Oklahoma defense works around injuries
BY ADAM ZUVANICH
AVALANCHE-JOURNAL
The Oklahoma defense is dinged up and depleted, but it’s still plenty dangerous.
The Sooners’ defensive depth chart has taken some hits, first losing leading tackler Ryan Reynolds to a season-ending knee injury against Texas on Oct. 11. Then defensive end Auston English, the preseason defensive player of the year in the Big 12 Conference, went down with a knee injury against Nebraska three weeks ago. Yet another defensive end, senior Alan Davis, was injured in OU’s last game against Texas A&M.
Oklahoma's Lendy Holmes (11) breaks up a pass intended for Texas A&M's Howard Morrow (5) during the first quarter of an NCAA football game Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008 in College Station, Texas.
But the Sooners (9-1, 5-1 Big 12) have dished out as many crushing blows as they’ve taken. They either lead the Big 12 or are tied for the conference lead in total defense (345.6 yards per game), sacks (34) and takeaways (24), which is part of the reason they’re ranked fifth in the nation heading into Saturday’s game against No. 2 Texas Tech (10-0, 6-0) in Norman, Okla.
“I think they’re really good, and I haven’t noticed a lot of difference,” Tech coach Mike Leach said, referring to the impact of the injuries. “In nearly every category they’re toward the top of the conference, and their pass rush, I think, is really good. Just kind of a typical, really good, solid Oklahoma defense.”
Like the Red Raiders, the Sooners will have had two weeks to rest and recuperate for Saturday’s game. They’ve also had two weeks to build on what OU coach Bob Stoops called his team’s best defensive performance of the season.
In a 66-28 win Nov. 8 at A&M, OU forced four turnovers, registered four sacks and held the Aggies to only 26 rushing yards and 278 total yards. Sophomore cornerback Dominique Franks returned a fumble 39 yards for a touchdown, recording his second defensive score in as many games. Redshirt freshman Austin Box, Reynolds’ replacement at middle linebacker, had a tackle for loss and an interception.
“Our guys were great against the run, coverage, everything was really solid,” Stoops said after the game. “We got good pressure and we came up with big turnovers.”
Takeaways have been the Sooners’ forte, especially during their four-game winning streak. They’ve forced 15 turnovers in that span, which has helped them win those games by an average margin of 27.3 points.
For the season, free safety Lendy Holmes has a team-high four interceptions and three fumble recoveries, while Franks and linebacker Travis Lewis — who needs only 25 more tackles to break the OU freshman record of 133 set by Brian Bosworth — have three picks apiece. Linebacker Keenan Clayton has six forced fumbles, which is tied for the Big 12 lead.
As Leach said, OU also has been good at generating a pass rush, and that will be critical against a Tech offensive line that has allowed only five sacks in 10 games. Nine different Sooners have at least two sacks this season, but at least two of them (Davis and English) aren’t expected to play.
The Sooners must make the most of the pass rushers they have, and it’s still a pretty good group. Starting tackles Gerald McCoy and Adrian Taylor have combined for 91/2 sacks and 131/2 tackles for loss, while starting defensive end Jeremy Beal has 51/2 sacks to go with a team-high 101/2 tackles for loss. Redshirt freshman Frank Alexander, who replaced English at the other end spot, has two sacks in only five games.
The Sooners also expect outside help from new backups J.R. Bryant, a converted linebacker, and Pryce Macon, a converted defensive tackle.
“It’s up to them to step it up,” Beal said. “… J.R. is looking good. He has speed. That will be a good tool for him in the game.”
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adam.zuvanich@lubbockonline.com 766-8733
jeff.walker@lubbockonline.com 766-8735
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Your win over the Horns was a fluke! Lucky last second win.
You’ll lose in Norman as usual and Texas takes it’s rightful place in the National Championship, with Colt bringing home the Heisman as well!
But HEY!! You guys get a Cotton Bowl apearance! lol
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How can it be a fluke win when you statistically dominate a football game? I’ve never seen a Tech team control lineplay against Texas like we did this year. It was awsome! Face it Longhorn Sally. Your team got “punched in the mouth” and, while responding valiantly, came up short. It was a great game, but we beat you. And, I must say, it’s amusing to read inane comments from uninformed sports fanatics like you. I just wish you realized how ignorant you appear making comments like that. LOL
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Tech lead 58:30 of a 60:00 game..
