Game Notes: Oklahoma Hosts Texas A&M

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma knocked Kansas State from the ranks of the unbeaten last week in Manhattan and now returns to Norman looking to rebound from its first home loss in six years, a 41-38 setback at the hands of Texas Tech two weeks ago.

Saturday's game will kick at 2:36 p.m. CT and will be televised regionally by ABC. View Sooner Gameday Central and our weekly Sooner Fan FAQ for complete details for fans attending the game and broadcast information for fans following the Sooners around the world.

THE SERIES
Texas A&M had a three-game winning streak snapped when it lost to Missouri last Saturday.

Oklahoma leads the series with Texas A&M, 18-11, including a 12-2 mark in Norman. The Sooners had reeled off seven straight over the Aggies before falling short at College Station last year, 33-19.

The Aggies have won both of their Big 12 road games this season, at Iowa State and at Texas Tech.

THE COACHES

Oklahoma: Bob Stoops (Iowa `83) is 136-32 in his 13th season. He is 89-20 vs. the Big 12 including a 7-1 record in the Big 12 title game, 47-12 vs. non-conference opponents, 75-3 at home, 38-16 on the road and 23-13 on neutral fields. Stoops is 10-2 against Texas A&M.

Mike Sherman (C. Conn. State '77) is 24-22 in his fourth season with the Aggies. He is 1-2 vs. OU.

OU, Opponent & Big 12 Game Notes | OU Depth Chart | 2011 OU Football Guide

THE PROGRAM

Oklahoma's all-time record stands at 818-305-53 in 117 seasons. Since WWII, OU leads the nation with 579 victories.

The Sooners have captured seven national championships (1950, 1955, 1956, 1974, 1975, 1985, 2000).

OU has 44 bowl appearances (No. 7 nationally) with 26 bowl victories (No. 4 nationally).

OU has 43 conference championships, including seven Big 12 titles overall (no other school has more than three)

OU has 152 All-Americans and five Heisman winners. Sooners have also won the Bednarik (1), Butkus (4), Camp (4), Lombardi (3), Maxwell (2), Nagurski (2), O'Brien (3), Outland (5), Tatupu (1), Thorpe (3) and Unitas (1) Awards.

OU leads the nation with 32 seasons in which the program has won 10 or more games.

Oklahoma Football History & Tradition | Sooner Superlatives

SOONERSPORTS.COM

Live video of Bob Stoops' Tuesday media conference (Live air at 12:05 p.m., each Tuesday).

Live/archived audio of Sooner Sports Talk with Bob Stoops (Tuesday nights, starting at 7 p.m., CT).

Live/archived audio of Coaches' Corner radio show (Thursday nights, starting at 7 p.m., CT).

Live in-game stats, blog and audio from the Sooner Radio Network.

Live/archived video of Bob Stoops' post-game press conference.

Archived full-game video and Bob Stoops' review TV show (Show is taped on Sunday of each week).

Roster, schedules, media guides, game notes, depth chart and more at Sooner Gameday Central.

Live Events Schedule | Sooner Gameday Central

OPPONENT: TEXAS A&M

Texas A&M also looks to recover from a home loss after dropping a 38-31 OT decision to Missouri last Saturday.

This is the last football meeting between these schools in the foreseeable future as the Aggies depart the Big 12 at the end of this school year to join the Southeastern Conference.

Texas A&M running backs coach Randy Jordan and OU co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell were on the Nebraska staff together from 2004-06.

A&M defensive backs coach Charles McMillen was on the TCU staff in 2005 when the Horned Frogs captured one of only three wins over Bob Stoops-coached OU teams in Norman (17-10).

LAST WEEK
Oklahoma blasted previously unbeaten Kansas State, 58-17, in Manhattan last Saturday ...

The Sooners notched their highest road point total since tallying 61 at Oklahoma State in 2008 and had their widest margin of victory in a road game since another 41-point triumph, a 55-14 win at Washington in 2008. OU has now scored 58 on each of its last two visits to Manhattan. It was 58-35 in '08.

OU's scoring total was the most against a Bill Snyder-coached team in Manhattan since Colorado got 59 there in 1989, Snyder's first season.

