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Sooners' depth will be tested
OU's coaches have ideas for how they will fill middle linebacker.

FILLING THE MIDDLE
Mike Balogun: Played all but two plays of the fourth quarter of Saturday's game at middle linebacker after Austin Box sprained a knee. Balogun, a junior-college transfer who made three tackles against OSU to give him six on the season, could play on Saturday against Missouri in what may be a three-man rotation.
 
By GUERIN EMIG World Sports Writer
Published: 12/2/2008  2:23 AM
Last Modified: 12/2/2008  3:37 AM

Listen to OU running back DeMarco Murray and head coach Bob Stoops, and Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel and head coach Gary Pinkel talk about Saturday’s Big 12 championship game.



NORMAN — How many Oklahoma Sooners will it take to replace Curtis Lofton's year-old production against Missouri in Saturday's Big 12 championship rematch? Now that the first two middle linebackers who replaced Lofton have gone down with knee injuries, would you believe three?

It's a possibility, OU coach Bob Stoops indicated after practice Monday night.

He could keep Mike Balogun in the middle, as he did for all but two plays of Saturday's fourth quarter at Oklahoma State after starter Austin Box sprained his knee.

Or he and defensive coordinator Brent Venables could tinker with OU's back seven as they did against Kansas on Oct. 18, the first game after original starting middle 'backer Ryan Reynolds was lost for the year with a torn knee ligament. That night, Nic Harris manned the middle while Quinton Carter replaced him at safety.

Could Harris be considered for the middle once more?

"Not middle, but one of the outside (linebacker) positions," Stoops said.

Could weakside linebacker Travis Lewis, the Sooners' leading tackler, move to the middle in that case?

"Possibly," Stoops replied.

"We'll
just work a three-man rotation, just create some depth there," Venables said.

Based on?

"Everything," Venables said. "How a guy's playing, if somebody gets banged up, God forbid. We know for sure we don't have a two-deep, but maybe we can get a one-and-a-half deep."

It's not easy replacing the 27 tackles, three of which went for lost yardage, fumble return for a touchdown, interception return for a near-touchdown and sack that Lofton totaled in OU's two victories over Missouri last year, the last of which earned the Sooners their fifth Big 12 title.

Balogun, the junior-college transfer who made three tackles at OSU to give him six for the season, is the wildcard in the deck.

"When you're force-feeding him all the (practice) reps and getting him ready and figuring out what he can and can't do, you're able to formulate your game plan around that," Venables said Monday.

What is it Balogun can do?

"As a big guy at 250, I move pretty well," he said. "I think that's my biggest asset, my size and speed. Some people may doubt that I move well, but I move just as fast as the rest of them.

"I'm definitely not scared to put the hat on somebody. That's a part of my game. Being aggressive, being physical is something somebody my size is supposed to be."

"He's got pop, he's got explosion," Venables confirmed. "He's got the ability to cover. He's a good blitzer. He works really hard to get himself right."

These are the things Venables, who was in the process of losing Lofton to the NFL, saw when he first discovered Balogun through a recruiting service e-mail last December. Balogun was at Lackawanna (Pa.) College at the time, being recruited by Arkansas.

"It actually caught me off guard," Balogun said. "I was just talking to Arkansas the week before Coach Venables called Coach (Mark) Duda, who was the coach at Lackawanna. I walked in (Duda's) office and he was like, 'How do you feel about Oklahoma?' I was like, 'Oklahoma?' He was like, 'Their coach called and he's interested and needs a 'backer.'

"I talked to Coach Venables the next day, which was a Wednesday. I was out there that weekend, that Saturday. Who would turn down the opportunity to play at an Oklahoma? It was a dream come true, really."

The problem has been seeing it come to fruition. Balogun fell behind Box and Travis Lewis at weakside linebacker during preseason camp, and moved to the middle around the time conference play began in October.

Then he got stuck behind Reynolds first and Box second there.

Balogun's issue?

"Just knowing what to do," Venables said.

Thus the large black binder of a playbook, with a blue ink pen sticking out of it, that Balogun brought to the interview room Monday night.

"I definitely am prepared right now," he said, "more than I've ever been."

BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP: A LOOK BACK

Saturday night marks Oklahoma’s seventh Big 12 Conference championship appearance. Each day this week, the World revisits a past Big 12 championship involving the Sooners.

Dec. 2, 2000 • Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Mo.

Oklahoma 27, Kansas State 24

It wasn’t pretty. Josh Heupel threw three interceptions. OU trailed 10-3 early and gave up Aaron Lockett’s 58-yard punt return to tie the score at 17-17 late in the third quarter. But the Sooners showed the kind of resolve that defined their national championship season, driving 79 yards to the go-ahead touchdown after Lockett’s return. Quentin Griffin took a fourth-and-1 option pitch 24 yards, and on the next play Heupel threw a 17-yard scoring strike to Andre Woolfolk. OU took command later in the fourth quarter, before KSU tacked on a last-second touchdown to make the final score more respectable.



