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NORMAN, Okla. -- After cruising to three lop-sided victories at home, Oklahoma goes on the road for the first time this season when it visits Tulsa. For the Sooners, it's a two-hour trip up I-35 then across I-44 from OU. ESPN2 will have the national telecast beginning at 7 p.m. from TU's Chapman Stadium.

The Series
Oklahoma leads it, 14-7-1, including a 5-3 mark in Tulsa. The Sooners have won the last three meetings and eight of the last nine. OU last ventured to Tulsa in 2002 and emerged with a 37-0 victory.

The Coaches
Oklahoma: Bob Stoops (Iowa `83) is 89-19 in his ninth season with the Sooners. He is 4-4 in bowls, 3-3 in January Bowls, 2-3 in BCS games, 56-11 vs. the Big 12, 31-8 vs. the Big 12 South, 25-3 vs. the Big 12 North,4-1 in the Big 12 title game, 32-8 vs. non-conference opponents, 50-2 at home, 25-9 on the road, 13-8 on neutral fields and 25-10 vs. ranked opponents.
Tulsa: Todd Graham (East Central `87) is in his first year at Tulsa. His overall head coaching mark stands at 9-6.

The Program
• Oklahoma's all-time record stands at 771-292-53.
• The Sooners own seven national championships (1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000).
• OU has 40 bowl appearances (No. 7 nationally) with 24 victories (No. 3 nationally).
• Oklahoma has won 40 conference titles.
• Since WWII, Oklahoma is the most success college football program with 527 victories.
• Some 142 All-Americans and four Heisman Trophy winners have come from the Oklahoma program.

This Week's Opponent
• Tulsa is 2-0 with a 35-17 win at Louisiana-Monroe and a 55-47 home triumph over BYU.
• Todd Graham is in his first season at Tulsa after going 7-6 as the head coach at Rice last season.
• This is the second of three consecutive home games for the Golden Hurricane. After this stretch, TU will be on the road for three of its last eight.
• QB Paul Smith also quarterbacked Tulsa the last time these two teams played. He hit 24-of-36 passes for 246 yards with one interception when the Sooners prevailed in Norman, 31-15, on Sept. 10, 2005. The interception was returned 48 yards for a touchdown by Clint Ingram, who now plays for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

Ties with This Week's Opponent
• Tulsa wide receivers coach, who previously was the head coach at Tulsa Union HS, was the prep coach for OU defensive graduate assistant Zac Spavital, defensive back Dominque Franks and walk-on defensive end Tola Jimoh.
• TU associate head coach and co-defensive coordinator was on the defensive ends coach at Alabama when OU knocked off the Crimson Tide, 20-13, at Tuscaloosa during the 2003 season.
 
Friday Night Lights
Oklahoma is 9-8 in all games played on Friday, 4-2 in Friday night games. The Sooners are 4-6 vs. Nebraska on games that were played the day after Thanksgiving and 2-2 in Friday bowl games. OU was scheduled to play its 1949 opener on Friday, Sept. 23 at Boston College (Braves Field), but that contest was postponed due to heavy rains and was moved to the following day when the Sooners won 46-0. That was one of only two Oklahoma games ever postponed. The other was the 2001 game with Tulsa, which was pushed back due to 9/11.
 
Football in the Sooner State
The Sooners hold an all-time mark of 119-24-10 against the other colleges and universities located in the state of Oklahoma. OU is 14-7-1 vs. Tulsa, 78-16-7 vs. Oklahoma State, 2-0 vs. Southwestern Oklahoma, 17-1-1 vs. Central Oklahoma, 1-0 vs. East Central, 4-0 vs. Northwestern Oklahoma, 1-0 vs. Oklahoma Christian and 2-0 vs. Phillips. Oklahoma is 55-12-8 against the state in games played away from Norman (includes road and neutral field games).
 
