Sooners Face Brown, Buffaloes In Matchup Of Big 12 Leaders

Oct 30, 2002

No Big 12 team has been able to stop Chris Brown. It is starting to look like Oklahoma is going to get two chances to do it.

Brown leads No. 13 Colorado into Norman on Saturday to face second-ranked Oklahoma in a possible preview of the Big 12 championship game.

The Buffaloes (6-2, 4-0) have won five straight games and are in control of the Big 12's North Division. No other team has fewer than two losses.

The key to that surge has been Brown, who leads the nation in rushing with 162.9 yards per game. He has scored 14 touchdowns and averages 6.9 yards per carry.

Brown has rushed for more than 100 yards in five straight games, the longest streak at Colorado since Heisman Trophy winner Rashaan Salaam closed the 1994 season with nine straight games.

Behind Brown, the Buffaloes seem to be peaking on offense. Colorado has scored 30 or more points in all five games of its winning streak, its longest stretch of 30-plus points since the 1994-95 seasons. The Buffaloes hadn't score 30 or more five straight times in the same season since a six-game streak in 1989.

However, they have yet to face a defense like Oklahoma's. The Sooners (7-0, 3-0) are second in the nation in total defense, allowing 252.3 yards per game. They limit teams to 99 yards rushing and 13.1 points per game.

"They are a really good football team, but we have some weapons, too," Colorado offensive lineman Wayne Lucier said. "It will be a really tough place to play in, but if we come out and play our style, Colorado football, then I really like our chances."

Oklahoma leads the Big 12 South by a half-game over Texas. The Sooners hold the tiebreaker because they beat the Longhorns.

The Sooners were off last week and come off perhaps their two most important victories of the season. After beating then-No. 3 Texas in Dallas on Oct. 12, Oklahoma destroyed then-No. 9 Iowa State 49-3 on Oct. 19.

Oklahoma has been the top-rated team in the Bowl Championship Series standings in each of the first two weeks. The Sooners are playing their third straight game against a top-15 team.

Colorado is 8-0-1 against Oklahoma since 1989. The Sooners haven't beaten the Buffaloes since 1988, when Barry Switzer was still their coach. The nine games is the longest winless streak Oklahoma has ever had against an opponent.

Of course, the Sooners went through a down period during much of the 1990s, but have returned to the top of college football since Bob Stoops' arrival in 1999.

"Since coach Switzer left in '88, we hadn't beaten much of anybody that was ranked," Stoops said.

"I think it's fair to assume that we're a little bit different team right now in the last couple of years than we were through that time."