Husker Locker will be counting down and breaking down each of the teams in the conference. We hope you view this series as more interesting, comprehensive and definitive than what you may find elsewhere. Where we can make strong takes – we will.

We rank the teams 12 to 1 in overall strength. Then we’ll provide for you the North/South breakdown – and the preseason All Big 12 team, as well.

Enjoy!

Today: No. 2 Oklahoma

Coach:Bob Stoops
2008 Record: 12-2 (lost 24-14 to Florida in the BCS national title game)

What’s Changed Since 2008: That big, dominating offensive line is mostly gone. In its place, a big line that will probably dominate in 2010, but struggle, at times in 2009. OU lost two receivers, as well, but the Sooners generally just reload. Otherwise, this is the same mean, lean bunch it’s been for several years now.

2009 Non-Conference Schedule: Kicks off in Cowboys Stadium vs. BYU, which is being billed as a bigger game than it will probably turn out to be. The key non-conference tilt is at Miami (Fla.), where, we suspect, Randy Shannon’s Hurricanes will already be 0-3, causing Shannon, who will either be fired by then or close to it, or his replacement to throw every stupid thing in the playbook at OU. It could be one of those 24-21 upsets or a 55-14 bloodbath. You just don’t know.

2009 Conference Schedule: Second in difficulty only to Kansas. OU must play Texas, of course, travel to KU, Nebraska and Texas Tech, and tangle with Oklahoma State at the end.

Offense: Spread/Multiple

Coordinator: Kevin Wilson, whose no-huddle offense knocked every team but Florida and Texas for a loop last year. And, of course, the Sooners blew two key opportunities vs. Florida – probably because of the no huddle.

Strength: Sam Bradford doesn’t look like much off the field, but on it he’s a cool customer. Canny – that’s the word for him. He knows where to place the ball and how to get it there. He’s exceedingly accurate, and he’ll press the ball downfield. Tight end Jermaine Gresham is almost – almost – good enough to surpass Keith Jackson as OU’s best tight end in history. We’re not as enamored with running backs DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown as some are, but they do run hard, and downhill. Murray is a superior receiver, and could play that role in the NFL.

Weakness:OU made a killing on the right side last year in the running game. With a brand new guard and tackle, easy yards will be harder to come by. And Bradford, while terrific, can be sacked if he’s pressured. Let’s see how well he holds up without Phil Loadholt and Duke Robinson protecting him.

Defense: 4-3/Attacking

Coordinator: Brent Venables, who loves to stress the opposing quarterback with multiple looks and well-timed blitzes. Occasionally, he leaves his safeties left on an island, and if you can get OU’s linebackers peeking into the backfield and throw behind them, you’ve got a chance.

Strength: The front seven is a jaw-dropping array of talent, really, and it should be even better with the return of middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds. OU’s run defense has been more susceptible to breakdowns in the last two years. Don’t expect that to be the case in 2009. The Sooners’ corners, Dominique Franks and Keenan Clayton, are NFL types.

Weakness: Just the safeties, really, where Oklahoma must replace Nic Harris and Lendy Holmes. If OU’s defense is going to be tested, it’s right down the seam, preferably with playaction. BYU will certainly try.

Special Teams Ryan Broyles is a capable punt returner. On kickoffs, DeMarco Murray was quite good, but can OU risk another injury to him? Jimmy Stevens is a fair kicker.

Intangibles: That no-huddle offense is a real pain to prepare for in just one week; for a bowl game, it’d probably be easier. Oklahoma has chosen to become a rhythm, momentum team, which stuns and pummels lesser foes – Nebraska in 2008, for example - but can backfire against an equally matched opponent. It did against Florida, which weathered the initial onslaught and eventually dominated the fourth quarter, when the Sooners ran out of gas.

Best-Case Scenario: Another Big 12 Championship, another shot at the national title.

Worst-Case Scenario: Three, maybe four losses in the Big 12.

Our Take: It’s OU vs. UT for all the glitz, again, and we like Texas by a hair. And trust us – Oklahoma isn’t winning that BCS tiebreaker again this year even if Christy Turlington personally lobbies on the Sooners’ behalf. 11-1 or 10-2. BCS or Cotton. Bradford third in the Heisman race.

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More speed. More weapons. A clearer vision. All the coaches on the same page. And a tight end corps that every team in the Big 12 not named Oklahoma would die for.

If Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson can simply find a consistent, dependable right guard – and junior Ricky Henry will be given every chance to be that guy – NU’s offense could hum even more than it did in 2008 when, over the last eight games, Watson’s crew was an excellent balance of run and pass, explosiveness and possession.

“They’re a great looking bunch,” Watson said of this 2009 version. “More explosive and faster than they’ve ever been.”

You already the story of last year, of how Watson reassessed his offensive line and skill players practically in the middle of a 52-17 loss to Missouri, found that a simplified running game, based more on zone read principles, should be the Huskers’ identity, and promptly made adjustments before the Texas Tech game. It took about a quarter in Lubbock for the plan to click, but when it did, Nebraska kept the Red Raiders’ terrific offense off the field for most of the game.

