OU Moving Cody for Maximum Effect

NORMAN, Okla. -- Dan Cody rose from his three-point stance and bounced to the inside and back to the outside as Kansas quarterback Adam Barmann went through his snap count.

Barmann took the ball, dropped back and an unblocked Cody smothered him for a 3-yard loss late in the third quarter of No. 2 Oklahoma's 41-10 win over Kansas.

"Dan's a great rusher," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "He has great tenacity in the way he turns the corner, and he's making lots of big plays. It has helped us in those long yardage situations."

Dan Cody Bio | Sooner Gameday Central: Oklahoma State

Oklahoma has been moving Cody around in recent games to make the Sooners' top defensive playmaker more difficult to block and to put more pressure on opposing quarterbacks.

The Sooners need as much production as they can get from Cody, a defensive end, after losing star tackles Tommie Harris after last season and Dusty Dvoracek this year. Dvoracek was dismissed from the team before the Oregon game Sept. 18.

"There's nothing magical about it," Stoops said. "What we're doing is using our players wisely and giving them opportunities to make plays."

Against Kansas, Cody responded with two sacks and two other tackles behind the line of scrimmage for Jayhawks losses of 13 yards. He had two sacks for 16 yards lost in Oklahoma's win over Kansas State the week before.

"He has made a major difference," Stoops said. "He's a great rusher. He's a great run defender. He's a great player."

Stoops credited new defensive coordinator Bo Pelini, hired this offseason from Nebraska, with the idea to shuffle Cody around. He said Pelini had done it during his nine years in the NFL.

But Stoops said he did similar things with Jevon Kearse, now of the Philadelphia Eagles, when Kearse was a player and Stoops the defensive coordinator at Florida.

Cody is now second in the Big 12 in sacks with five, all in the Sooners' last three games. Missouri's Brian Smith leads the conference with six. In all, Cody has 8.5 tackles-for-a-loss of 40 yards.

The senior Cody now anchors, along with linebacker Lance Mitchell, a Sooners defense charged with stopping Vernand Morency and No. 20 Oklahoma State's vaunted rushing attack Saturday.

The Cowboys are averaging 269.4 yards per game and will go up against an Oklahoma defense that's playing with new starters at defensive tackle. Still, the Sooners lead the conference in rushing defense, allowing just 76.4 yards per game.

"They are the most talented and physical defense that we've faced," Cowboys coach Les Miles said. "They're well-coached, organized, no obvious weaknesses. It's a tremendous team, a tremendous defense."

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