Pride on the line
Published: 10/21/2009 7:24 AM
Last Modified: 10/21/2009 7:24 AM
Here's a quote that should make its way into the Oklahoma offensive line meeting room this week. It's from Jon Cooper, the senior center on OU's 2008 O-line, delivered two days after the Sooners rushed for just 48 yards against Texas last October. H was asked if outsiders were making too big a deal of the lack of run production.
"I don't know, we kind of make a big deal out of it as an offensive line," Cooper responded. "You never want to look up at the stats and see 48 rush yards on 26 (attempts). We take pride in that."
While it's obvious that this year's O-line isn't up to last year's senior-laden standards, it can still take the negative-16 yards rushing from last week's Texas loss to heart. It, too, can use take it as a source of pride.
And while nobody expects the Sooners to go on a rushing binge the rest of the season, there might be a lesson in what happened after last year's Texas loss.
The following week against Kansas, Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray combined to rush for 181 yards and two scores. The Sooners won that game, and the six that followed to earn a place in the national championship. Over the course of that streak, OU averaged 247 rushing yards.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
