Tulsa World: OU primed, ready for next two games

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OU primed, ready for next two games

By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist
Published: 11/9/2008 2:17 AM
Last Modified: 11/9/2008 3:19 AM

COLLEGE STATION, Texas — So much for the preliminaries.

It's time for the main event. And Oklahoma left little doubt here Saturday afternoon at Kyle Field that it's more than ready to rumble.

The No. 6 Sooners (9-1, 5-1 Big 12) routed Texas A&M, 66-28. It wasn't the mother road, but this rout 66 was the mother of all motivational victories for an OU team that needed it as the Sooners now prepare for the toughest two-game stretch of their season.

Win two games to play four games should be OU's motto at this point. The Sooners need victories in their final two regular season contests to have a shot at a spot in the Big 12 Conference championship game and perhaps the Bowl Championship Series title contest.

OU will take this week off, then host No. 2 Texas Tech on Nov. 22 and close the regular season on Nov. 29 at No. 8 Oklahoma State in the annual Bedlam Series showdown.

After a month of feasting on some of the Big 12's lightweights, the Sooners now get a couple of heavyweights in the Red Raiders and Cowboys. It's the perfect two-game card for OU as it attempts to fight its way back into contention for one of the two spots in the BCS national title game.

Five games and a 45-35 loss to No. 5 Texas ago, the Sooners were a BCS title match long shot. But if teams keep falling like then-No. 1 Texas did a week ago at Tech and No. 3 Penn State did yesterday at Iowa, OU has to hope it doesn't run out of Saturdays before enough teams lose to get the Sooners back to where they need to be in the BCS standings.

"There's still a lot to come, a lot of football to be played," OU coach Bob Stoops said after the Sooners cruised past the Aggies (4-6, 2-4). "We've got (two) big games coming, and I'm sure those will factor in (to the BCS) one way or the other.

"You've got to play well in them. But those are two huge games down the road that I'm sure will make a difference."

If the 2008 season is anything like 2007, it could take until after the conference title games are played the first Saturday in December before the contenders for the BCS national title are identified.

"You watch it a little bit," Stoops said of the BCS standings, which will be updated and released Sunday. "We can't do anything about it other than play well, and we're doing that."

Yes, they certainly are. Since that devastating loss to the Longhorns in Dallas, OU has scored 45, 58, 62 and 66 points in victories over Kansas, Kansas State, Nebraska and Texas A&M, respectively.

Just as importantly, the Sooners used that four-game stretch to retool and patch a defense that is missing two key players and may have lost a third yesterday when end Alan Davis injured a knee. It is knee ailments that have sidelined middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds for the season and end Auston English for at least two more weeks.

The defensive upswing continued against the Aggies as Austin Box showed marked improvement in his second start in Reynolds' spot. The redshirt freshman from Enid had an interception and was one of the players presented a game ball on a defensive unit that held the Aggies to 26 yards rushing and 278 yards of total offense.

Sooner fans have to accept two things about this team — the defense will give away some big plays and the special teams are going to struggle at times. That happened again Saturday, when OU missed two field goals and gave up a 98-yard kickoff return for a TD to A&M receiver Cyrus Gray.

But OU supporters must remember the Sooners have one huge positive to trump those two negatives — a point-a-minute offense that just keeps getting bigger, better and more diverse with each outing.

Quarterback Sam Bradford celebrated his 21st birthday by throwing for 320 yards and four touchdowns to four different receivers. Running backs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown each ran for more than 100 yards as the Sooners continued to fine-tune a rushing attack that piled up 328 yards and gave perfect balance to a unit that rolled up 653 total yards.

OU undoubtedly could have scored more than 80 points on the Aggies if they wanted to really impress poll voters and BCS computers. But Stoops pulled his starters after the third quarter and ordered the backups to run the ball straight ahead to keep the score in check.

"Holding it back in the fourth quarter there's sportsmanship involved," Stoops said. "Sometimes you have to choose sportsmanship over BCS points or whatever (style) points.

"To me, in the end, I think it's the right way to play it."

OU has played it so right through a month of preliminary games that it's right where it wants to be — primed for the main event.

By DAVE SITTLER World Sports Columnist

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soonerbeach, Wichita (11/9/2008 11:23:03 AM)

Unbelievable offense! Should make for a classic in a couple of weeks.

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