OU Welcomes Huskers to Norman

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma completes a three-week stretch against the Big 12 North when it hosts Nebraska on Saturday night at 7 at Owen Field. The Sooners have won two straight, while the Huskers, after a three-game skid, have won two in a row.

ESPN will broadcast the game live to the nation with Mike Patrick calling the action and Todd Blackledge providing analysis. Holly Rowe will report from the sideline.

Visit Sooner Gameday Central to view complete information for fans attending the game in Norman plus TV, radio and internet options for fans following the Sooners across the nation.

SoonerSports.com will again bring fans the Sooner Gameday Blog live from Owen Field on Saturday night. The feature provides instantaneous reaction from the field as the game unfolds including observations from our staff, notes from the media relations staff in the press box and fan emails during the game.

Sooner Gameday Central: OU vs. Nebraska | Sooner Gameday Blog | McBride Scouting Report | Boomer Bytes

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The Series
Oklahoma leads it 43-37-3, including a 22-16 mark in Norman. Oklahoma has won the last three meetings in the series, one in Norman, one in Lincoln and most recently in the 2006 Big 12 Championship Game at Kansas City (21-7).

The Coaches
Oklahoma: Bob Stoops (Iowa '83) is 104-23 in his 10th season with the Sooners. He is 68-14 vs. the Big 12, 36-10 vs. the Big 12 South, 30-4 vs. the Big 12 North, 5-1 in the Big 12 title game, 36-9 vs. non-conference opponents, 58-2 at home, 30-11 on the road, 16-10 on neutral fields, 30-12 vs. ranked opponents, 4-5 in bowls, 3-4 in January Bowls and 2-4 in BCS games. He is 4-1 against Nebraska. Nebraska: Bo Pelini (Ohio State '90) is 5-3 in his first season as the Cornhuskers' head coach.

The Program
• Oklahoma's all-time record stands at 786-296-53.
• The Sooners own seven national championships (1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000).
• OU has 41 bowl appearances (No. 7 nationally) with 24 victories (No. 4 nationally).
• Oklahoma has won 41 conference titles.
• Since WWII, Oklahoma is the most successful college football program with 551 victories.
• Some 144 All-Americans and four Heisman Trophy winners have come from the Oklahoma program.
• OU leads the nation in 10-win seasons with 30 overall.
• Oklahoma's best decade for total victories came in the 1970s when the Sooners were 102-13-3 (.877). In the 2000s, OU is 97-18-0 (.843).
• Oklahoma Football History & Tradition

Game of the Century Reunion
This weekend will feature a reunion for both schools from the 1971 Game of the Century played in Norman. Nebraska, ranked No. 1 at that time, defeated No. 2 Oklahoma, 35-31. On Friday, night the former players and coaches will enjoy a reception and dinner, then on Saturday, they'll be introduced to the sellout crowd. Some 38 former Oklahoma players and coaches and 22 former Nebraska players and coaches are expected to attend. Among those expected back are Chuck Fairbanks, Barry Switzer, Greg Pruitt, Tom Brahaney and Jon Harrison from OU, and Tom Osborne, Johnny Rodgers, Jeff Kinney and Larry Jacobson from NU.

More on the OU-Nebraska Series
• Oklahoma and Nebraska played every year from 1928-1997 before Big 12 divisional play interrupted the long-standing series.
• This rivalry flourished during its Big Eight days (1959-1995). During those 36 seasons, Oklahoma or Nebraska won or shared the league crown 31 times including 27 consecutive seasons from 1962-88.

Ties With This Week's Opponent
• Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini was co-defensive coordinator at OU in 2004. He was childhood friends with Bob Stoops as both grew up in Youngstown, Ohio. The same holds true for Pelini's brother, Carl, NU's defensive coordinator, and NU RB Coach Tim Beck. The Pelini's, Beck and Stoops attended Cardinal Mooney HS.
• Oklahoma Assistant Offensive Coordinator and Wide Receivers Coach Jay Norvell was offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Nebraska from 2004-06.
• Nebraska LB Coach Mike Ekeler played at Kansas State from 1991-94. That time overlapped with Bob Stoops' term as assistant and with OU Defensive Coordinator Brent Venables, who played and then GA'd during that time.
• Nebraska Running Backs Coach Tim Beck was on the K-State staff when Venables was playing for the Wildcats.
• OU Director of Sports Enhancement Jerry Schmidt is a native of Harvard, Neb., and a 1986 Nebraska graduate.
• Oklahoma Defensive Ends Coach Jackie Shipp and Nebraska Offensive Coordinator Shawn Watson coached together at Southern Illinois from 1994-96 while Watson was the Salukis' head coach.
• The lone Nebraskan on the OU roster is TE Kolby Smith from Pender. He made his first career reception, a two-yard touchdown grab, against Kansas.

