Bedlam Hits Norman Saturday

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma plays its regular season game of the 2009-10 season when it hosts Oklahoma State in the Bedlam Series on Saturday, Nov. 28. It will be the final Owen Field appearance for 19 seniors (view complete list below). OU is looking to bounce back from a 41-13 loss at Texas Tech last Saturday.

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SoonerSports.com brings fans the Sooner Gameday Blog live from Lubbock on Saturday. 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.

The Series
Oklahoma leads, 80-16-7, including a 37-8-2 mark in Norman. The Sooners have won the last six meetings between the two. OU got its 80th win in the series last season at Stillwater, 61-41.

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OU, OSU & Big 12 Game Notes | OU Depth Chart | 2009 OU Football Guide

The Coaches
• Bob Stoops (Iowa `83) is 115-29 in his 11th season at Oklahoma. He is 77-17 vs. the Big 12, 41-12 vs. the Big 12 South, 35-5 vs. the Big 12 North, 6-1 in the Big 12 title game, 39-12 vs. non-conference opponents, 65-2 at home, 33-14 on the road, 17-13 on neutral fields, 34-15 vs. ranked opponents, 4-6 in bowls. He is 8-2 vs. Oklahoma State.
• Mike Gundy (Oklahoma State `89) is 36-25 in his fifth season at his alma mater. He is 0-4 vs. Oklahoma.

The Program
• Oklahoma's all-time record stands at 797-302-53 in 115 seasons. Since WWII, OU leads the nation with 553 victories.
• The Sooners have captured seven national championships (1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000).
• OU has 42 bowl appearances (No. 7 nationally) with 24 bowl victories (No. 4 nationally).
• Oklahoma has 42 conference championships, including the last three Big 12 Conference crowns and six Big 12 titles overall (no other league member has more than two)
• OU has produced 148 All-Americans and five Heisman Trophy winners. Sooners have also won the Bednarik (1), Butkus (4), Walter Camp (4), Lombardi (3), Maxwell (2), Nagurski (2), O'Brien (3), (Outland (5), Tatupu (1), Thorpe (3) and Unitas (1) Awards.
• With 31, 10-win seasons, OU leads the nation in total number of years in which the team achieved double-digit victories.
• This is Oklahoma's best decade for total victories. In the 2000s, OU is 108-23 while the Sooners were 102-13-3 in the 1970s.
Oklahoma Football History & Tradition

Ties With This Week's Opponent
• Oklahoma State Head Coach Mike Gundy and OU Recruiting Coordinator and Running Backs Coach Cale Gundy are brothers. Both also graduated from their current employer and both played quarterback at their respective school. Mike is the eldest.
• The schools' strength and conditioning coaches, Jerry Schmidt (OU) and Rob Glass (OSU) were together on the Florida staff from 1995-98.

Salute to the Seniors
Saturday's game will represent the final appearance on Owen Field for 19 Oklahoma seniors. They will be honored on the field before the game: LB Mike Balogun, RB Chris Brown, FB Matt Clapp, LB Keenan Clayton, OL Brody Eldridge, DE Auston English, DT Demarcus Granger, TE Jermaine Gresham, WR T.J. Hamilton, LS Ben Hampton, CB Brian Jackson, DL Tola Jimoh, DT Cordero Moore, LB Ryan Reynolds, LS Derek Shaw, OG Brian Simmons, WR Adron Tennell, WR/H Carter Whitson, OT Trent Williams.
• Six of the seniors will not be in uniform on Saturday, five because they are out with an injury, another, Mike Balogun, because he was ruled ineligible before the season began.
• Fifteen of the seniors have started a game for OU either at a position or on special teams. OT Trent Williams has the most starts in the group at 37, including the last 26 in a row. Twelve of this year's senior have started a game in 2009.

Oklahoma's Big 12 Dominance
• OU's all-time Big 12 regular season record is 79-32. That mark jumps to 85-33 if counting title games. Bob Stoops is 71-16 in the regular season, 77-17 counting all. Before he arrived, OU's Big 12 record stood at 8-16.
• The Sooners have won the last three conference titles. No other program has won even back-to-back crowns.

Ambitious Scheduling | Future Schedules
Oklahoma has numerous marquee non-conference opponents coming up on future schedules...
• at Cincinnati (2010)
• Florida State (2010), at Florida State (2011)
• Notre Dame (2012), at Notre Dame (2013)
• Tennessee (2014), at Tennessee (2015)
• Ohio State (2016), at Ohio State (2017)
• LSU (2018), at LSU (2019).
• Under Bob Stoops, Oklahoma has already played Louisville, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Alabama (twice), UCLA (twice), Oregon (twice), Washington (twice), South Florida, Miami (twice) and Cincinnati in regular season contests.

