Sooner Report: Discussing Strategy

More Postseason Honors For Sooners
The postseason awards continue to pour in for senior center Gabe Ikard, who was named to the All-America First Team unit of CBSsports.com. He was also honored with a selection to the Associated Press All-America Second Team on Tuesday as well as the All-America honorable mention squad of SportsIllustrated.com. Ikard was previously named to the Walter Camp All-America First Team. He is the 154th All-America First Team selection in program history and the 34th since Bob Stoops' arrival at OU in 2000.

Ikard centers a unit that has helped the Oklahoma run game rank second in the Big 12 and 18th in the nation with 235.8 yards per game. In pass protection, the offensive line has allowed just 14 sacks this season, which ranks 17th in the country.

Prior to Ikard's recognition, the last Sooner to receive All-America First Team honors was consensus All-American Ryan Broyles in 2011.

Not to be left off the postseason honors list is kicker Michael Hunnicutt who also received All-America honorable mention honors from SportsIllustrated.com. Hunnicutt tied for the FBS lead and set an OU record with 23 made field goals. He made 20-21 field goal tries from inside 40 yards and ranked second in the Big 12 with an 88.5 conversion percentage.

Ikard, Clay on East-West Shrine Game Rosters
Seniors Gabe Ikard and Brennan Clay have accepted invitations to participate in the 89th Annual East-West Shrine game in St. Petersburg, Fla. The game will be played on January 18, 2014 at Tropicana Field. Kickoff is set for 3:00 p.m. and will be televised by NFL Network.

Clay is the Sooners' leading rusher at 913 yards and six touchdowns, ranking fourth in the Big 12 with a 5.8 yards per carry average. He has played in all 12 games, while making 10 starts. For his career, Clay has 1,869 yards and 13 TDs. He rushed for 111 yards, including a career-long 76-yard score against TCU (Oct. 5).

The two Sooners will play for the West squad coached by former NFL head coach Romeo Crennel. Last season, cornerback Demontre Hurst represented Oklahoma in the East-West Shrine Game.

The East-West Shrine Game is the longest running college all-star game in the country, dating back to 1925. In addition to its purposes for NFL Draft positioning and scouting, the game provides a service to Shriners Hospitals for Children and helps support the mission to ensure expert care to children in need. Shrine Game players get the opportunity to interact with the children through a visit to the Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa.

Stellar Sooner Special Teams

The special teams play in 2013 has been stellar for OU all year long, capped off by the regular-season finale at Oklahoma State that saw the Sooner specialists single-handedly put points on the scoreboard until the final seconds.

Senior Jalen Saunders returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown right before halftime, while junior kicker Michael Hunnicutt kicked two field goals, three PATs and caught a touchdown pass on a fake field goal.

The Sooner cover teams also did their part, allowing no punt return yardage, putting three punts inside the 20 yard line and giving up just 17.3 yards per kick return – a solid effort considering Oklahoma State ranked seventh in punt return average and 18th in kickoff return average nationally coming into the game.

“The results are good,” said special teams coordinator Jay Boulware. “They had a really strong return game as do we. There were a lot of things that went on in the football game that you can be very proud of. The guys played hard. I'm pleased not to the extent that I'm saying everything went perfect, but there were a lot of things that went our way that day.”

With the punt return touchdowns, Saunders is for third in the OU record books with three in his career. His 302 punt return yards this season also ranks him 11th all-time.

Hunnicutt's 15-point performance against the Cowboys put him just 48 points from running back DeMarco Murray's all-time OU record of 390.

The junior already set the OU records for most field goal conversions in a season and in a career at different points this season, now with 23 and 61, respectively.

But he will perhaps be most remembered for catching an eight-yard pass from his holder, Grant Bothun, on a gutsy fake field goal play that tied OSU 17-17 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.

“At different times the other night I thought we had a numbers advantage on that side,” said head coach Bob Stoops of the fake. “Not by much but we made it work for enough. They are always iffy. A ball could be tipped and something could happen. You feel your percentage chances are better than not working and you go with it when you need to.”