Sooners Digging the Long Ball
Oklahoma has 22 plays, offense and defense, of 20 yards or longer so far this season ...
• Plays of 20-29 Yards -- Offense (7): Six passes, one rush. Defense (1): One INT return.
• Plays of 30-39 Yards -- Offense (2): One pass, one rush. Defense (0): None.
• Plays of 40+ Yards -- Offense (10): Six passes, four rushes. Defense (2): One INT, one FR.
Notes: Four different Sooners have a rush of 41 yards or longer ... OU has a 53-yard field goal from Garrett Hartley ... OU's opponents have three plays of 20+ yards, all passes ... OU's longest play was a 92-yard TD run by DeMarco Murray vs. Utah State ... Juaquin Iglesias is OU's king of the long play with an average of 15.9 yards on 19 receptions, 23.2 yards on three rushes and 30.3 yards on six kickoff returns ... Iglesias is No. 9 nationally in KO returns and No. 12 among all-purpose runners with 184.7 yards per game.
 
Miscellany
• OU opponents are 8-of-47 on third down for 17%. OU is 17-of-35 for 48.6%.
• OU opponents have three fewer pass attempts than the Sooners with 23 fewer completions.
• OU ran 73 plays in its first two games, 72 in its third. The foes had 69, 59, 58, respectively.
• OU and its foes had the same number of penalties in all three game -- nine, six and five.
• Oklahoma has 29 more rushing attempts than its opponents, but 591 more yards.

Oklahoma's Most Recent Game
In just his 52nd home game, Bob Stoops picked up his 50th home victory, a 54-3 triumph over Utah State ...
• The Sooners scored points on six of their seven first-half possessions. OU logged 617 total yards (to just 153 for USU) to mark the 31st time in school history that it had surpassed 600.
• Sam Bradford connected on his first 11 passes (to run a consecutive completions string to 21) and finished 19-of-26 for 255 yards with three touchdowns and one interception.
• Allen Patrick rushed eight times for 113 yards and a 69-yard touchdown. DeMarco Murray rushed four times for 100 yards and a 92-yard TD, the third-longest rush in school history.
• Juaquin Iglesias caught eight passes for 123 yards and ran twice for 29 more. His first rush covered 35 yards for a touchdown on a double reverse.
• Malcolm Kelly caught six passes for 81 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
• Curtis Lofton led the defense with a career-high 12 tackles and an interception return of 45 yards for a touchdown.

Sooners Briefly
• Oklahoma was tabbed for a second-place finish in the Big 12's South Division in a preseason polling of league media. Defensive back Reggie Smith was named the league's preseason defensive player of the year.
• There are 34 players on this team with previous experience as a starter for OU. That's up from 10 from the same time last season.
 
Sooner Stuff
• Oklahoma is 50-2 at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium under Bob Stoops and has won its last 14 in a row there and 34 of its last 35. During Stoops's tenure, which included home winning streaks of 19 and 17 games, OU has registered six shutouts on Owen Field.
• The last 58 Oklahoma games have been televised. A very small number of those were carried on a pay-per-view or tape-delayed basis, but the vast majority were either over the air or on cable through widely recognized networks.
• Bob Stoops is 32-8 vs. non-league foes, 27-4 in regular season non-league games and 23-1 in non-conference home games.
• Oklahoma has played exclusive Football Bowl Subdivision (formerly I-A) opposition since Bob Stoops' opener in 1999 (a 49-0 win over I-AA Indiana State). The entire 2007 schedule is comprised of FBS competition.

Stoops Era Attendance
Oklahoma has drawn 4,159,261 for Bob Stoops' 52 home games (started in 1999).
• All 52 have been sold out and the Sooners have prevailed 50 times.
• Last year's average home attendance of 84,561 was the largest in school history. The top seven seasons for OU home attendance have come on Stoops' watch.
• The crowd of 85,357 for this year's Miami game is the largest in school history. The 84,472 for this year's North Texas game was the largest ever for an OU opener
• OU has exceeded its listed capacity of 82,112 in 26 consecutive games.

About the Offense

• Under Stoops, Oklahoma has produced its career leader in passing and receiving, while turning out the No. 3- and No. 4-ranked rusher in school history and the school record holder for single-season rushing.
• OU has scored at least one touchdown in every game dating back to Nov. 7, 1998.
• Under Stoops, OU has rushed for 200 yards 34 times, including 28 over the last five seasons.
• In the Stoops era, OU has 112 TDs of 25-plus yards and 231 scoring drives that took less than two minutes.
• OU's 2006 team missed perfect offensive balance by just 202 yards (2,682 passing, 2,480 rushing). The 2005 team missed it by just one yard and the 2003 squad was off by only 160.

