Chat Recap: Mike Baldwin
Don’t let UCLA score fool you
The score shocked everyone. Even OU coach Bob Stoops.
UCLA 34, Texas 12. In Austin! The same Bruins that lost at Kansas State and were pummeled 35-0 by Stanford.
Stoops said the most surprising development was the Bruins rushed for 264 yards.
“That was one of the bigger surprises because they have played so consistently,” Stoops said. “They play good run defense. They’ve been very aggressive going after quarterbacks. Through most of this year and last year they’ve been consistent. But they were put in some bad positions with turnovers.”
Don’t let the score fool you. The Longhorns have the nation’s No. 2 ranked defense. The primary reason UCLA romped was Texas had five turnovers. The offense constantly put the defense in a hole.
UCLA led 13-3 at halftime but had only 77 yards of offense. Texas’ defense had a bad third quarter. The Bruins used some option runs to blow the game open.
But this is the same Texas defense that dominated Texas Tech the previous week in Lubbock, limiting the Red Raiders to 144 total yards and minus 14 yards rushing. The Longhorns suffocated the Red Raiders.
Bolstered by the best secondary in the country, and a defensive line that’s helped produce 14 sacks, fourth most in the nation, the Longhorns won’t play passive like Florida State or other defenses OU has faced. Texas isn’t afraid to use man-to-man press coverage.
“They’re very aggressive oriented, attack oriented,” said OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. “They’re not sitting back soft. They have the speed to get up in your face, pressure you, challenge you, make you work.
“That’s one reason why they’re doing so well on their rush and sacks. They make you win on routes. And you have to win in (a short amount) of time. They have good coverage and they’re really good up front. The front complements the back end and the back complements the front end. There’s a reason those stats (are good) and they’re ranked as highly as they are. It’s a great challenge.”
It’s not as if the Bruins just lined up and dominated the line of scrimmage. UCLA surprised the Longhorns with a new pistol formation they installed the week of the game. The two biggest plays were UCLA option runs, something the Sooners don’t have in their arsenal.
Texas’ offense lacks home-run type playmakers. Three running backs share time because none of the three stand out. The wide receivers have some skill but most are young as is quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who has thrown as many interceptions (four) as touchdowns.
But don’t be misled by last week’s score that Texas’ defense is vulnerable. The Longhorns’ D has had one bad quarter. All season. OU quarterback Landry Jones and the offense face their biggest test of the season Saturday in the Cotton Bowl.
Capel talking to elite PG
According to one Twitter account, Oklahoma men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel is visiting Brewster Academy, N.H., point guard Naadir Tharpe.
A 6-0 point guard, Tharpe is ranked the No. 91 recruit in the country according to Rivals.com, the nation’s No. 11 point guard. Tharpe is viewed as a pass-first floor leader that can also attack the basket.
Tharpe scored 1,000 points at St. Peter-Marian before transferring to Brewster Academy in Wolfeboro, N.H., for his final two years of high school. He also played well at Chris Paul’s camp for the nation’s top point guards.
Playing AAU ball for the New England Playaz last summer, Tharpe verbally committed to Providence College in March but re-opened his recruiting after PC lost assistant coach Pat Skerry to Pittsburgh.
Other schools reportedly interested in Tharpe include Boston College, UNLV, Minnesota, Marquette, Rutgers, Seton Hall, UNC-Charlotte and Providence. Miami, Wake Forest and Indiana also have shown interest.
Tharpe was quoted this summer: “There aren’t a lot of point guards and a lot of colleges need guards. So if I just keep doing what I am doing, hopefully I get the pick of school I want to go to.”
Here is a link with Tharpe’s highlights.
CBSSports.com columnist: ‘Oklahoma is a stupid football team’
CBSSports.com columnist Gregg Doyel wrote a column after OU’s victory against Cincinnati. Here’s an excerpt:
Sooner quarterback Landry Jones (12) scrambles during the second half of the college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the University of Cincinnati Bearcats (UC) at Paul Brown Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
Cincinnati is not good — Cincinnati is, in fact, pretty damn lousy — and Oklahoma won by the slimmest of margins. If Oklahoma were Oklahoma State, where the coach is a man and a win is a win, then beating bad Cincinnati by the slimmest of margins would be celebrated.
But Oklahoma strives for more than the Holiday Bowl, so this wasn’t a celebration. This was scary, and I’ll tell you why.
Because Oklahoma is a stupid football team.
Oklahoma is fast, but Oklahoma is stupid. Oklahoma is skilled, but Oklahoma is stupid. Strong? Yes. Oklahoma is strong.
Read the rest here.
What do you think of Doyel’s column? Is he spot on or dead wrong? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
Power Lunch Chat Recap: Jake Trotter