Landry Jones set a school record with 505 passing yards. He tossed five touchdown passes.

Oklahoma rolled up 690 yards, its best total since the 1988 Kansas State game, to just 240 for the Wildcats. KSU had just 32 total yards in the second half and punted on six straight possessions during one stretch.

Oklahoma sprinted to a 14-0 lead, then fell behind 17-14 before recovering to a 23-17 halftime lead. OU then outscored the home team 35-0 in the second half.

The Sooners lost leading rusher Dominique Whaley on the first play. He suffered a broken bone in his left leg while blocking. His replacement, Roy Finch, rushed nine times for 73 yards and one touchdown (31 yards) and caught seven passes for 69 yards, both career highs.

The Sooner defense chalked up seven sacks for 50 yards. OU did not surrender a sack for the third straight game.

Ryan Broyles fell one reception shy of tying his own school record for catches in a game. He had 14 for 171 yards and one touchdown. During the game, he became the Big 12's all-time leader in receiving yards.

Recap: Oklahoma 58, Kansas State 17

MISCELLANY

Among active FBS coaches with at least 100 victories, Bob Stoops has the best winning percentage at .810.

OU's defense has produced 15 sacks over the last three games, while the offense has surrendered none.

OU has the same or fewer penalties than the opponent in five of seven games.

OU has 16 three-and-outs, (high of six vs. Texas Tech) while the opponents have 35 (8, Ball State and Kansas).

FUN IN THE SUN
Oklahoma is playing its first home day game of the season and only its third in 2011. In its previous two, the Sooners knocked off a pair of unbeatens, Texas and Kansas State, by an average score of 56.5 to 17. OU suffered its only loss of the season at night.

MARQUEE GAMES AWAIT
Here's a look at marquee non-conference contests in the upcoming seasons ...

Home vs. Notre Dame (2012), at Notre Dame (2013).

Home vs. Tennessee (2014), at Tennessee (2015).

Home vs. Ohio State (2016), at Ohio State (2017)

Home vs. LSU (2018), at LSU (2019).

Under Bob Stoops, OU has already played Florida State (twice), Cincinnati (twice), Louisville, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Alabama (twice), UCLA (twice), Oregon (twice), Washington (twice), South Florida, BYU and Miami (Fla.) (twice) in regular season contests.

Seven of those were played on the road and one on a neutral field. The Sooners are 14-5 in those games.

Oklahoma Future Schedules

RECORD-SETTING ATTENDANCE
Oklahoma has drawn 6452,690 fans for Bob Stoops' 78 home games (started in 1999) and all have been sold out.

The Sooners are 75-3 on Owen Field under Stoops.

The current string of sellouts is the longest in school history, eclipsing a mark of 69 from 1971-84.

The top 10 seasons for attendance at Oklahoma during Stoops' tenure as head coach.

The largest OU home crowd was 85,646, for the 2008 Texas Tech game.

The 85,620 on hand for this year's Tulsa game represented the largest season-opening crowd ever at Oklahoma.

OU has exceeded the seating capacity of 82,112 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in 57 straight games.

Oklahoma has played before sellout crowds in 132 of the 168 games (78 home, 29 away, 16 neutral) since Stoops became the head coach. During that time, a total of 12,085,821 (average of 71,939) have watched the Sooners.

Oklahoma Sets Attendance Records at Memorial Stadium

REMEMBERING AUSTIN BOX
LB Austin Box passed away in May. The Enid native would have been a senior on this team. To honor his memory, the Sooners keep his locker intact, leave a space for him during stretching drills and wear a helmet decal. In addition, a designated defensive player wears Box's No. 12 in each game. That assignment is made each Friday. Landry Jones wears No. 12 on offense.

Wearing No. 12 on defense vs. Tulsa - Tom Wort; vs. Florida State - Frank Alexander; vs. Missouri - Javon Harris; vs. Ball State - Corey Nelson; vs. Texas - Travis Lewis; vs. Kansas - Aaron Colvin; vs. Texas Tech - Ronnell Lewis; vs. Kansas State - Stacy McGee; vs. Texas A&M - Demontre Hurst.