OU Slate Among Toughest
Current NCAA strength of schedule rankings...

	Opp. Wins	Opp. Losses	Opp. %
1. Mississippi State	65	28	.699
2. Connecticut	48	28	.632
3. Virginia Tech	61	36	.629
4. Arizona	53	33	.616
5. North Carolina	49	31	.613
6. Washington	58	37	.611
7. San Jose State	51	34	.600
8. Minnesota	64	43	.598
9. Arkansas	55	37	.598
10. Oklahoma*	56	38	.596

* Four ranked opponents

Oklahoma's Most Recent Game | Texas Tech 41, OU 13
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Highlights
Oklahoma lost last Saturday at Texas Tech, 41-13 ...
• OU led 6-3 at the end of the first quarter before Tech reeled off 31 unanswered points. The Sooners did not score their lone touchdown of the game until the 7:30 mark of the fourth quarter on a 51-yard pass from Landry Jones to Ryan Broyles.
• The Sooners played one of their cleaner games of the season, committing just six penalties for 66 yards with no fumbles lost. The penalty figures were the lowest since game two when OU had five flags for 45 yards.
• Oklahoma rushed the ball 26 times for just 48 yards. The team lost 30 yards in sack yardage.
• The Sooner defense surrendered a season-worst 549 yards, including 388 through the air.

They're Out for the Season
QB Sam Bradford, TE Jermaine Gresham, G Brody Eldridge, OT Jarvis Jones, DE Auston English, C Ben Habern. The Sooners have lost six total, five on offense and three in the offensive line. Also, with LB Ryan Reynolds out this week, OU is without three of its captains ...
• Bradford, the Heisman-winning QB, sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder in the second quarter of the season opener vs. BYU then aggravated the injury on the second series of game six vs. Texas. The only game he completed uninjured was game five vs. Baylor. Bradford set 15 school records. Among those are career passing yards (8,403) and touchdown passes (88)
• TE Gresham did not play after season-ending knee surgery in early Sept. He had 26 career TD receptions, seven shy of the NCAA record, and more TD catches and yards (1,629) than any TE at OU.
• Eldridge started the season opener at center, played games two-five at tight end before moving to left guard. He suffered his season-ending shoulder injury at Nebraska. Eldridge was the only player BCS player this season to start at three different positions and the first OU player to do so during one season (modern era).
The senior has had the top line grade in all five of his line starts. He had 66 knockdowns, a high of 20 against BYU.
• English suffered a season-ending ankle injury at Nebraska. He wraps up his career with 18.5 sacks, 28.5 TFL and 92 total tackles.
• Jones, an OT, fractured his heal at Nebraska.
• Habern dislocated an ankle at Texas Tech.
• Others who missed time: G Brian Simmons (missed five games), RB DeMarco Murray (missed Kansas) and WR Ryan Broyles (missed Baylor, played one snap at Miami).
• OU is down two captains and will be down a third if LB Ryan Reynolds does not play in this game.

More on the Injuries
Season-ending injuries to starters in Stoops' 11 years ...
Total number: 27
Average number: 2.5
Most in one season: 6 (2009)
Fewest in one season: 0 (2000)
Total lost from 2002-2005 (four seasons): 5
Most lost in a Big 12 title season: 3 (2006, 2007)

It's Not the Flu, But...
Here are the nation's leaders for most starters lost to season-ending injuries ...
Syracuse: 9
Washington State: 8
Arizona State*: 7
Oklahoma*: 6
Louisiana Tech: 6
* Oklahoma and Arizona State lead in offensive line starters lost at three.

OU Sets Home Streak Record
Oklahoma has won 29 straight home games, the longest current streak in the nation, and a school record. The previous mark was 25 before a loss in the 1953 season opener to Notre Dame, 28-21.
• Bob Stoops' teams are 65-2 at home and the Sooners have won 49 of their last 50 on Owen Field.
• Other long OU home streaks and the years they ended include 21 (1975), 20 (1957).
• Other long home streaks under Stoops were 22, 19, 19.
• OU's all-time record at its current facility, which opened in 1923, is 348-78-15 (.806).

