Tulsa World: Sooner duo runs over foes

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Sooner duo runs over foes
OU's Murray and Brown lead nation with 28 rush TDs.

Oklahoma's DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown have combined for 1,819 yards and 28 touchdowns this season. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World

By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
Published: 11/27/2008 2:28 AM
Last Modified: 11/27/2008 3:59 AM

OU's Murray and Brown lead nation with 28 rush TDs.

NORMAN — In this day of unprecedented passing success, does Oklahoma have college football's best 1-2 punch at running back?

"Those guys," said Sooners head coach Bob Stoops, "are great."

The numbers suggest much the same.

OU throws the football as well as any team, yet averages 204 yards per game on the ground. DeMarco Murray is second in the Big 12 Conference at 84.5 yards per game, Chris Brown is fourth at 80.9.

As a tandem, Brown and Murray lead the nation with 28 rushing touchdowns. And they've contributed another 40 yards per game and five touchdowns through the air.

"We don't compete against each other," Murray said. "We more feed off each other."

Murray has five 100-yard games this season, Brown has four. They've both hit 100 yards four times in 2008.

After two disastrous outings in a three-game span against TCU and Texas — teams that rank first and fourth nationally in run defense — OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson streamlined and simplified the game plan and the blocking schemes. Since then, Brown and Murray have averaged 208.6 yards per game between them.

That'll come in handy Saturday when the No. 3 Sooners visit No. 11 Oklahoma State. Last week OU powered for 299 yards against a Texas Tech defense that had been allowing 107 yards per game. The Cowboys rank third in the Big 12 and give up just 118.

Of the two, the 5-foot-10, 210-pound Brown, a junior from Alexandria, La., may be more surprising.

"DeMarco, it's a little more easy to see what a great player he is," Stoops said. "Chris is a fabulous football player. He's subtle. He's just so smooth in how he does it. It isn't flashy, but he's so good and consistent in what he does. We've said that now for three years. He's so productive. You look at his yards per carry, and people think, 'Geez, I didn't realize that.' "

Brown averages 6.0 yards per carry, the 6-1, 205-pound Murray, a speedier, shiftier sophomore from Las Vegas, averages 5.7.

Statistics often define a running back's ability, but these two are not driven by stats. Hey, Chris Brown, did you know you guys lead college football with 28 TDs?

"Oh yeah? Wow," he said. "It's kind of touching, to both of us."

Touching?

"Yeah," he said. "Coming off surgery, not knowing if we're going to be able to perform at the level we want to perform this year. Things are just going so well for us. It's just a blessing."

In the offseason, Brown had to recover from what he called tiny fractures in the growth plate of his lower leg bones. Late last season, Murray dislocated his knee cap and needed major surgery. As the season has progressed, each has gotten stronger every game.

"We weren't sure at all," Murray said. "Just (didn't have) that confidence, you know, 'Hey, are we doing something wrong? Do we need to be doing things better?' These last couple games, we've just been thanking God every day. It's a privilege to be able to play out there coming off of these injuries."

Brown leads the race with 15 touchdowns (Murray has 13), but Murray's four TD catches gives him 17 overall (Brown has 16). They're best friends, but don't think for a minute it's not competitive.

"When one guy scores a touchdown, even if we're tired and can't jump up in the air, we at least shake each other's hand," Brown said. "But it helps us, I think, in trying to produce more, competing against each other and trying to play up to a higher level, you know, 'OK, he did that so now I gotta go.' "

Double trouble

OU and OSU have two of the nation’s top running tandems (two backs with 500-plus yards). OSU’s Kendall Hunter and Keith Toston rank second nationally with 2,068 yards. OU’s DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown lead the nation with 28 touchdowns. OU is one of just four teams with two players over 800 yards rushing. College football’s top running back tandems this season:

1. Louisiana-Lafayette
Player	Att.	Yds.	Avg.	TDs
Tyrell Fenroy ..........	202	1,292	6.4	17
M. Desormeaux.....	132	1,001	7.6	5
Total.....................	334	2,393	7.2	22
2. Oklahoma State
Kendall Hunter.......	210	1,434	6.8	14
Keith Toston..............	91	632	7.0	9
Total......................	301	2,068	6.9	23
3. Wyoming
Devin Moore..........	249	1,301	5.2	7
Wynel Seldon.........	145	637	4.4	2
Total.....................	394	1,937	4.9	9
4. Wisconsin
P.J. Hill .......................	211	1,021	4.8	13
John Clay .................	144	845	5.9	9
Total.....................	355	1,867	5.3	22
5. Stanford
Toby Gerhart ..........	210	1,136	5.4	15
Anthony Kimble.....	120	717	6.0	6
Totals ...................	330	1,853	5.6	21
6. Army
Collin Mooney........	214	1,285	6.0	8
Chip Bowden ..........	180	566	3.1	1
Totals ...................	394	1,851	4.7	9
7. Oklahoma
DeMarco Murray ..	164	929	5.7	13
Chris Brown ............	149	890	6.0	15
Total......................	313	1,819	5.8	28
8. Georgia Tech
Jonathan Dwyer.....	170	1,184	7.0	10
Josh Nesbitt............	138	591	4.3	7
Total.....................	307	1,775	5.8	17
9. Penn State
Evan Royster ...........	185	1,202	6.5	12
Stephon Green.........	95	521	5.5	4
Totals ...................	280	1,723	6.2	16
10. Oregon
Jeremiah Johnson..	139	863	6.2	11
LaGarrette Blount...	113	816	7.2	15
Total.....................	252	1,679	6.7	26

John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

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