Stoops recognizes need for 'changes' as Bedlam approaches
BY GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Monday, November 19, 2012
11/19/12 at 10:43 AM
NORMAN – If Oklahoma wins Bedlam
Saturday, it will tie idle Kansas State atop the Big 12
Conference and set up a high-stakes final weekend, with the Sooners at TCU and
K-State hosting Texas.
That might be on a head coach's mind.
"Not really,"
Bob Stoops said Monday morning. "All I know is we've gotta play a good
Oklahoma State football team this week to have a chance at anything."
For the
Sooners to have a chance at winning Bedlam, they must repair their broken run
defense. West Virginia and Baylor rushed for 710 yards on OU the past two weeks.
West Virginia
went for 458 yards in Saturday night's 50-49 track meet. Tavon Austin rushed
for 334 by himself.
What exactly
happened?
"A
combination of things," Stoops said. "First, let's give credit to
Austin. An exceptional athlete. He hadn't been back there hardly at all before.
He made a lot of plays, made us miss him. Some of it is missed tackles. Some of
it is he's capable of making you miss tackles. The other running backs that
were in there didn't have nearly the success he did running a lot of the same
plays.
"Some of it
is our technique and what we're asking our guys to do. We feel we need to make
some adjustments there, to tackle better on some occasions."
If OU fails to
adjust, the Cowboys should score in the 40s again, something they've done in
three of the last four Bedlams. Joseph Randle rushed for 151 yards in OSU's 44-10
rout a year ago. He has 1,099 yards coming into Saturday.
"The
strength of what they do is running the football," Stoops said. "That'll
be the big issue for us, to make some changes and hopefully be more prepared to
handle it."
Associated Images:
Oklahoma's Bob Stoops argues a pass interference call during their game against of West Virginia on Saturday. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World
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