OFFENSE

Under Bob Stoops, OU has produced career leaders in passing, receiving and all-purpose yards, four top 10 career rushers and season record holders in rushing, passing and receiving yards.

Stoops-led Sooner teams have set 47 offensive school records. Those offenses have 174 touchdowns of 25 or more yards and 340 scoring drives of two minutes or less.

OU has scored in 170 consecutive games since 11/7/98.

OU rushed for 200 yards 48 times under Stoops.

Oklahoma is the highest scoring college program in history. In 1,221 games, the Sooners have scored 31,666 points. Michigan is next at 30,564 points in 1,251 games.

KEEPING UP WITH JONES
This season, QB Landry Jones has moved from No. 3 to No. 1 on the school's career passing yards list. He jumped over a pair of Heisman winners to claim the spot.

At Kansas State, Jones set a school record for passing yards in a game at 505. He broke a mark that he previously held jointly with Sam Bradford.

Also at KSU, he surpassed Bradford's record for career touchdown passes. He now has 90.

Among active players, Jones is No. 2 in career passing yards/game (315.4), No. 3 in completions (902), No. 4 in yards (11,010), No. 4 in TD passes (90), No. 5 in total offense (10,791) and No. 5 in TDs responsible for (93).

Has a completion rate of 60% in every game but one this season and has been over 350 yards in all but one.

He has five TD throws in each of the last two games.

Jones holds OU records with 20, career 300-yard games and eight, 400-yard games.

THE RECORD BOOK BROYLES
Ryan Broyles has become the NCAA's career leader in receptions and has taken the Big 12 records for career receptions and career touchdown receptions ...

Broyles set the NCAA career receptions record at Kansas (2nd qtr.) on a 57-yard touchdown catch. On that same play, he set the Big 12 record for career TD catches. He now has 347 receptions and 45 touchdown grabs.

At Kansas State, he surpassed Rashaun Woods as the Big 12's career leader in receiving yards. He has 4,499.

He also is the NCAA career leader among active players in TD receptions (45), receiving yards (4,499), punt return yards (1,185) and touchdowns (48).

With 45 career TD catches, he is No. 4 on the NCAA list behind Rice's Jarrett Dillard (60), La. Tech's Troy Edwards (50) and Marshall's Darius Watts (47). He is already has the highest total by any player at a BCS school.

He is No. 3 for NCAA in career receiving yards behind Nevada's Trevor Insley (5,005) and Wyoming's Marcus Harris (4,518), and already surpasses all BCS players.

Has 100+ yards receiving in 19 of the last 25 games and a TD grab in 17 of the last 24.

Has at least one catch in 47 straight games, the second-longest string nationally (Houston's Tyron Carrier, 48).

NOW THAT'S A RECEIVING CORPS
Oklahoma has seven different players with at least 10 receptions and an average of more than 10.0 yards per catch ...

Fourteen different Sooners have a reception this season. That's the total number that had catches over last year's 14-game schedule. Eleven have at least five grabs.

Kenny Stills has three, 100-yard receiving games this season and averages a touchdown every 5.6 receptions.

After posting no catches in the first two games, Jaz Reynolds, who is up 30 pounds since his arrival on campus, now has 26 for 503 yards and four TDs. His 19.3 yards per catch average leads the team.

OU's tight ends had their best day of the season at Kansas State when James Hanna and Trent Ratterree combined for four catches for 71 yards and one TD.

RAPID ROY
With Dominique Whaley out for most of the last two games, much of the running back load has shifted to the diminutive Roy Finch, who has more than responded ...

Already, he's No. 4 on the team, No. 1 among running backs, in receptions with 19. Ten of those 19 grabs resulted in a Sooner first down.

His 6.8 yards per carry average is 1.3 ahead of Whaley's though it should be noted that Whaley has 75 more attempts.

WHALEY OUT FOR SEASON
Oklahoma's lost its leading rusher, Dominique Whaley, on the first play of the Kansas State game to a broken bone in his left ankle.

It is believed the previous record for rushing yards by a walk-on at OU was 423 yards by Jim Culbreath in 1975. Whaley finished the campaign with 627.