The play was reminiscent of a similar call Stoops made against OU's Sugar Bowl opponent Alabama back when the two teams met in 2003 in Tuscaloosa. With the Sooners holding a slim lead 13-10 and facing a fourth down late in the third quarter, OU converted on a fake punt for a 22-yard gain. On the next play, quarterback Jason White found Brandon Jones for a 47-yard touchdown, giving the Sooners the breathing room they needed for an eventual 20-13 victory.

“I knew when I called it,” Stoops remembered. “I said, 'this is it.' I really felt, we're talking a [13-10] game and they had all the momentum. I felt the stadium closing in on us and I said let's make something happen. I felt our percentage chance of it working was good. The way they were storming and rushing, they weren't covering our wing, so I called it.

“Now that is one where if it didn't work you all would be calling me a bunch of things. It worked fortunately and we got a bomb on the next play to silence the crowd and that was a major play. I thought it was the defining moment of the game.”

Sooners Seek to Stop the Alabama Offense

The Oklahoma defense spoke Monday about stepping up to the challenge of facing an Alabama offense led by senior quarterback A.J. McCarron. McCarron is the Maxwell Award and Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award winner and was a finalist for the Heisman Trophy.

The Tide signal-caller has thrown for 2,676 yards and 26 touchdowns in 2013, completing 67.6 percent (207-305) of his passes. McCarron ranks eighth nationally in passing efficiency (165.9) and 14th in completion percentage.

“He was a Heisman finalist, so I think that speaks for itself,” said OU cornerback Zack Sanchez. “He has a lot of weapons, and he's a smart quarterback. This is his fourth or fifth year he's been there, so he's smart and he makes good decisions. He's not going to make many mistakes, so you have to capitalize when he does.”

McCarron is joined by T.J. Yeldon, a first-team All-SEC running back with 1,163 yards and 13 touchdowns this season. The offensive line is led by junior tackle Cyrus Kouandjio, a 2013 first-team All-American.

“They are a very efficient team,” said OU cornerback Aaron Colvin. “They know how to take care of the ball. AJ McCarron does a great job of taking care of the ball and making smart decisions. He has a lot of receivers out there that can make a lot of plays for him, and they can bail him out at times. Overall, they're a great team, and everybody knows that. We've got to be great at what we do and stay disciplined.”

The Oklahoma defense has proved it's one of the best in the country this season ranked 13th in the nation with an average of only 336.3 total yards allowed per game. That number includes an average of 198.0 passing ypg (15th in the nation) and 138.3 rushing ypg (27th in the nation).

Sooner defensive coordinator Mike Stoops stressed the need for the Sooners to stay assignment-sound in the Crimson Tide's deception-heavy offensive scheme.

“Well, their problems are that they're very well coached, they execute, they understand schemes very well and how to attack coverage and how to attack weaknesses of certain coverages,” Stoops said. “You have to be aware of what's going on. There's a lot of movement in their offense and understanding where we need to be and why we need to be there I think is critical.”

Oklahoma Offense Ready For Sugar Bowl Challenge

The Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl will both feature battles between a pair of squads that are each ranked in the FBS top 15 in total defense. Oklahoma ranks 13th in total defense (336.3 ypg) and will meet an Alabama squad that ranks fifth (274.7 ypg) in New Orleans. Michigan State (248.2 ypg) leads the nation and will meet Stanford (14th - 339.0 ypg) in the Rose Bowl.

While Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel understands that the Alabama defense is as good as advertised, but is confident that the Sooners can develop a solid game plan for the Sugar Bowl.

“Their front is really good,” Heupel said. “They'll eat up two guys especially in their four-man front. They'll let their backers make some plays. We've got to be really good in who we're targeting in combinations. They're in and out of three and four-man fronts. There's a lot on our plate.

“We did a good enough job two Saturdays ago to give ourselves a chance to win,” he continued. “They'll get better with the preparation that they have and the amount of time heading into the Sugar Bowl, but we're going to need all of (our) guys to play at a high level.”

Players Mentioned

Grant Bothun

Brennan Clay

Aaron Colvin

Michael Hunnicutt

Gabe Ikard

Zack Sanchez

Jalen Saunders

Sponsors

University of Oklahoma Athletics