Tech dominated the stats…
Colt was owned by Graham…
Many UT fans(Sad Sally is the epitome) have more hubris than brains and can’t rationalize that they were not only beat but dominated. They will not listen to a cogent argument contrary to the great orange cow. THAT is one reason why beating them is so much fun!!
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Sally,
I know you are joking. But if you are not . . . please seek help.
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Sally, get stuffed…your horns were only in the game because the zebras overlooked (again) a blatant clip on Shipley’s punt return td! Your team was dominated on the front!!!
WRECK’EM TECH!!!
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sally is just looking for a back way into the championship. sadly she is so miss informed she does not realize even if we lose to ou, ou has to beat osu in stillwater, and if ou wins out they will jump ut in the bcs standings and tu will be left out of the championship.
what’s funny is she is here on a tech blog, when she should be on an aggie blog trying to prevent their 3rd straight loss to the ags.
what a joke–losing to the ags!!!!
guns up raiders, you can do it!!!
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To Sally. You Longhorn fans never cease to amaze me.Lose a
game and the complaining never ends. Always excuses. Admit
your Longhorns were beaten in every aspect of the game and that
includes the final score.
Oklahoma may beat Tech, but we do not have benefit of playing
Oklahoma at a neutral site, such as the Longhorn do every year.
Your great Austin American Stateman is still writing articles on how Texas got screwed at Lubbock, however nothing is ever
mentioned on the screwing Tech got in 2006 on the poor
officating. Never thought I would say this, but ” Go Aggies”
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Sally is crazy…
Bottom line is that if OU beats Tech (and OSU), Texas has zero shot at all. Oklahoma will come out on top of the conference, win the Big Twelve and will once again go to the National Championship.
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Sally is wrong. As a Sooner fan, I agree with a couple of the Tech posters about the fact that Tech dominated the game in Lubbock. Texas was lucky to scramble back into the game and briefly take a lead. Their mistake was scoring too quickly. Never give a Mike Leach team 1:30 or more to score!
Speaking of getting screwed by the officials, Tech fans should not forget the reaming that OU received in Lubbock 2005. That 4th down pass spot that the refs awarded to Amendola still makes me shake my head! Incredible…
And last year’s game in Lubbock, while Tech was not the beneficiary of borderline crooked officiating, they WERE very fortunate that Bradford had to miss nearly the entire game due to concussion. Hopefully, you won’t have that advantage this year.
All of that said, I hope for a good game Saturday, and if you guys should win, hope you represent the Big 12 well.
This year’s Tech team is definitely the best team of Leach’s tenure, and has the best chance, IMO to knock off the Sooners.
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Sally, please shut up. Tech’s win a fluke?…hardly. Yes, Tech gave up a 19-pt. lead. This time, Tech had the character to come back. The last second TD pass wasn’t luck. That was pure magic that Harrell and Crabtree have been working all year. Count me as one impressed burnt orange fan. Mr. Clifton, I live in Austin – guess I’ve missed the Statesman articles you mention – even in victory your mouth runs, celebrate your success for once. SoonerGuy, are you serious – OU in the NC? Not this year bud. Two things have to occur, and neither will. OU will have to beat Tech by a large margin & shut down Harrell. A narrow win won’t vault the Sooners over Texas in the BCS – but hey, not to worry cause Tech wins that game anyway. Second, OU has to beat the Cowboys in Stillwater. I guess you forgot about that little game. Cowboys win that one too, which means your team won’t even get to a BCS bowl!! Best case for OU is tri-champions with Tech and UT; again, not enough to get into the Big 12 game. If by some divine intervention OU beats Tech, the Raiders & Longhorns are co-champs, because OSU beats OU, Tech over BU, and Tech will beat Missouri and hopefully get enough votes (i.e.- respect) to play for the NC against Alabama or Florida. The train has left Raiderville – keep it going.
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These are the scenarios that all Longhorns are praying for.
OU beats Tech and OSU and OU or UT goes to the BCS championship.
Worst case scenario Texas goes to Fiesta Bowl.
Poor Tech would go to a second tier bowl game.
The best case scenario is for Tech to beat OU and lose to Mizzou at the big 12 championship game.
