Tulsa World: OU Notebook

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OU Notebook

By GUERIN EMIG, World sports writer
Published: 9/15/2008 2:06 AM
Last Modified: 9/15/2008 3:37 AM

Cleaning up: Early last week, Oklahoma wide receiver Manuel Johnson looked back on 2007 road losses to Colorado and Texas Tech and said: "No team did anything to hurt us in those games. We always hurt ourselves. We turned the ball over too many times, committed a lot of stupid penalties. We've just got to stay focused and come to play."

Saturday at Washington, the Sooners heeded Johnson's words and did just that with a clean game offensively.

OU didn't turn the ball over and was penalized just twice offensively for 15 yards. The Sooners overcame an illegal shift that nullified a DeMarco Murray second-quarter touchdown by scoring two plays later. And while OU's lone holding penalty set it back to its own 10-yard line in the third quarter, Sam Bradford connected with Jermaine Gresham for a 64-yard touchdown five plays later to erase that mistake.

Frontal assault: Defensive end Jeremy Beal wasn't the stand-up pass-rushing force he was a week earlier against Cincinnati. OU didn't use him in the "flex" position as much at Washington, and Beal didn't register a tackle.

Still, with opposite-side end Auston English and tackle Gerald McCoy having impact games, the Sooners did not miss that production.

On Washington's first running play of the game, English whipped tackle Ben Ossai and stopped David Freeman for a yard loss. By halftime, English had stopped Freeman for another loss and forced quarterback Jake Locker to fumble.

McCoy put together the game's most dynamic

back-to-back defensive plays early in the second quarter. First, he brought down Locker's quarterback draw for a yard loss, and followed that by blowing by tackle Cody Habben for an 8-yard sack of Locker.

All told, OU's front four has helped account for an NCAA-leading 12 sacks in three games.

Growing gains: So much for the preseason concern over OU's new starters at outside linebacker and cornerback.

Strongside linebacker Keenan Clayton led the Sooners with nine tackles and added a sack. Freshman weakside linebacker Travis Lewis was second with seven tackles and dropped Locker for another sack. Cornerback Brian Jackson forced and recovered a Washington fumble in the first quarter, then recovered another bobble at the OU 21-yard line in the second quarter. By GUERIN EMIG, World sports writer

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