Bradford Has Special Ties to OU and State
Sam Bradford earned the starting job in August ...
• Bradford is a certified Cherokee Indian. His great, great grandmother (father's side) was Susie Walkingstick. Oklahoma is home to more Native Americans (250,000+) than any other state.
• Bradford's father, Kent, was an offensive lineman at OU. He lettered in 1977 and 1978.
• Bradford completed his last 18 passes of the North Texas game and his first four against Miami. That string of 22 straight broke Jason White's school record of 18 and challenged the NCAA record of 24 set by Tennessee's Tee Martin. Bradford came back to hit his last 10 against Miami and his first 11 versus Utah State for a string of 21 in a row.

National Numbers
Oklahoma's offense has vaulted itself to the upper echelon of the NCAA statistical categories ...
• No. 1 in scoring with 61.3 per game.
• No. 3 in passing efficiency at 210.4.
• No. 3 in total offense with 565.3 yards per game.
• No. 6 in sacks allowed at .67 per game.
• No. 12 in passing offense with 324.0 yards per game.
• No. 13 in rushing offense with 241.3 yards per game.
• Sam Bradford is No. 3 in passing efficiency (219.5), Malcolm Kelly is No. 5 (14.0) points, DeMarco Murray is No. 9 in scoring (12.0) and Kelly is No. 15 in receiving yards (110.0).

Malcolm in the Middle... and on Slants ... and on Posts
Malcolm Kelly has 109 career receptions for 1,765 yards and 19 touchdowns. Kelly ranks No. 7 on OU's career receptions list, No. 5 on the receiving yards list and No. 2 on the receiving TDs list. Current Baltimore Raven Mark Clayton set the touchdown mark at 31.

Tight End Tandem
OU features one of the top tight end tandems in the nation in 6-6, 261-pound Joe Jon Finley and 6-5, 263-pound Jermaine Gresham. Last season, the two combined to average 1.9 receptions/game. Thus far in `07, they're averaging 5.3. In 2006, the tight ends had four touchdown grabs. In 2007 they already have three.

O-Line of Historical Proportions
With an average height of nearly 6-5 (76.6 inches) and 322.4 pounds this is one of the biggest offensive lines in Oklahoma history. During the Stoops era (since 1999) this is the heaviest line. The 2004 line tipped the scales at 307.8 pounds. By height, this is the third-tallest line of the Stoops era. The 2002 and 2003 lines both measured 77.2 inches.
• At 6-8, Phil Loadholt is tied as the tallest football player on record at Oklahoma, and the tallest starter. The only previous player at 6-8 was Chris Watkins, recruited in 1988 from Amarillo (Texas) HS. Watkins lettered in 1991, but never started. There have been 17 OU players at 6-7 (for research, only measurements from a player's final season at Oklahoma were used).

About the Defense

• OU has forced at least one turnover in 97 of Bob Stoops' 108 games and has at least one interception in 71 of the last 94. There have multiple picks in 27 of their last 64 outings.
• Opponents completed 50 percent or more of their passes in less than half of their games against Stoops-coached OU teams -- 52 times in 107 games.
• Oklahoma has nine shutouts under its current head coach. Opponents failed to score more than seven points 28 times and scored less than 14 in 54 games.
• Last season, only two of the 14 opponents reached their scoring average in games against Oklahoma and just two were able to exceed their average total yardage figure. After game three, only one team exceeded its scoring average and none met their yardage number.
 
Defense Surging in NCAA Rankings
• No. 1 in tackles for loss at 11.3 per game.
• No. 2 in total defense at 179.7 yards per game.
• No. 5 in rushing defense at 44.3 yards per game.
• No. 6 in scoring defense at 8.7.
• No. 9 in pass efficiency defense at 88.0
• No. 12 in sacks at 3.33 per game.
• No. 14 in pass defense at 135.3 yards per game.