THERE'S A TREY
Oklahoma FB Trey Millard busted off a 61-yard TD romp at Kansas State. It was the longest run by a Sooner fullback since 1986, when Lydell Carr went for 61 yards against Iowa State.

AND...

Oklahoma has given up only three sacks and just 35 tackles for loss. The Sooners have absorbed 89 negative yards for an average of just 11.1 per game. OU opponents average 42.1 negative yards per game.

Oklahoma, somewhat a victim of its own efficiency, ranks No. 79 nationally in time of possession. With quick strikes and three defensive TDs, the Sooners had a season-low 22:06 against Texas, a deficit of 13:48. Only three times in eight games has OU exceeded its opponent in possession time.

DEFENSE

OU has forced at least one turnover in 147 of Stoops' 168 games and has at least one interception in 108 of the last 147 with multiple picks in 67 of the last 119 outings.

Oklahoma has 13 shutouts under its current head coach. Opponents failed to score more than seven points in 35 games and scored less than 14 in 65 games.

LEWIS ASCENDS OU TACKLE LIST

With his 417 career tackles (the second-highest total by a Bob Stoops player at OU), senior WLB Travis Lewis has cracked the career top 10 tackle list at OU. The record is held by the late Daryl Hunt at 530. Lewis, now at No. 6 (tied with Brian Bosworth), trails No. 5 Rod Shoate by 10. He needs 16 tackles to move ahead of Rocky Calmus in the Stoops era.

Has 417 career stops, the third-best total among active players nationally.

Lewis, who suffered a broken bone in the big toe of his left foot in preseason drills, missed the opener vs. Tulsa.

Lewis has led Oklahoma in tackles in each of his first three seasons and has become only the sixth player in school history to lead the team in three consecutive years. The last to do it was Rocky Calmus, the Butkus Award winner in his senior campaign, from 1999-01. No player has had the lead in four seasons. With 55 tackles, Lewis is the 2011 team leader by three.

As a freshman in 2007, Lewis had 144 tackles to break Brian Bosworth's OU freshman record of 133.

Lewis has double-digit tackle totals in 16 of his 48 career games.

He registered his eighth career interception against Nebraska in last season's Big 12 Championship Game. That equals the most by a linebacker in Sooner history. He has 156 career return yards on those picks, an average of 19.5 per return. Lewis had three takeaways in that game against the Cornhuskers including two fumble recoveries.

FRANK TALK
DE Frank Alexander is having a dominant season. The senior has 12.5 tackles for loss including 7.5 sacks thus far. He has been credited with at least half a sack in six of the eight games. In addition, Alexander has four break-ups, an interception, a forced fumble, a recovered fumble and six hurries.

In the opener against Tulsa, Alexander had two passes broken up and an interception, which he returned 27 yards. For the season, he has four break-ups, including one against Ball State that was picked off by Tony Jefferson.

Against Texas, he had six tackles, three sacks for -26 yards, four tackles for 30 yards in losses, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a break-up. He was named the Walter Camp Foundation's Defensive Player of the Week.

DEFENSIVE TDS IN STOOPS ERA
With a school-record three defensive touchdowns against Texas, Oklahoma now has 42 in Bob Stoops 12+ seasons.

Thirteen of those touchdowns came via a fumble return.

The defense has scored a touchdown in each of Stoops' 13 seasons, and in nearly one-fourth of the games he has coached at OU (39 of 168 games for 23%). That's an average of one every 4.9 games.

RIP AND RUN
OU has 276 return yards on nine interceptions (179) and six fumbles (97), an average of 18.4 yards per return.

Oklahoma has nine interceptions this season for a whopping 179 yards in returns. That's an average of 19.9 yards per return. The top interception return average of the Bob Stoops era was 21.1 in 2002 when the Sooners logged 516 yards on 24 picks.

PAPER OR PLASTIC?
Oklahoma has 34 sacks, including eight against Texas, through eight games ...

OU started logging sacks in 1982. This team is trying to become the ninth to get at least 40. The school record of 48 was set in 1991.

These Sooners have 66 tackles for loss and are trying to become the 12th OU team to reach 100 in a season since the stat began at the school in 1970. The Oklahoma record is 126 in 2002.

Eleven players have at least half a sack this season.