Tradition Abounds when Oklahoma and Nebraska Meet
• Oklahoma: Seven national championships, 41 conference crowns, 144 All-Americans, four Heisman winners.
• Nebraska: Five national championships, 43 conference crowns, 106 All-Americans, three Heisman winners.

Oklahoma's Most Recent Game | Oklahoma 58, Kansas State 35
Blog | Pics | Video
Oklahoma blasted Kansas State in Manhattan last Saturday, 58-35 ...
• OU led 28-7 before being tied at 28. The Sooners then reeled off 27 unanswered points.
• Oklahoma established a school record with 55 first-half points. The total tied the mark for any half.
• The Sooners did most of their damage on the ground with 273 yards and four touchdowns. Chris Brown carried 20 times for 142 yards, while DeMarco Murray rushed 17 times for 104 yards.
• Murray scored four touchdowns, two via the rush and two on receptions. He also had a 37-yard kickoff return.
• Sam Bradford completed 13-of-32 passes for 255 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions.
• Wildcat quarterback Josh Freeman completed 29-of-51 passes for 478 yards and three touchdowns, but he was intercepted three times, twice by linebacker Travis Lewis, and was sacked twice. In total, Kansas State committed five turnovers.
• Ryan Broyles returned a punt 68 yards for a touchdown, the first punt return for TD at OU since 2006.

Oklahoma and the Big 12
• OU's all-time Big 12 regular season record is 70-29, 75-30 if counting title games. Stoops is 62-13 in the regular season, 67-14 counting all. Before he arrived, OU's Big 12 mark was 8-16.
• Oklahoma has won five Big 12 titles. That's more than double any other league member.

Washington Victory No. 100 for Coach Stoops
Oklahoma's 55-14 victory at Washington on Sept. 13, represented an historic milestone of 100 victories for Sooner head coach Bob Stoops ...
• Stoops became the eighth-fastest coach to 100 victories in NCAA history by doing so in 122 games, the same number it took for former OU head coach Barry Switzer to hit the mark. Another OU great, Bud Wilkinson, picked up his 100th victory in game 111. He is No. 3 on the list.
• Oklahoma is the only school in NCAA history to produce four, 100-win coaches. The others are Bennie Owen (122-54-165 from 1905-26), Wilkinson (145-29-4 from 1947-63) and Switzer (157-29-4 from 1973-88).
• Stoops is only the second coach in NCAA history, and the first in the modern era, to win 100 games in his first 10 seasons. His victory total, regardless of what it is at season's end, will rank No. 2 in NCAA history for 10 seasons. Penn's George Woodruff holds the mark at 124 wins. His 10th season was 1901. Switzer is third on that list at 98.
• Stoops is one of three coaches with an average of 10 victories per season with at least 10 seasons of coaching. The others were Tom Osborne (255 in 25 seasons at Nebraska) and George Woodruff (142 in 12 seasons, mostly at Penn).
• Stoops' teams are 102-22 with one national title and five league crowns in 10 seasons (9+). In the 10 years before he arrived in Norman, the OU football fortunes had taken a rare dip. The program was 61-50-3 with no championships and only three bowl trips.

Marquee Matchups Await OU on Future Schedules | Future Schedules
Non-conference games on future schedules include at Miami (Fla.) in 2009, at Florida State (2011), Notre Dame (2012), at Notre Dame (2013), Tennessee (2014), at Tennessee (2015), Ohio State (2016), at Ohio State (2017) and LSU in 2018 and 2019. Under Stoops, Oklahoma already played Louisville, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Alabama (twice), UCLA (twice), Oregon (twice), Washington (twice), South Florida and Miami (Fla.) in regular season contests.

New Video Board in Debut Season
• The board measures 113.5 feet wide by 32.5 feet tall (3,689 square feet). The previous video board space on the south end board was 36X21 (756 square feet). It is thought that the new board is the fourth-largest in the nation.
• The board is 16mm High Definition.
• Cost of the new board was $4.5 million.
• The project included a new sound system, the extension of the ribbon boards on the upper decks and a new Sooner Vision high definition control room, which carried a price tag of $2 million.