A History of Great Defense
Oklahoma consistently ranks among nation's best in the key NCAA statistics of total defense and scoring defense. Here is a look at those Sooner rankings under its current head coach ...
2006: No. 16 in total defense (287.1), No. 20 in scoring defense (17.3)
2005: No. 13 in total defense (306.7), No. 37 in scoring defense (23.1)
2004: No. 13 in total defense (299.0), No. 11 in scoring defense (16.8)
2003: No. 3 in total defense (259.6), No. 5 in scoring defense (15.3)
2002: No. 10 in total defense (293.1), No. 6 in scoring defense (15.4)
2001: No. 4 in total defense (262.8), No. 4 in scoring defense (13.8)
2000: No. 8 in total defense (278.9), No. 7 in scoring defense (16.0)
1999: No. 39 in total defense (344.4), No. 16 in scoring defense (18.4)

Paper of Plastic?
Oklahoma is averaging 3.3 sacks per game. That average over a 12-game schedule would amount to 40 sacks, which is within striking distance of the school record of 48 set in 1986.

Touchy, Feely Defense
OU defenders have touched the ball 16 times with eight PBUs, five interceptions and three fumble recoveries. OU is averaging 20.1 yards on INT/fumble returns with three touchdowns.

Stoops Era Staple: Run Defense
Nineteen times, Bob Stoops-coached Oklahoma teams have held opponents under 40 rushing yards in a game. Four times the total has resulted in negative yards. Last season, thanks in part to five sacks, the Sooners limited Baylor to -48 yards on the ground. That was the best single-game rushing defense performance by any team in the nation in 2006 and the best by an Oklahoma team during the Stoops Era.
• OU has ranked no worse than 23rd in national rushing defense over the last seven seasons. Three times in that span it ranked among the top 10 and six times it was among the top 20.

About the Special Teams

Oklahoma's special teams under Bob Stoops ...
• There have been 24 special teams TD, including 17 in the last 57 regular season games. Those 17 came via five different kinds of plays -- 10 punt returns, two faked FGs, two blocked punts, two kickoff returns and a faked punt. The special teams also own one safety in that span.
• In total, OU has returned six kickoffs and 14 punts for TDs on Stoops' watch (since 1999).
• The Sooners have blocked 20 kicks.
• This season, OU ranks No. 8 in kickoff returns at 29.2 per return.

Hartley Showing Off Big Leg
Garrett Hartley, who made a 53-yard field goal vs. Utah State, is averaging 67.9 yards per kickoff (ball lands at the two yard line) with eight touchbacks in 30 attempts. To put that in perspective, opposing kickers average 62.3 yards per kickoff and have no touchbacks.
• Opposing teams are averaging just 18.9 yards per return after Hartley's kickoffs. OU is averaging 29.2 yards per kickoff return.
• Hartley tied a school record when he made 11 point after touchdown kicks in the opener.

Many Happy Returns
Information on returns during the Stoops era ...
• Kickoff Returns -- 54 returns of 25 yards or more with six TD.
• Punt Returns -- 46 returns of 15 or more yards with 14 TD.
• Interception Returns -- 61 returns of 10 or more yards with 19 TD.
• Fumble Returns -- Four returns of 15 or more yards with four TD.

Got-R-Covered
• Over the last three seasons, OU's average rank in NCAA KO return coverage was No. 10. The 2005 team was No. 15 and the 2004 team was No. 4. Last season, the Sooners ranked No. 13. Prior to Bob Stoops' arrival, opposing teams averaged at least 22 yards/KO return in five straight seasons. Since he arrived, the best opposing average was 18.9 in 2001.
• OU has ranked among the top 10 in punt return defense in five of the last seven seasons. Last season, the team ranked No. 9 at 4.2 yards per punt return. The longest punt return by an opposing player was 14 yards. The 2006 campaign marked the third in a row in which the Sooners held their opponents to less than 5.0 yards per punt return.