LB Corey Nelson has 5.5 sacks, which is three off the OU record for season sacks by a linebacker. Torrance Marshall set that mark with 8.5 in 1999.

The 34 sacks have gone for 251 yards in losses , or an average of 7.4 per sack. The lowest sack total in a game so far this season was two against Missouri.

OU has 36 over their last six games away from Norman (seven vs. Nebraska in 2010 Big 12 Championship game, three vs. UConn in Fiesta Bowl, six at Florida State, eight vs. Texas, five at Kansas and seven at Kansas State).

The Sooners are averaging 8.3 tackles for loss per game.

THE END(S) OF THE LINE
During portions of this season, Oklahoma played a front four comprised entirely of defensive ends. Frank Alexander lined up at a tackle, David King at noseguard and Ronnell Lewis and R.J. Washington at the end spots.

OU IMPROVES IN PASS-HAPPY ERA
Despite this pass-happy era, only once under Bob Stoops has OU allowed a season completion rate of 60% or higher. The 2010 finished at just 54.6%.

This season, Sooner opponents are completing just 53.8% of their passes (143-of-266).

Only one opponent has thrown for 300 yards this year.

SPECIAL TEAMS

Oklahoma's special teams under Bob Stoops ...

There have been 27 special teams touchdowns, including 21 in the last 82 regular season games. Those 21 came via five different kinds of plays -- 12 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.

Oklahoma has returned eight kickoffs and 16 punts for touchdowns.

The Sooners have blocked 24 kicks.

MANY HAPPY RETURNS
Information on returns during the Stoops era ...

Kickoff Returns --99 returns of 25 yards or more with eight touchdowns.

Punt Returns -- 66 returns of 15 or more yards with 16 touchdowns.

Interception Returns -- 87 returns of 10 or more yards with 24 touchdowns.

Fumble Returns -- eight returns of 15 or more yards with 12 touchdowns.

FOOT FACTS
Oklahoma has used two kickers this season for placements with both Jimmy Stevens and Michael Hunnicutt handling the role. Hunnicutt seems to have settled into the duty for now. Combined, the two are 16-of-19 on field goal attempts...

Over the last two seasons, Oklahoma has made 39-of-48 field goals (81%).

Hunnicutt took over in the Missouri game and has remained in the position as Stevens was forced out with a muscle pull. Hunnicutt is 12-of-15, including a 2-of-2 mark beyond 40. His 53-yarder at Kansas State was a career high and the longest by a Sooner since Garrett Hartley's 53-yarder in 2007 against Utah State. It marked the longest under Bob Stoops and the seventh longest in school history. Hunnicutt's kick was also the 22nd field goal in OU history of 50 or more yards. His previous best was a 44-yard field goal against Ball State.

Stevens has made 16 of his last 17 field goals, all over his last five games played.

At Oklahoma, Stevens ranks No. 6 all-time with 42 field goals made and No. 2 with 180 points after touchdown. He's No. 6 in kick scoring at 306.

Patrick O'Hara has settled into the kickoff role for the Sooners. He has 62 thus far with nine touchbacks. He averages 64.6 yards per kickoff and opponents are averaging 20.9 yards per return.

WAY GOOD AT PUNTER

Way has 49 punts of 50+ yards in his career. Jeff Ferguson (1998-01), set that OU record with 52

Way is No. 10 among active NCAA punters with a career average of 43.9. He maintains that average on more kicks than any of the players ahead of him. He has 165.

This season, Way has played a central role in field position with 21 of 32 punts downed inside the 20. He is the only punter in the nation with more than 20 inside the 20 and yet no touchbacks.

In 2010, P Tress Way had 19 boots of 50+ yards with 18 inside the 20 and an average of 44.0 yards on 73 kicks. His average ranked No. 20 nationally, but he had more attempts than anyone ahead of him on that list.

BROYLES CAN BE LETHAL
PR Ryan Broyles has more punt returns (106), more average returns per game (2.3) and more total punt return yards (1,175) than any other active players in NCAA FBS play.

He ranks No. 8 among active NCAA punt returners with an average of 11.1 yards per return.

He has four punt returns this season that exceeded 20 yards, including a season-long 36 at Kansas.

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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