Stoops Era Yielding Record Attendance
Oklahoma has drawn 5,352,792 fans for Bob Stoops' 67 home games (started in 1999) and all have been sold out.
• The Sooners are 65-2 on Owen Field under Stoops and have won 29 straight, a school record.
• The current string of sellouts is the second longest in school history, trailing a string of 69 from 1971-84.
• The average home attendance of 85,075 in 2008 was a school record. The top nine seasons for football attendance at Oklahoma came on Stoops' watch.
• The largest home crowd in school history was 85,646, on hand for the 2008 OU-Texas Tech game.
• Oklahoma has exceeded its listed seating capacity of 82,112 at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in 41 consecutive home games.
• Oklahoma has played before sellout crowds in 117 of the 143 games (home, away, neutral) since Stoops became the head coach. During that time, a total of 10,361,490 (average of 72,458) have watched the Sooners. The gathering of 96,009 for this season's Texas game was the second-largest ever to see OU play.
Oklahoma Sets Attendance Records at Memorial Stadium

About the Sooner Offense

• Under Stoops, OU produced career leaders in passing and receiving, its No. 3 and No. 5 career rushers and season record holders in rushing, passing, receiving yards.
• Of 83 offensive records at OU, 55 were set under Stoops.
• OU has rushed for 200 yards 43 times under Stoops, 37 in the last six years.
• Under Stoops, OU has 147 touchdowns of 25+ yards and 300 scoring drives of 2:00 or less.
• OU is the highest scoring program of all-time. In 1,150 games, the Sooners have scored 30,768 points, or 26.8 per game. Michigan has 29,877 points in 1,213 games and Nebraska 29,710 in 1,210.

Keeping Up With Jones
QB Landry Jones was has started nine games ...
• Jones set a school record with six TD passes vs. Tulsa. The previous mark of five was held by Sam Bradford, Jason White and Josh Heupel, two Heisman winners and a Heisman runner-up. Jones threw five against A&M.
• Jones ranks No. 7 nationally in TD passes (23).
• This is the 19th time since 1954 that OU's starting QB has been injured and replaced by a back-up, the third time on Bob Stoops' watch.

TD Passes by Freshman		Top OU Freshman Passers
Name, School	TDs	Name	Yr	C-A-I	Yds	%	TDs
Landry Jones, Oklahoma	23	S. Bradford	2007	237-341-8	3,121	69.5	36
Kyle Parker, Clemson	18	L. Jones	2009	211-361-13	2,556	58.4	23
Spencer Keith, Kent State	14	E. Moore	1995	90-200-9	1,375	45.0	7
Andrew Luck, Stanford	14	J. Fuente	1996	91-196-10	1,271	46.4	8
		C. Gundy	1990	54-109-3	904	49.5	4

First Time Ever
OU has two players on the same roster with at least 40 career TDs. Chris Brown has 45 and DeMarco Murray 42.
• In 2008, they teamed with Sam Bradford to set an NCAA record as OU was the first program to have two 1,000-yard rushers and a 4,000-yard passer in the same year.

First Down Brown
Chris Brown has picked up 189 first downs during his career. He has done so on 630 total plays, or 30 percent of the times he has touched the ball.

2,000 Yards Times 2
Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray are the sixth tandem in school history to exceed 2,000 career rushing yards while playing on the same roster.
• Brown, a senior, has 2,782 yards, while Murray, a junior, has 2,358.
• Here is the elite list of players who eclipsed 2,000 career rushing yards while holding down a spot on the same Oklahoma roster ...
1971 -- QB Jack Mildren, RB Greg Pruitt
1972 -- RB Greg Pruitt, FB Leon Crosswhite
1975 -- QB Steve Davis, RB Joe Washington
1978 -- QB Thomas Lott, RB Billy Sims, FB/RB Kenny King
1986 -- RB Lydell Carr, RB Spencer Tillman
1987 -- RB Lydell Carr, QB Jamelle Holieway
2005 -- RB Adrian Peterson, RB Kejuan Jones
2009 -- Chris Brown, DeMarco Murray

Murray Chasing Q
With 37 pass receptions this season, DeMarco Murray has the third-highest total ever by a Sooner running back. Quentin Griffin, who previously held the top three spots on that list, had a best of 64 in 2001 and 51 in 2000.