Stoops Era Yielding Record Attendance
Oklahoma has drawn 4,753,383 fans for Bob Stops' 59 home games (started in 1999) ...
• All 59 have been sold out and the Sooners have prevailed 57 times.
• Last year's average home attendance of 84,858 was the largest in school history. The top eight seasons for OU home attendance have come on Stoops' watch.
• The crowd of 85,357 for the '07 Miami game was the largest to see a sporting event in the state of Oklahoma.
• OU has exceeded its listed capacity of 82,112 in 33 consecutive games.
• Oklahoma has played before sellout crowds in 104 of Stoops' 126 games. A total of 9,282,288, or an average of 73,668, has seen those games.
• Oklahoma Sets Attendance Records at Memorial Stadium

Home Field Honchos
Bob Stoops' teams are 59-2 at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and have won their last 23 in a row there (longest current home field winning streak in the nation), and 43 of their last 44. The current streak is the longest under Stoops, who has twice coached the Sooners to 19 straight wins at home, and is tied for second-longest in school history. The top mark at Oklahoma was 25, a string that ended in 1953. A streak of 21 ended in 1975 and another of 20 ended in 1957.

About the Offense

• Under Stoops, OU produced its career leader in passing and receiving, while turning out the No. 3 and No. 4 career rushers and the school record holder for single-season rushing, passing and receiving yards.
• Of 81 basic offensive records at OU, 52 have been set under Stoops.
• OU scored at least one TD in every game dating to Nov. 7, 1998.
• Oklahoma rushed for 200 yards 38 times under Stoops, 32 in the last five years.
• Also under Stoops, OU has 130 touchdowns of 25+ yards and 260 scoring drives that took less than two minutes.
• OU is the highest scoring program in college football history. In 1,134 games, the Sooners scored 30,105 points, or 26.5 per game. Michigan has 29,454 points in 1,200 games and Nebraska 29,310 in 1,196.

Offense in 2008
• The Sooners have been over 500 yards of total offense five times. The best total was 674 yards against Kansas, the most total yardage by an OU team since 829 against Kansas State in 1988.
• Oklahoma set a school record for points scored in a first half when it tallied 55 at Kansas State. The previous best was 52 against Rice in 1978. The 55 points tied the OU record for points in any half. Oklahoma also had 55 against KSU in 1942.
• OU has scored 50 first-half points twice this season. The Sooners also did it with 50 against Tennessee-Chattanooga. In the modern era (since 1937), the Sooners have scored 50 or more first-half points four times -- twice this season.
• Oklahoma ran 97 plays against Kansas, the most by a Sooner team since 102 against Oregon in 1975.
• OU has 11 scoring drives of 60 seconds or less.
• The Sooners have scored 28 points in a quarter twice this season (first quarter at Baylor and at Kansas State) to equal the second-best total in school history. The record is 35 set against Texas A&M in 2003.
• Oklahoma had 36 first downs against Kansas, 30 against Cincinnati.
• With 55 points at Washington and 58 at Kansas State, Oklahoma has eclipsed 50 points on the road twice this season. That has not happened since 2003 when the team got 53 at Iowa State and 56 at Texas Tech. That same year, the Sooners scored 65 on a neutral field when they defeated Texas, 65-13, at Dallas.
• Two more rushers went over 1,000 yards for their career this season. Chris Brown was the 66th player at OU to do so, DeMarco Murray the 67th.
• Oklahoma rolled up 438 yards of total offense against a TCU defense that hasn't surrendered more than 297 to any other opponent.

Sam Summation
• Sam Bradford threw for 3,121 yards, 36 touchdowns and eight interceptions in 14 games last season. Through eight games this season, he has 2,775 yards with 29 touchdowns and five picks.
• Against Kansas, he set an OU record for passing yards in a game with 468. The previous mark of 429 was set by Bradford's position coach, Josh Heupel, in a 1999 game against Louisville.
• He has set an NCAA record for touchdown passes during the freshman/sophomore seasons (65). Florida's Rex Grossman held the mark (55).
• In '08, he averages one touchdown pass every 9.3 attempts; one interception every 54.0 attempts (less than one/game).
• Bradford has seven completions that exceeded 50 yards. All seven went for touchdowns.
• The OU QB threw two picks each against Cincinnati and Texas. He also threw five TDs in each of those games.