Tech goes to a second tier bowl game and Texas goes to the BCS championship. OU goes to Fiesta Bowl.
I just read that even the T.V. execs are hoping for Tech to get beat. Texas Tech & Alabama in the championship game would be low ratings and boring.
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Dear Longhorn Jackass:
Don’t know what comic book you were reading but if you kept up with the real world you might recall that ABC previously informed
Tech that the Tea Sip and Okie Lite games were the most watched college games of the year thus far.
By the way…best case scenario is for the Raiders to play for the National Championship while Texas plays Utah or Penn State in the Alamo Bowl !!!
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GO Tech…. Go Aggies… Aggies make those longhorns cry and whine even more.
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LOTS of football to be played, things will shake out and these arguments will be mute points….
FACT is tech has best atheletes overall. 1st time ever. THIS not the tech of old and that is why the ou game will be very competive and if it was at a neutral site tech would win easily. ut handled ou with ease and tech handled ut with ease. thAT GAME could have been a 21 point win.
SATURDAY will be a battle! tech has an advantage just about everywhere except kicking game and homefield. The sooner fans are taking tech lightly, but stoopes will have them ready for us.
if tech plays their game and does not make any mistakes TECH WILL WIN THIS GAME, MUCH LIKE TEXAS DID.
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To be the Best you have to beat the Best, as a father Raider, I say were ready to be the best we can be. Win or L—, play your best and be proud. This is why we chose Texa Tech. Guns UP#27 Raider Nation get your Guns UP!
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Terry R, in 2005 Amendola had forward progression on that fourth down play. Look it up!
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Well said, Britton Sr.
Wreck ‘em Tech!
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Sally… go back and check the stats of the UT-TTU game as mentioned in numerous blogs above…. luck is an excuse echoed by participants who fail to accept defeat. Get over your loss to TTU, accept it and then forget about it…. ‘cuz apparently we already have!
TTU’s year has not been about luck, it has been about a team that has focused on a one-game-at-a-time preparation and has delivered winning results. GO TECH ! Guns Up!
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WELL SAID florida raider,
is florida as good as they look or is the sec down so far this year, they just look good against their weak opposition?
they lost to michigan in the bowl game last year and to ole miss this year and so far schedule looks light to me.
they got plenty of speed………..
tebow will go will down the draft list compared to graham, colt, or even chase……..
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texas born… don’t you have to win your conference to play in the championship game?? how would UT go if we(ttu) lose to ou and osu beats ou?? Texas wouldnt even play in the big 12 championship game…right??
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I’m a longhorn fan and i’m going to disagree with sally on this one. It takes a true longhorn fan to say we got beat from top to bottom which is what happened. Then Tech completely destroys OSU which texas barely beat. Tech will fortify its place in Big 12 history with a win at OU which won’t be easy.
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First,
YOU DON”T HAVE TO WIN YOUR CONFERENCE to play in the NC game. You only have to be ranked 1 or 2 in the BCS standings. After Nebraska, and OU both played without being conference champions. The BCS did lower the computer impact, so it would only happen when it really needed to.
Texas Born in your scenario you made a major mistake, If Tech beats OU and then loses to Missouri (a true possible scenario). You have Texas in the NC and OK at the Fiesta Bowl. How can this be when the conference champion gets an automatic berth, and well Missouri would go to the Fiesta. But now lets look at the real issue. OK with two losses (since losing to Tech), Texas with a loss to Tech and Tech with only one loss. I don’t see how Texas would miraculously leap frog Tech, but it could happen.
If the TV executives are worried about ratings if Tech plays in the big game, well apparently Fox executives are true idiots. So far Tech has given ABC some of the best ratings in prime time and this week the ratings will keep increasing.
I personally believe that OU will lose in Stillwater no matter what happens this weekend. But a victory for Tech that would be sweet.
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tech wins out and loses to mizz- we will get bcs birth and probably ncs bid,
tech loses to ou and beats baylor and osu beats ou, we go to championship, but would have to beat mizz to secure bcs bowl and could be jumped for ncb………..
we lose to ou and they win out and the ags don’t beat texas——–cotton here we come……..
not to worry, we will just win out all the way through to the NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP——–I BELIEVE IN OUR GUYS
GO RED RAIDERS!!!!!!
