Postgame Thoughts: Oklahoma, 43 – Colorado, 10
Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman
Landry Jones and the Sooners were simply too much for Colorado Saturday. Jones had a career-high 453 yards passing, with 32 completions on 46 attempts. Receiver Ryan Broyles had a career game, too, with 208 yards receiving on nine catches. Here’s the box score.
Other notables:
- DeMarco Murray had 10 catches for 73 yards, mostly on screens. Tight end Trent Ratterree had three catches for 89 yards.
- Freshman Roy Finch rushed for 59 yards on 10 carries. He seemed to injure his hand in the fourth quarter, but looked OK on the sideline.
- Kicker Jimmy Stevens was perfect on the day. 2-2 on field goals and 5-5 on extra points.
What did you think of the Sooners’ performance against Colorado? Where will OU be ranked with Missouri and Michigan State losing? Are you worried about traveling to College Station next week to take on Texas A&M? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below.
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NewsOK exclusive: Clip from ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary on Marcus Dupree
In 1981, the college football world stopped and waited. To see where running back Marcus Dupree would play his college ball. On his way to eclipsing Herschel Walker’s record for the most touchdowns in high school history, Dupree attracted recruiters from schools in every major conference to his hometown of Philadelphia, Miss.
To the shock of some, Dupree committed to Oklahoma. But what followed was a forgettable college career littered with conflict, injury and oversized expectations.
In “The Best That Never Was,” part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary series, eight-time Emmy Award winner Jonathan Hock examines why Dupree burned out so young and how he ultimately used football to redeem himself.
The film will air Nov. 9 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
But below, ESPN has provided The Oklahoman with an exclusive clip from the film:
-JT
OU women ranked No. 10
For the fourth time in five years, the OU women’s basketball team will start the year ranked in the top 10. Oklahoma was No. 10 in the Associated Press preseason Top 25 Women’s basketball poll released on Friday.
Connecticut received 39 of the 40 first-place votes from a national media panel to earn top placement for the third consecutive season. The Huskies have been No. 1 for 44 straight weeks of the poll.
OU and UConn will square off Feb. 14 at the XL Center in Hartford, Conn.
Baylor received the other first-place vote and is second. Stanford, Tennessee, and Xavier rounded out the first five. Six through nine were Duke, Ohio State, Texas A&M and Kentucky. The Sooners meet Ohio State in Columbus on Dec. 1.
Other Sooner opponents in the Top 25 included Big 12 foes Texas and Iowa State, at Nos. 17 and 20, respectively, and No. 23 TCU, which will host OU on Jan. 2.
Last season, after being ranked 20th in the preseason AP poll, Oklahoma finished the year third after advancing to a second consecutive Final Four.
The Sooners begin their basketball season Thursday, Nov. 4, with an exhibition game against Oklahoma Christian. Tip-off at the Lloyd Noble Center is 7 p.m.
EA Simulation: OU vs. Colorado
Each week, for fun the OU blog will simulate the Sooners’ opponent on NCAA 2011. If you’re not interested in fun, move along.
NORMAN — Oklahoma’s found the perfect tonic coming off a loss.
Playing Colorado.
The Sooners destroyed the Buffaloes in their final Big 12 matchup 49-10 at Owen Field.
Landry Jones bounced back from a subpar outing at Missouri by throwing for 260 yards and 3 TDs against Colorado with only one turnover.
The Sooner run game also got back on track. DeMarco Murray rushed for 144 yards and 3 TDs on 22 carries. Freshman Roy Finch added 51 yards on six rushes, and fullback Trey Millard blasted through for his third TD of the season.
Colorado QB Cody Hawkins, filling in for injured starter Tyler Hansen who is dealing with a ruptured spleen, completed only 9 of 26 passes and was picked off three times. Coming off a game in which they applied no pressure to the QB, the Sooners constantly harassed Hawkins, sacking him five times.
-JT
Beal a Lombardi semifinalist
Defensive end Jeremy Beal has been named one of 12 semifinalists for the Lombardi Award.
Beal has 32 tackles and leads the team in tackles for loss (12.5) and sacks (6).
OU has produced three winners of the Lombardi Award in Lee Roy Selmon (1975),Tony Casillas (1985) and Tommie Harris (2003).