Broyles' Breakout Year
Twice this season (Tulsa, Kansas) Ryan Broyles has logged 11 receptions in a game. The school record is 12. He leads the team with 67 grabs for 861 yards and 12 TDs.
• Has posted outstanding numbers despite missing significant time due to injury. He was out for the Baylor game (his lone opportunity to play a full game with Sam Bradford) and left the Miami game early in the first quarter.
Sooner Awards: Ryan Broyles

Receiving Touchdown Leaders
Name, School	TDs
Austin Pettis, Boise State	14
Freddie Barnes, Bowling Green	14
Ryan Broyles, Oklahoma	12
Golden Tate, Notre Dame	12
Denario Alexander, Missouri	12

Trench Talk
OU has one returning starter on the offensive line ...
• The four players who are not back started 148 games at OU. Three are in the NFL -- OT Phil Loadholt (Vikings), C Jon Cooper (Vikings) and OG Duke Robinson (Panthers).
• The returnees entered `09 44 games and 22 starts.
• Nine different players have had starting assignments on the OU line this season with seven different combinations. When Brian Lepak starts against OSU, it will be the 10th different starter and eighth different combination. In `08, the same combination started the last 13 games. This season, the longest streak was three.
• Over the last two seasons, OU quarterbacks have been sacked 30 times in 25 games. During that same time frame, they threw 918 passes.

About the Sooner Defense

• OU forced at least one turnover in 128 of Bob Stoops' 144 games and has at least one interception in 95 of the last 125; multiple picks in 45 of the last 96 outings.
• Oklahoma has 11 shutouts under its current head coach. Opponents failed to score more than seven points 32 times and scored less than 15 in 60 games.

Sooner "D" Nationally
OU's ranks No. 4 nationally in red zone defense (71%), No. 8 in tackles for loss (8.0), No. 2 in sacks (3.3), No. 8 in rushing defense (91.0), No. 8 in scoring defense (14.7), No. 11 in total defense (288.5), No. 19 in first-down defense (16.5), No. 13 in pass efficiency defense
(102.95), No. 15 in turnovers gained (26), No. 19 in third-down defense (33.7%), No. 13 in INTs (15).

Giving '01 a Run
By many accounts, the 2001 defense was the best of Bob Stoops' tenure. They didn't all win their awards that season, but players on that unit included two Nagurski winners (Derrick Strait and Roy Williams), two Thorpe winners (Strait and Williams), two Butkus winners (Rocky Calmus and Teddy Lehman) and a Lombardi winner (Tommie Harris). Seven from that unit were eventually drafted. The `09 defense is putting up similar numbers...

	2001	2009
Rushing Defense	85.1	91.0
Passing Defense	160.6*	197.5
Total Defense	245.7	283.5
Scoring Defense	13.0	14.7

* This is the only one of these categories that was not the previous best under Stoops. The `03 defense allowed 146.4 passing yards.

The Real McCoy
A frontrunner for several awards, DT Gerald McCoy, still a junior, is the most experienced player on the defense with 38 career starts. He has been a regular target of double-team blocking this season ...
• McCoy is second on the team with 14.5 TFL (No. 19 nationally). He has made 32 or 43% of his 74 career stops behind the line of scrimmage.
• McCoy has 38 consecutive starts for the longest ever by an OU interior defensive lineman. The all-Oklahoma record for consecutive starts at any position 44 by RB Quentin Griffin (1999-2002).
Sooner Awards: Gerald McCoy

The Real Beal
DE Jeremy Beal has 16.0 tackles for loss (No. 15 nationally) and 11.0 sacks (No. 6 nationally) ...
• His 11 sacks are tied with Cedric Jones (1995) 4 in OU history. The school record of 14 held jointly Martin Chase (1997) and Cedric Jones (1994).
• He had a career-high 12 tackles vs. Texas.
• He is the only player in school history to log two, three-sacks games in the same season (Tulsa, Miami).
• With 20.5 career sacks, he is tied for No. 6 in OU with Aubrey Beavers (1990-93).
Sooner Awards: Jeremy Beal

Weak Freak
WLB Travis Lewis led Oklahoma last season with 144 tackles (No. 4 nationally and a freshman school record, Brian Bosworth's mark of 133).
• He leads again this season with 99. Lewis averages 9.0 tackles per game, down from last season's 10.3, but it should also be noted that OU opponents are running three fewer plays per game this season than last.
• Lewis has five double-digit tackle games this season and 11 in his 25 career games.
• The sophomore is at 242 career tackles. Daryl Hunt owns the school record of 530. To crack the top 10, Lewis would have to eclipse Lee Roy Selmon's total of 335.

Interceptions in Bunches
Oklahoma has 15 interceptions this season. The best total of the 11-year Stoops era is 24 in 2002. OU is averaging 12.2 yards per return.
• OU has multiple interceptions in five games (season-high three at Kansas) and at least one in eight games.
• CB Brian Jackson's streak of interceptions in consecutive games ended at four at Kansas. It marked only the second time in school history that a player had an interception in four straight games (modern era), the first by a cornerback. Scott Case, a safety, did it in 1983.

