TULSA WORLD HOMEPAGE | Friday, November 20, 2009 | WIRELESS
CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBER SERVICES | SIGN IN SIGN OUT | MY PROFILE PAGE | MY ACCOUNT

Follow us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter Follow us on RSS
Sports Extra!
Follow us on ...
OU | OSU | TU | ORU | HIGH SCHOOLS | COLLEGE FOOTBALL | COLLEGE BASKETBALL | NFL | FANTASY | OUTDOORS | GOLF | PROS | ALL


SPORTS EXTRA BLOGS
    Sports Editor
Mike Strain
Sports Columnist
Dave Sittler
The Picker
Entertaining & Infuriating

LOCAL PROS

ALL SPORTS

PHOTOS & VIDEOS

OUTDOORS

FIND A STORY

EMAIL ALERTS

SOCIAL MEDIA

RSS FEEDS

CONTACT US
BUY PHOTOS & PAGES

TULSA WORLD

ADVERTISE ON SPORTS EXTRA

Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark

Stoops is confident in special teams
OU coach said the mistakes made last week are fixable.

SPECIAL TEAMS FIXES
Bob Stoops: Downplayed Banks' big return because OU had held him on previous runbacks.
 
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 11/6/2009  2:21 AM
Last Modified: 11/6/2009  6:40 AM

 NORMAN — When Kansas State's Brandon Banks gathered in that fourth-quarter kickoff Saturday night at Owen Field, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops got a helpless feeling.

"I knew as soon as he hit the seam," Stoops recalled. "I said, 'That's over.' "

It was, too. Banks sped 98 yards, untouched, to the end zone.

Now the Sooners are off to Nebraska for what figures to be a close, defensive-controlled, low-scoring game. A special teams play could easily loom large. Given Banks' return, K-State's partial block of a Tress Way punt, and the fact that the Huskers returned a blocked punt for a touchdown last week at Baylor, is this cause for OU concern?

Stoops didn't sound like it this week.

He reminded reporters that the Sooners hemmed in Banks until the 98-yarder. In fact, Banks' previous runbacks covered 19, 16, 18, 24 and 20 yards.

Overall, the Sooners' kick return defense puts them in the middle of the national pack, not at the bottom like they were last year.

As to the blocked punt, the second against Way this season, Stoops said: "Our upbacks got separated when they shouldn't have."

A correctable mistake which Stoops was working on right after the block, when he called upbacks Jeremy Beal and Matt Clapp over and did some rather assertive coaching.

The Sooners' punt coverage needs no such attention.

Only eight of Way's 36 punts have been returned, for a grand total of 1 yard. The only team in the country to allow less yardage
is Florida (0).

"Tress is doing a nice job of hanging the ball and hitting it with a lot of distance," Stoops said. "And guys are getting down there in a good way."

Rounding out Saturday's special teams matchup, Nebraska is 11 of 13 on field goals, while OU is 11 of 14. And while the Huskers' Niles Paul is a decent return man, the Sooners' Dominique Franks and Ryan Broyles are both among the top 22 punt returners nationally.

Sound familiar?: Nebraska starting cornerback Alfonzo Dennard sprained the AC joint in his shoulder against Texas Tech on Oct. 17, the same injury that OU officials said quarterback Sam Bradford sustained Sept. 5 against BYU. Dennard returned the following week against Iowa State, then reinjured the shoulder last Saturday at Baylor.

As for this weekend's game against OU, Dennard told Nebraska media: "I'm going to play."

Bradford missed a month, reinjured his shoulder against Texas on Oct. 17, then underwent season-ending surgery last week.

Guerin Emig 581-8355
guerin.emig@tulsaworld.com
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer

Newspaper View Newspaper View      Print this story Print      Email this story Email     
Share      Bookmark Bookmark


COMMENTS 
      Add your comment Show: Most Recent Comment First

4 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
Report Comment Reporting Comments

If you see a comment that violates our terms and conditions, please help us by clicking the "Report this Comment" link next to a comment. That will alert the web staff to review the comment. Thank you.  -- Web Editor Jason Collington
 

 
Report Comment
lovethemsooners, Fayetteville (11/6/2009 8:55:38 AM)
No complaints on the kickoff coverage. That Banks kid is going to return a lot of kicks. If not for Moreland's tackle on the previous kickoff, Banks might have had 2.
Report Comment
Steff M, Claremore (11/6/2009 11:11:00 AM)
That is hilarious that someone would tell others to use a dictionary while misspelling "fourth" and "offense". Words that most with more than a "fourth" grade education can spell correctly without help. scottybedumb continues to amaze.
Report Comment
scottybegood, (11/6/2009 10:16:41 AM)
Good thing Big game Bob has cofidance in special teams, because the offence "SUCKS"
Get ready for your forth loss.
BUMMER SOONER.

FYI:Look up sooner in the dictionary.
Report Comment
AtlantaSooner, Atlanta (11/6/2009 1:43:12 PM)
LOL Steff, you nailed it.

Scotty, most of us have typos or misspell words from time to time, but few of us bring up the dictionary when are so careless. When one is highlighting their own ignorance, arrogance probably isn't a good strategy.
 

 
Add Your Comment 
In order to post a comment on this article, you must sign in to Tulsaworld.com. If you do not have a site account, you can create an account for free.

 
Post Your Comment
 



Home | About Tulsa World | Advertise With Us | Privacy | Usage Agreement | FAQ and Help | Contact Us | Today's Headlines
Copyright © 2009, World Publishing Co. All rights reserved.