Two-Headed Punter
Oklahoma used two punters last season and both return ...
• Michael Cohen handled long kicks and averaged 41.0 yards. He had a long of 75 yards and another of 72. Nine of his kicks traveled at least 50 yards and he spread those over six games.
• Mike Knall kicked on a short field and averaged 39.7 yards per boot with nine of his 11 tries downed inside the 20. He had only one touchback.

Sooners Have Hart-ley
K Garrett Hartley was one of three finalists for the Lou Groza Award and is on the watch list for that award again this year ...
• Hartley was 19-of-20 on field goals and 49-of-50 on PATs in 2006. His lone field goal miss was a blocked kick at Oregon. He kicked off 78 times with 31 touchbacks.
• His field goal made percentage of .950 was tops in the nation among kickers with at least 10 makes. He made his last 11 attempts of the season.
• Hartley ranked No. 20 nationally in field goals made per game with 1.36 and was No. 21 in scoring with 7.57 points per game.
• Hartley made a career-high four field goals at Oregon.
• Hartley has four career makes of 50 yards or longer. His long last season was 46 yards, which he accomplished twice.

Oklahoma Head Coach Bob Stoops

History is one tough customer at Oklahoma. The tradition, so rich and so long-standing, is as daunting as it is impressive. To be among the best at Oklahoma is to be among the best in college football.

Such dramatics are lost on Bob Stoops. The Sooner head coach befriended the would-be albatross of OU's successful past from his first day on campus and remains steadfastly focused on tomorrow and the championship it holds.

It falls then to the observers and experts of the game to define Stoops' impact. Rarely have the pundits had it so easy.

Under Stoops, Oklahoma has won 88 games (88-19), been ranked for 120 weeks in the AP Poll (69 consecutive at one point) and 1198 in the USA Today Coaches Poll, played in seven bowl games, four of the BCS variety, and captured three Big 12 crowns. His 2000 team won the national championship. On a playing field leveled by scholarship limits and parity, this era stares down the Oklahoma standard and does not blink.

The achievement dulls the memory of what Stoops inherited. When he arrived in Norman, the proud Sooner program was five years removed from a winning record, four from bowl play. Those atypical days of angst are so forgotten now that they might as well be mentioned with the land rush and dust bowl.

Stoops has been characterized as a grounded family man, brilliant big-game coach, relentless recruiter, disciplined leader and a person with uncommon perspective. His success emanates from a disciplined style true to his roots in the Steel Valley of Ohio, but he is far from inflexible. The principles to which he holds are the tried and true axioms of the sport ... mixed with cutting edge strategy and an appreciation for the calculated risk.

During his time, OU has produced record-setting passers and receivers, three 1,000-yard rushers, suffocating defense and special teams units that rank among the most dynamic in the land. Every facet has been impacted.

His players have snagged 16 national awards, including the 2003 Heisman Trophy won by Jason White. There have been 58 academic honorees, 53 All-Big 12 players, 22 All-Americans and 32 NFL draft choices.

Stoops has won a total of 10 national coach of the year awards and has been consensus Big 12 Coach of the year in three times.

The son of a coach, Stoops was a four-year starter at Iowa. He began his coaching career in 1983 as a volunteer in the Hawkeye program under Hayden Fry. He worked through the ranks until he became co-defensive coordinator at Kansas State (1991-95) during Bill Snyder's rein.

With the Wildcats, he played a key role in an impressive turnaround. During his final four seasons there, K-State was 35-12 with three bowl appearances. Eventually, he left for Florida and a three-year stint as Steve Spurrier's defensive coordinator. In 1996, he was part of a national championship team. It was with the Gators that the spotlight found Stoops and made him one of the hottest names in the profession.

Stoops, who was born Sept. 9, 1960, in Youngstown, Ohio, graduated from Iowa in 1983 with a degree in marketing. He and his wife, Carol, have three children: daughter, Mackenzie, and twin sons, Drake and Isaac.

Individual Player Notes

LB Lewis Baker: One of the top special teams contributors and the wedge-breaker on kickoffs ... started against Miami and had five tackles.

DT Cory Bennett: Got a start against Miami.

OT Branndon Braxton: Started in games one and three.

P Michael Cohen: Handles long punting situations for OU ... averaged 43.5 yards on two punts in the opener, 43.0 in week two.