Since Sam
OU has played 22 games since Sam Bradford was named the starting QB, although he missed nearly all of the '07 Texas Tech game due to injury. Here is a look at OU's production in the other 21 games, in which the team has a record of 18-3, a Big 12 title and BCS Bowl appearance ...
• OU averaged 39.3 points per game and eclipsed 50 points eight times.
• He averaged 3.3 touchdown passes/game, while completing 407-of-579 passes (.703) with 62 TDs and 13 INT.
• Oklahoma averaged 430.5 yards total yards per game.
• He threw for 300+ yards eight times and 400+ twice in an offense that also averaged 183.8 rushing yards.
• Threw multiple TDs in 18 games with five each vs. Miami (Fla.), Texas A&M, Cincinnati, Washington and Texas.

Senior Receivers Putting Up Big Numbers
In Juaquin Iglesias and Manuel Johnson, OU has two of its top receivers in school history. Iglesias is No. 2 in both receptions (172) and yards (2,457) while Johnson is No. 9 (110) and No. 11 (1,570) respectively.
• Johnson had seven touchdown receptions over the TCU, Baylor and Texas games with at least one in each. Malcolm Kelly, who had seven against North Texas, Miami and Utah State, was the only other OU player to accomplish that feat.
• Iglesias has a career total of 3,691 all purpose yards, which ranks No. 11 on the career list at Oklahoma.
• Iglesias has catches in 40 straight games (third-longest in nation, Jarrett Dillard, Rice, 44; Casey Flair, UNLV, 43).
• Iglesias' string of six straight games with a TD catch was snapped vs. Texas. Mark Clayton holds the OU best (8).

Touchdowns Germane to Jermaine
Jermaine Gresham has more TD catches than any tight end in OU history. He has 19, including seven in '08.
• Gresham is striking from longer distance in 2008. Last season, he averaged 13.8 yards per touchdown catch, but that figure has ballooned to 29.3 this season.

The Line on the Line
This offensive line two-deep averages 6-5 (77.1 inches) and 302.8 pounds. During the Stoops era this is the third-heaviest and third-tallest line. This line (two-deep) has combined for 170 starts, 246 games played.

Good Handles
Oklahoma lost its first fumble of the season in game eight at Kansas State. Chris Brown lost the handle with 5:08 remaining in the fourth quarter on a rushing play. That means the Sooners rushed 341 times before losing a fumble. Including receptions and kickoff, punt, interception and fumble returns, OU handed the ball 571 times before losing a fumble.

Offensive Miscellany
• OU is No. 1 in the nation in Red Zone Scoring (42-43) with 40 TD.
• Sam Bradford is completing 63% of his passes on third down with 28 first downs and 10 touchdowns.
• Four different receivers have at least six third-down receptions.
• OU has now gone two full games and 91 pass attempts (dating back to Texas game) since surrendering a sack.
• Oklahoma's 27 TD passes have gone to seven different receivers.
• OU has completed passes to 17 receivers, which ranks No. 3 nationally.
• Matt Clapp's seven rushing attempts rank No. 2 for a FB under Stoops.
• DeMarco Murray, the starter at RB, has 92 carries for 437 yards and five TDs. Back-ups Chris Brown and Mossis Madu have a combined 128 tries for 549 yards and nine TDs.

About the Defense

• OU forced at least one turnover in 111 of Bob Stoops' 127 games and has at least one interception in 81 of the last 110; multiple picks in 35 of the last 81 outings.
• Oklahoma has nine shutouts under its current head coach. Opponents scored less than seven points 30 times and less than 14 in 57 games.

No Easy Road for the Defense
Oklahoma has or will play six teams that are currently ranked among the top 20 nationally in total offense. Similarly, OU has or will play six teams that are currently ranked among the top 25 nationally in scoring offense.

Defensive Miscellany
• Over the last two seasons, OU has 56 sacks (2.5/game) while allowing 21 (1.0/game). In '08, the ratio is 29:8.
• While giving up more yards and points than normal, it should be noted that over the last two games, Oklahoma's defense has forced seven turnovers while logging eight sacks.
• OU ranks No. 7 nationally in third-down defense. Opponents have converted just 29-of-102.
• Oklahoma has 58 tackles for 249 yards in losses compared with just 29 for 103 by the opponents.