Ten defensive and two offensive players comprise the list of 12 semifinalists, of which the winner will be announced Dec. 8.
-JT
Power Lunch Chat Recap: Jake Trotter
Predictions: OU vs. Colorado
The Sooners take on Colorado Saturday on ESPN2 at 8:30 p.m., and the Buffaloes could be the cure for the Sooners’ problems. CU is 3-4 on the season and without its starting quarterback. Dan Hawkins’ son, Cody, who orchestrated a 27-24 over Sam Bradford and the Sooners in 2007, will start Saturday.
Photo by Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman
Berry Tramel thinks the Sooners will roll over Colorado. He also wrote about Landry Jones’ problems and Bob Stoops’ crunch-time decisions. Jake Trotter wrote about OU’s kicking game woes and Mike Baldwin wrote about the Sooners’ defense.
Here are our staff predictions for OU vs. Colorado:
Jake Trotter: OU, 38-6
Mike Baldwin: OU, 34-14
Berry Tramel: OU, 48-20
Jenni Carlson: OU, 52-20
Brandon Chatmon: OU, 55-10
John Helsley: OU, 49-13
Mike Sherman: OU, 42-14
Predict the final score of OU-Colorado in the comments below.
Join our OU-Colorado press row live chat at http://newsok.com/sports/ at 5 p.m. Saturday to chat with our writers before the game. We’ll be chatting throughout, too, providing instant analysis.
If you haven’t joined our Picks contest at http://newsok.com/picks/, you should join now to pick 20 college football games each week against our sports writers.
Stoops: I don’t want to coach my sons
Saturday, Oklahoma will face off against Colorado and coach Dan Hawkins. Hawkins’ son, Cody, will be the starting quarterback for the Buffaloes, with starter Tyler Hansen dealing with a ruptured spleen.
Three years ago, before being supplanted by Hanson in the starting lineup, Cody led Colorado to a 27-24 win over OU in Boulder.
But since, it’s not been an easy situation for the Hawkins family, with Dan having to eventually bench his son in favor of Hansen last year.
Bob Stoops, who has 11-year-old twin sons, was asked if he’d want to coach his sons in college, too, someday.
“I really like Hawk. Coach Hawkins to me, is an excellent coach, a great guy,” Stoops said. “But no, I don’t think I would. That would always be tough.”
While in college, Stoops saw up close and personal how difficult it can be coaching your son at the college level. It can be difficult for the son playing for his father, too.
“I learned that when I went to Iowa,” Stoops recalled. “The guy that recruited me was Bob Cummings. It was his last year coaching at Iowa, my first year when I was redshirting. His son, Bob Jr., was our quarterback. And it was really tough.”
The Hawkeyes went 2-9 that year, and Cummings Sr. was fired after the season.
Hawkins has been on the hot seat, too, and the quarterback controversy involving his son has only had gasoline to the fire. Last season, Hawkins admitted that if had to do it again, he would not have coached his son in college, either.
“Being around that situation and just seeing what Dan has had to go through, it would just be really hard,” Stoops said. “This job is pressured enough and demanding enough. To have family in the middle of it would just seem to be pretty hard, pretty tough. I’m sure for both of them it’s been a tough situation. But in the end, their relationship I’m sure is as strong as ever because I know the kind of guy Hawk is. I’m sure they’ll grow from it. They’re bigger than that, then whatever can be said about them.”
So, where would Stoops send his sons if they developed into Division I prospects?
“They’re only 11, so I don’t know where I’ll be at that point,” Stoops said. “I won’t let them come here. I’ll send them to Iowa maybe and they can play for Coach (Kirk) Ferentz.”
What if they’re the best recruits in the country?
“I’ll tell them, ‘Go play for (brother Mike at Arizona) or somebody.’ Or like I said, ‘Go be a Hawkeye.’”
-JT
Jones an O’Brien finalist
Quarterback Landry Jones has been named as one of 16 finalists for the Davey O’Brien award, given to the nation’s top quarterback. Jones has completed 66.8 percent of his passes for 2,094 yards, 17 touchdowns and five interceptions.
Four OU players have won the award — Jason White (2003 and ’04), Sam Bradford (2008). Billy Sims won it in 1978 before it became exclusive to quarterbacks.