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

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COMMENTS 
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18 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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Report Comment
Gil, Joplin (12/2/2008 8:08:51 AM)
Typical OSU fan--"Wait until next year"
Report Comment
zach, (12/2/2008 8:25:02 AM)
OU wouldn't be in this position if OSU hadn't thrown a cheap shot on Box.
Report Comment
wk, (12/2/2008 10:45:03 AM)
Cheap? He got blocked. This is football zach -- people get hurt. Get over it.
Report Comment
snapper, (12/2/2008 10:53:06 AM)
After Bosworth, how can any Sooner complain about cheap shots?
Report Comment
zach, (12/2/2008 11:19:38 AM)
First, Box was 10 yards away from the play and not in position the make the tackle. Second, the receiver dove for his knees. I know what a cut block is. There was a difference. Go watch the tape. It was a blatant cheap shot.
Report Comment
Arbythree, (12/2/2008 12:08:53 PM)
Won by 20....nuff said! As far as next year.....it is in Norman where we choose to fill the stadium.
Report Comment
sierrajoe, Langley (12/2/2008 12:43:22 PM)
Good God snapper, we are what three...four coaches past Bosworth and 20 years... most of these kids weren't even born. As for OSU, if you would worry about beating everyone else as much as OU, you would truly be a threat... you did good this year, but don't focus on the one game so much. As to the seats...why won't anyone tell the truth. There weren't 10K empty seats in that stadium. How did people get those seats? Did OSU give away nearly 1 mil. worth of tickets to keep OU fans out?
Report Comment
Arbythree, (12/2/2008 1:06:38 PM)
sierrajoe. I was there....in the stadium. There were thousands of empty seats. As a matter of fact, we left our horrible seats in the OU section and moved to rather nice, empty seats. That might account for the appearance, on tv, that the stadium was more full, but believe me it was not.

Another telling thing was the traffic was modest, unless those extra 10k all car pooled.
Report Comment
Scritchner, Tulsa (12/2/2008 1:28:25 PM)
For all you talking smack all I have to say is...how long has it been since you won a BCS game?
Report Comment
Gil, Joplin (12/2/2008 2:30:16 PM)
How long has it been since you've been to a BCS game? Oh wait you've never been!!
Report Comment
Scritchner, Tulsa (12/2/2008 2:59:07 PM)
That maybe, but that also means we haven't been embarrassed on national TV either. Haha. We'll let you have that one too.
Report Comment
zach, (12/2/2008 3:29:40 PM)
You were on national tv when you played Tech right? That's what I thought.
Report Comment
Scritchner, Tulsa (12/2/2008 4:03:47 PM)
One game. Haha, see the thing that funny is, I honestly couldn't care less. We are not a football school. You on the other hand...mmm. "That's what I thought."
Report Comment
soonerbornbred, henderson (12/2/2008 4:50:45 PM)
Interesting Scritchner...are you saying that your Cowboys would rather not be on the national stage and possibly suffer a loss? The difference is OU has been there and done that...and still doing it. As for OSU, what kind of school do you consider them to be? Basketball? Golf? Wrestling? I definitely know that in basketball the Cowboys have fallen off the glory days of the mid-90s.
Report Comment
ct4640, Tulsa (12/2/2008 7:08:06 PM)
osu= reading rithmatic and rastling
Report Comment
pat, Kiefer (12/3/2008 10:24:48 AM)
Report Comment | Ignore User
Scritchner, Tulsa (12/2/2008 2:59:07 PM)
That maybe, but that also means we haven't been embarrassed on national TV either. Haha. We'll let you have that one too.
------------------------------------------------
Um...you lost by 20 at Bedlam on national tv too!
Report Comment
Trickstr25, (12/3/2008 10:59:06 AM)
ESPN paid big for SEC broadcast rights. This means they have a conflict of interest when it comes to promoting and influencing people associated with the polls. It doesn't surprise me that they want to turn OK and TX fans against each other so they can keep up their true agenda of lifting the SEC to the top. OK and TX are better than Bama and Florida and should be reflected so in the polls. Just look at their computer rankings and the schedules.

The entire ESPN network has become biased. Herbstreit specifically promoted Florida and the SEC. ITS A CONFLICT OF INTEREST!!!!!

Just Google "ESPN SEC Sign Historic Contract"
Report Comment
OUtechie, (12/3/2008 8:05:04 PM)
Scritchner, OSU's not a football school??? Oh, that's right, OSU is a non-football school with the nicest FOOTBALL stadium in the nation.
 

 
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