Defensive Miscellany
• Oklahoma has 26 takeaways. The team converted 14 of those into scores amounting to 90 points.
• The OU defense has scored in each of Bob Stoops' 11 seasons. The only position that has not scored a touchdown during that time is defensive tackle.
• OU set a school record with 17 TFL vs. Idaho State.
• Oklahoma limited Idaho State to -22 yards on 32 rushing attempts. That was the second-best performance under Bob Stoops. The `06 team limited Baylor to -48 (20 attempts). In the opener, BYU rushed 33 times for 28 yards. Baylor had 17 rushes for 6 yards.
• OU held Nebraska to 39 passing yards, the lowest total of the season. The lowest passing total vs. a Stoops team was 13 yards by Arkansas in the 2002 Cotton Bowl.

About the Sooner Special Teams

Oklahoma's special teams under Bob Stoops ...
• There have been 26 special teams touchdowns, including 20 in the last 75 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 TDs.
• The Sooners have blocked 24 kicks.

Many Happy Returns
Information on returns during the Stoops era ...
• Kickoff Returns --93 returns of 25 yards+ with eight TD.
• Punt Returns -- 57 ret., of 15+ with 15 touchdowns.
• Interception Returns -- 80 ret., of 10+ yards with 21 TD.
• Fumble Returns -- six returns of 15+ yards with 8 TD.

Getting His "Way" at Punter
Tress Way is averaging 43.9 yards on 51 punts with 13 downed inside the 20 and 15 of 50+ yards ...
• His ranks No. 10 nationally in punting average.
• The best punting average achieved in Bob Stoops' tenure at Oklahoma was 42.8 yards in 2006. Way's current average would rank No. 2 to Jack Jacobs, who averaged 47.8 on 40 punts in 1940.
• Way had a 71-yard punt at Miami, the longest by a Sooner since Mike Cohen's 72-yarder in 2006.
• The second-team punter is WR Cameron Kenney. At Garden City (Kan.) CC last season, Kenney averaged 47.0 yards. He also converted 11-of-13 PATs and 8-of-9 FGs, (makes from 40, 41, 52 yards). OU has not a position player in a kicking role since DB/P Darrol Ray in 1978.

Potent Punt Return Tandem
Ryan Broyles and Dominique Franks are the first two OU punt returners to log 100-yard games in the same year.
• Franks had a 30+ yard punt return in three straight. He inherited the role after Ryan Broyles suffered a shoulder injury against Miami.
• Broyles is No. 19 at 12.4. OU's team rank is No. 12 (14.3). Franks is averaging 17.0 ypr, but doesn't have enough attempts to be included in the NCAA stats.
• Franks had four returns for 100 total yards against Baylor, the first 100-yard punt return game by a Sooner since 2003 when All-America return specialist Antonio Perkins accomplished the feat against Missouri. Broyles then went for 102 on six returns at Nebraska.

Whitson Holding Steady
WR Carter Whitson is in his second year as holder. A QB for part of his HS career, Whitson is the first to serve in that role for back-to-back seasons during Stoops' tenure.
• Whitson had a two-yard rush on a faked field goal at Miami. The play resulted in a first down and kept alive a drive that later yielded a field goal.

Got It Covered
• Oklahoma ranks No. 2 nationally in punt coverage. Opponents have returned 13 punts for a total of 16 yards. Tress Way has punted 51 times for the Sooners. He has 10 touchbacks and eight fair catches.
• Last season, OU opponents returned four kickoffs for TDs and averaged 23.8 per return. This year, there has been one TD and the return average is down to 20.7.

Kick It
Jimmy Stevens was OU's kicker for placements through the first six games and was then replaced by Tress Way. Walk-on Patrick O'Hara saw his first action vs. A&M ...
• O'Hara has made all three of his field goal and PAT attempts. A transfer from Washburn University (D-II school in Topeka, Kan.), had never played in a football game until he kicked against Texas A&M. He has played several years of competitive soccer. His 47-yard FG at Tech was the longest by an OU player since 9/15/07.
• Way is 1-of-6, but his misses include attempts from 54, 46, 45 and 42 yards. He got his first start against Kansas and has made all 11 of his PAT tries.
• Stevens is 11-of-13 on field goals with misses coming from 40 and 45 yards. He has made 27-of-29 PATs. He tied an OU game record for FGM at 4-of-4 vs. Baylor.
• Matthew Moreland, who handled kickoffs last season, is in that role again this season. Way is Moreland's back-up.

Right Back at Ya
The Sooners have three blocked kicks this year, a punt against Idaho State and two PATs against Kansas State. Marcus Trice got the punt, while Adrian Taylor and Auston English batted down the PATs.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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