DT Steven Coleman: Started against Utah State.

C Jon Cooper: The starter at center, he is the most experienced of OU's linemen.

DE Alonzo Dotson: Got his first career start against Miami and logged one of the Sooners' two sacks.

DE Auston English: Played sparingly in 2005, then redshirted the following season ... got his first career start against North Texas and responded with four tackles and one sack.

TE Joe Jon Finley: Has added 41 pounds since coming to OU ... TD grab vs. Utah State.

DT DeMarcus Granger: Starting assignments vs. North Texas and Utah State.

TE Jermaine Gresham: Eight a career-high eight receptions vs. Miami and one of those went for a touchdown.

RB Jacob Gutierrez: Went over 500 career rushing yards in the North Texas game.

QB Joey Halzle: Was 4-of-5 for 40 yards with no interceptions while playing a back-up role in the opener ... threw his first career TD pass when he hooked up with Adron Tennell on 61-yarder against Miami.

DB Nic Harris: Starter at FS, he returned an interception 24 yards for a TD vs. North Texas.

K Garrett Hartley: Tied a school record with 11 PATs vs. North Texas ... four-year starter.

DB Lendy Holmes: Started at WR, moved to CB and is now a safety.

WR Juaquin Iglesias: Team highs with seven grabs for 128 yards vs. North Texas ... three kickoff returns for 110 yards, the ninth-highest yardage total in school history, against Miami ... eight catches for 123 yards and a 35-yard TD run vs. Utah State.

WR Manuel Johnson: One catch for five yards in the opener ... had his first career pass attempt and completion against Miami when he hit Malcolm Kelly on a 25-yarder.

WR Malcolm Kelly: Brilliant in the North Texas game with four grabs for 118 yards and two TD ... four catches for 102 yards and three touchdowns against Miami ... six catches for 81 yards and two TD vs. Utah State.

P Mike Knall: Handles short field punting situations ... had both of OU's punts vs. Utah State.

LB Curtis Lofton: Career high 12 tackles vs. Utah State and a 45-yard interception return for a TD ... leading tackler for OU with 28.

RB Mossis Madu: Tied DeMarco Murray for rushing honors against North Texas with 87 yards (1 TD) on nine attempts.

QB Hays McEachern: Holder on OU placements.

RB DeMarco Murray: Scored five touchdowns against North Texas, all via rushing, to set an OU record for most TDs in a debut game ... led OU with 15 rushes for 64 yards vs. Miami ... four rushes for 100 yards, including a 92-yard TD (third-longest in OU history) vs. Utah State.

QB Keith Nichol: True Freshman was the No. 3 QB against North Texas when he rushed once for eight yards ... also saw action against Utah State.

RB Allen Patrick: Could have played in the opener, but was held out ... carried seven times for 47 yards against Miami ... carried eight times for 113 yards and a 69-yard TD vs. Utah State.

LB Ryan Reynolds: Got his first career start against North Texas and finished with three tackles and one sack ... six tackles vs. Miami ... nine stops, three for loss, vs. Utah State.

OL Duke Robinson: Versatile sophomore who could play guard or tackle ... starter at LG.

CB Reggie Smith: In his first full year at corner ... preseason Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year ... also a kick and punt returner ... 61-yard fumble return for a touchdown against Miami ... has three career touchdowns.

WR Adron Tennell: Silky smooth back-up to Malcolm Kelly, he had three catches for 35 yards against North Texas ... 61-yard touchdown reception from Joey Halzle against Miami.

CB Marcus Walker: Has battled back from two shoulder surgeries to become on of the top corners in the Big 12 ... broke up two passes against Miami.

FS Darien Williams: Slowed by leg injury after a productive 2006.

DE John Williams: Got his first career start in the opener ... was sidelined in 2005 by a knee injury and in 2006 by illness ... forced the fumble that Reggie Smith returned 61 yards for a touchdown against Miami.

CB D.J. Wolfe: Moved to strong safety during preseason drills and was so impressive that he won the starting job.

FB Dane Zaslaw: The former linebacker is now in his second season as a fullback ... got his first career touchdown on a nine-yard reception against Miami.