Weak Freak
Travis Lewis is having a banner redshirt freshman season at weak side linebacker. The redshirt freshman leads the team with 84 tackles, 19 of which came against Texas when he tied the freshman single-game set by Brian Bosworth in the 1984 Nebraska game.
• Bosworth also has the freshman season tackle record at 133 followed by Darrell Reed with 90 and Kevin Murphy with 87. Reed and Murphy were defensive ends.
• Among linebackers, Lewis already has the No. 2 season by tackles for an OU freshman. Bosworth had 133 followed by Lewis then Rocky Calmus with 55, Chris Justice with 47 and then Dante Jones and Lewis with 41. Both Bosworth (twice) and Calmus won the Butkus Award as the nation's top linebacker.

Sooners Lose Reynolds to Injury
Starting MLB Ryan Reynolds will miss the remainder of the season after incurring a right knee injury against Texas (game six). The junior concluded the campaign with 46 total tackles, five for loss with two pass deflections and one fumble forced. Reynolds was the only player on OU's team that came into the season with a previous Sooner starting assignment at linebacker.

Takeaways a Group Project
Oklahoma ranks No. 10 nationally in turnover margin (+1.13) with seven turnovers and 16 takeaways ...
• Over the last two games, OU has one turnover against seven takeaways. The Sooners had a season-high five takeaways at Kansas State (three interceptions and two fumble recoveries).
• Seven different players have forced a fumble.
• Four players have fumble recoveries, although FS Lendy Holmes, CB Brian Jackson and DT DeMarcus Granger each have two.
• The nine INTs thus far have been made by four different players.

He's New, Sorta
First-year Sooner Mike Balogun was born Sept. 28, 1983, and is 24 years old. Former OU players C.J. Ah You (2006) and Billy Sims (1979) were 24 during their senior seasons. Players of that age were typical after WWII. Since that time, the oldest Sooner football player was DL Dick Passo, who was 26 when he played in 1968. Balogun started at Kansas State.

More Than Run Stoppers
Defensive ends and blitzers tend to be associated with the sack, but the Sooner interior has played a role in that statistic too. OU's four-man defensive tackle rotation has a combined career total of 20.5 career sacks, and a DT has been credited with a full or have sack in seven games this season.

About the Special Teams

Oklahoma's special teams under Bob Stoops (since 1999) ...
• There have been 26 special teams TDs, including 20 in the last 68 regular season games. Those 20 came via five different kinds of plays -- 11 punt returns, two faked field goals, two blocked punts, four kickoff returns and a faked punt. Special teams also own one safety in that span.
• OU has returned eight kickoffs and 15 punts for touchdowns.
• The Sooners have blocked 21 kicks.

Many Happy Returns
Information on returns during the Stoops era ...
• Kickoff Returns --83 returns of 25 yards or more with eight touchdowns.
• Punt Returns -- 51 returns of 15 or more yards with 15 touchdowns.
• Interception Returns -- 72 returns of 10 or more yards with 20 touchdowns.
• Fumble Returns -- four returns of 15 or more yards with five touchdowns.

Oklahoma Led Nation in Kickoff Returns
Oklahoma is No. 14 in KOR average (24.626). OU led the nation for '07 with an average of 28.27 yards per return ...
• The Sooners had 19 kickoff returns that covered at least 30 yards.
• Four different players had a return of more than 35 yards.
• All five players who returned kicks last season averaged at least 24 yards.
• DeMarco Murray ran 81 yards for a touchdown against Tulsa on the second kickoff return of his college career. His first came earlier in that same game. He then went for 91 yards and a touchdown against Baylor.

Broyles Hits National Charts
PR Ryan Broyles now ranks No. 12 nationally in punt returns with 12 attempts for an average of 14.8 yards.

Mike Knall Emerges at Punter
Mike Knall won the starting job in the 10th game (vs. Baylor) of the 2007 season and held it for the remainder of the season. Prior to that time he had been used mostly in short-yardage situations as the pooch punter ...
• True to his pooch-punting past, Knall has put 10 of his 38 kicks this season inside the 20. For his career, 19 of 73 boots have been downed inside the 20.

Freshman Kicker
R-FR Jimmy Stevens is the placekicker. He is the first freshman to tackle that chore since Garrett Hartley did so in the Baylor game of 2004 (Nov. 20). Stevens has been called upon for only four field goals this season. He is 2-of-4 with one that was partially blocked and a 47-yarder that missed wide.
• Stevens is victimized by a Sooner offense that is 42-43 in the Red Zone. The record for fewest FGs in a season at OU is zero on multiple occasions, most recently in 1962. There have been 10 seasons with single digit attempts, most recently eight in 1988.