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Texas is in a better position to play for the National Championship Game right now then they are for the big 12 championship.
Tech wins out then there is no disputing who goes but if they should stumble, then all bets are off.
It’s better to lose early then late in the season. If OU beats Tech and OKie State then they would leapfrog Texas and play for the National Championship, it’s not a fact, but a prediction.
I honestly think that Texas will go and play a BCS game, I pray for National Championship but it looks like a BCS game, Fiesta.
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Some of you Texas fans are dignified, and some not. What makes it so much fun for me for us to beat you is your disgust at being beat by “lowly Tech”. I go back to the Darrell Royal days when he drug all of us through the mud.
Face it Texas, you’re not the ‘high & mighty’ all the time. It’s very tough league and almost a toss up who might come out on top each year.
If we should beat OU, I’ll bet there will not be cars damaged in Norman with Tech markings. We have friends in Austin whose cars have been keyed &/or windows broken with Tech stickers. That’s not part of the game.
I don’t hate UT, but good luck Aggies; and by all means, guns up Raiders. As the song goes, some of us “were Raiders when Raider wasn’t cool.”
Go Raiders.
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Yeah if we lose this weekend and OU wins out, I think we would probably head to the Cotton Bowl, the fiesta can choose between texas and tech and it doesn’t matter who is ranked higher as long as your in the top 12
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Tech ba,
Enjoy your year, next year you’ll be rebuilding and we’ll be reloading, as we do every year.
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Sally, didn’t Vince Young score on miraculous plays at the end of the UT-USC game? If that type of play does not count, that erases a UT nationship trophy. Anyway, that was not a UT championship, it was a Vince Young championship.
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Oops! nationship = national championship. (Thanks, Mr, Britton, for this fixing scheme since a post cannot be edited. And thanks for your boy Eddie. His tough play has been big in the Raiders’ run this year. I’d like to see him get about 3 more TDs at OU. Run, Eddie, run! Block, Eddie, block!)
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Devin… I do think UF is that good of a football team, even though they did lose to ‘Ole Miss early, but at this point UF is probably playing as well as anybody, including yours truly… TTU. Last year, Tebow’s stats obviously won him the Heisman… This year??? I wouldn’t count him out, but in comparison to Graham or Colt’s #’s, he’s not up to their level. Winning the SEC and playing for the Crystal is what drives Tim T.
I would also predict Graham, Michael, Colt and Sam are thinking of the same scenerio…Win the Conference, win the Nat’l Championship, etc…
The SEC is still a strong and competitive conference. Everyone sorta beats up on each other, just like the Big XII, then the winner limps into the Sugar or BCS Title Game. ‘Bama is still ranked #1 in the BCS, but I think you’ll really see how good UF is come Dec 6th. People in these parts have seen what the tandem of Harrell and Crabtree can do… remember last years Gator Bowl? I was there and so were a few Gator straglers.
Best case scenerio for Tebow… play TTU in Miami, ‘cuz that may be the only hardware, besides the SEC stuff, that he’ll possibly get.
Best case for Graham…. continue to play like he has for 12+ games… and he’ll probably have a lotta hardware to shelve.
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Hey Jim, I guess Vince Young was the only one playing that year for Texas?
I’d like to see Tech play without Harrell. I believe you would be at the bottom half of the division along with A & M.
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Texas Born… good point regarding VY… but, who would’ve won that game against SC? Take Tebow out of the Florida mix and you could make an argument where would UF be right now.
Take Colt away from UT, same result. But, UF also has a dangerous threat in Demps and Rainey, including a defense that has won a few games thus far. I do agree if TTU doesn’t have #6…. well, you know, same scenerio.
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I will simply disregard Sally the fluke and Texas Born dumb.
This article does scare me a little. Everything stacked up between these two teams is leveling them out at an even matchup.
Truthfully, both offenses are stellar. It will be up to the defense to win the game. OU does suffer from three key injuries, and Tech is budding on a strong defense of several Okie natives (who hopefully won’t be so effected by the crowds on Sat.)
The thing that worries me is the turnover rate.
We need to force TO’s and protect the ball in order to win this game.
From Norman, its downhill. After OU, we have a Baylor rivalry game and the Big 12 game vs. Missouri. I have faith in these games that Tech will make it to NC. TTU vs FLA
GUNS UP
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