Hold It
WR Carter Whitson, a walk-on, takes over as the team's holder. The sophomore played most of his high school career at Shawnee, Okla., before spending his senior season at Broken Arrow HS. He was a quarterback during his prep days. Whitson was the holder at Shawnee during his sophomore season.
• Freshman back-up long snapper James Winchester is the son of former Sooner Mike Winchester, who lettered as a punter from 1984-86. Carolyn Winchester, a senior member of the Oklahoma women's basketball team, is James' sister.

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 104 games (104-23), nine bowl games, six of the BCS variety, had one string of 88 consecutive appearances in the AP poll and captured five Big 12 crowns (the next highest total in the league is two). 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, born Sept. 9, 1960, 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, five 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 more than 60 academic honorees, 62 All-Big 12 players, 24 All-Americans and 36 NFL draft choices.

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

This is one of the finest coaches in the history of one of college football's most storied traditions.

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 is widely known for countless hours of charitable work, most of which is directed towards children, 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.

Head Coach Bob Stoops | OU Coaching Staff

Notes on the Sooners

LB Jeremy Beal: Ten tackles against Cincinnati.

DT Cory Bennett: Leads DTs in games played with 463 ... sacks vs. Washington and TCU.

OT Branndon Braxton: Missed Baylor, Texas games with an injury.

RB Chris Brown: Three TD in opener ... nearly one-third (31%) of his career rushes have resulted in a TD or first down -- 315 carries with 75 first downs, 20 touchdowns ... season high 142 yards at KSU .

WR Ryan Broyles: Seven grabs for 141 yards and one TD in his debut against Cincy ... two TDs at Washington ... 68-yard punt return for TD at Kansas State.

WR Quentin Chaney: Six grabs for 105 yards against Kansas.

FB Matt Clapp: Has seven rushes and five receptions this season, a significant increase for an OU fullback.

LB Keenan Clayton: Converted from SS safety to SLB ... career-high 14 tackles at Baylor ... three PBU vs. Kansas.

C Jon Cooper: His 37career starts lead the team ... anchors a veteran offensive line.

TE Brody Eldridge: Missed the last two games with an ankle injury.

DE Auston English: Had 4.0 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks in the opener ... two sacks vs. Kansas.

CB Dominique Franks: Leads Sooners with five passes broken up ... interceptions vs. Cincy, Kansas.

DT DeMarcus Granger: Injured left foot at Washington and missed next two games ... recovered a fumble at KSU.

TE Jermaine Gresham: Five of his seven his touchdown reception covered at least 22 yards.

QB Joey Halzle: Hit 21-of-41 for 291 yards in a back-up role at Texas Tech last season, 14-of-16 in '08 opener.

DB Nic Harris: Made first career start at middle linebacker vs. Kansas ... has 31 career starts at safety.

DB Lendy Holmes: INT vs. Cincy ... two FR vs. TCU ... two picks against Kansas.

CB Brian Jackson: Forced one fumble and recovered two at Washington.

WR Manuel Johnson: Missed most of Kansas game and all of Kansas State game with an elbow injury.

P Mike Knall: 10 punts inside the 20 so far in 2008.

OT Phil Loadholt: Thirteen pounds lighter than last season -- 350 to 337.

LB Travis Lewis: Team's leading tackler with 84 ... 19 tackles vs. Kansas ... 15 tackles and two INT at Kansas State.

RB Mossis Madu: Scored two touchdowns at Washington.

DT Gerald McCoy: Named to Allstate AFCA Good Works Team ... four sacks over the last three games.

RB DeMarco Murray: OU's leading rusher has been over 100 yards three times in '08 ... 96 yards and 2 TD at Baylor ... one rushing and two receiving TDs at Kansas State.

LB Ryan Reynolds: Was OU's second-leading tackler when he was lost for the season in the Texas game.

OG Duke Robinson: Consensus All-American last season.

DT Adrian Taylor: Career-high five tackles and two sacks against TCU.

OG Brandon Walker: Had the highest overall grade of all OU offensive lineman last season (80%).

OT Trent Williams: Starter at right tackle since starting the opener at left tackle.