NU still lost in overtime, 38-31, but head coach Bo Pelini remembered that contest at the Big 12 Media Days as his favorite of 2008, the one where Nebraska began to forge its identity.

In 2009, the plan will be, at times, more ambitious, taking advantage of an infusion of speed at the wide receiver position, and quarterback Zac Lee’s legitimate 70-yard arm. Wide receiver Menelik Holt talked about tempo, and the efficiency of Nebraska’s two-minute offense.

Might we see some no-huddle in the middle of the second quarter? We might. The Huskers, physically, are in terrific condition. And Watson has talented enough tight ends – Mike McNeill, Ben Cotton, Kyler Reed – to operate as Oklahoma does, alternating power sets and spread sets in the same drive, with the same 11 players.

OU’s no-huddle was so dynamic because it was equally explosive and punishing; opposing defenses couldn’t just run a nickel or dime against it, they had to keep linebackers on the field to stop the downhill running game. Those same defenses were then more vulnerable to covering a guy like tight end Jermaine Gresham, who habitually burned linebackers down the seam. Sub out a linebacker for a nickel corner, and Gresham would catch passes in front of the coverage. And OU’s running backs would make a killing on the outside zone play.

Yes, Sam Bradford operated the no-huddle like Nicola Benedetti plays a Stradivarius, but it was Gresham – and that terrific offensive line – that routinely presented the overwhelming mismatches.

Nebraska has McNeill, a 6-foot-4, 240-pound junior who had 32 catches for 442 yards and six touchdowns in 2008. And Cotton and Reed, who looks and runs like Gresham does. Reed has the fastest 10-yard dash time for a tight end in the history of the program. But all Husker fans needed to see was his catch and dash in the Red/White Spring Game.

McNeill confirmed he’d line up occasionally as a wide receiver, or as tight end in a “flex” set, out of which a lot – toss plays, bunch routes, play action stuff – can be run.

“As much as (Watson) wants to throw on us, at me, the better,” Lee said. “The more ways we can attack people, the better.”

And then you throw in NU’s young-but-fast receivers. Marcus Mendoza. Antonio Bell. Niles Paul. Brandon Kinnie. Khiry Cooper, who’s already “flashed” in the first couple days, Watson said Sunday.

Summer’s 7-on-7 drills were packed with big plays and daring tries from Lee for the deep ball.

“With Zac’s arm strength and the speed of the receivers we’ve got? I can’t wait,” Paul said.

But, simultaneously, the offense could be more old-fashioned, leaning on a experienced left side of the line – tackle Mike Smith and guard Keith Williams both return as starters – and two road-tested junior running backs – Roy Helu and Quentin Castille - north of 215 pounds.

“Taking the pressure off Zac would be amazing,” Smith said. “If we run the ball, it takes so much pressure off him. People don’t think he needs to make every single play and throw the ball for 300-plus yards every game, so if we can start the year off running the ball, it’d be a big plus.”

Smith stopped short of assuming Nebraska would emphasize the run, however. Last year, the Huskers seemed committed to trying, and it didn’t really work. Watson then stuck Joe Ganz in the shotgun more often, kicked the zone read into gear, and the offense took off.

“We’re going to attack people the way they allow us to attack,” Lee added. “Not worry about experience or inexperience or anything like that.”

That was a common theme among Husker offensive players. Watson’s more about strengths and weaknesses instead of time served.

Whereas Missouri coach Gary Pinkel more or less declared the Tigers are returning to their 2006 offense to accommodate new quarterback Blaine Gabbert, Watson has divulged virtually nothing – in the spring game or in any of his comments – about how the plan might look in 2009. He hints at Lee’s “arm talent.” He likes his receivers. He likes the competition between Helu and Castille, but wants two more running backs ready to go.

You hear comments like that, and think maybe Watson wants to head back to 2001 Colorado, when the Buffaloes shoved the ball down the collective throats of the Big 12. Some in the press corps seem to think that’s an option.

I’m not so sure. The heavy sets didn’t work last year. And they often didn’t work when Bill Callahan, Watson’s mentor, tried them either. You recall the 2006 Big 12 Championship, when counter after counter, zone play after zone play, was stoned by Oklahoma’s defensive line. NU’s Zac Taylor was stuck out on an island that night, without much to help him beyond screen passes and the same medium-rare routes that hampered the Huskers through much of the Callahan era.

In 2009, it’s a new Zac Attack, and although Lee may not be as efficient or savvy as Taylor once was, don’t expect the offense to slow down or regress in terms of sophistication. Instead, Lee will have to learn to live and adjust where Watson now gameplans: On the cutting edge.

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Grim and a little frustrated, Missouri Coach Gary Pinkel hustled up to the podium Tuesday at the Big 12 Media Days and immediately apologized for a delay at the Dallas airport that left him tardy for his appointed engagement.

Not long after Pinkel settled in, he was quickly peppered with queries about the immense talent – especially on offense – that he lost in the offseason to the NFL. Chase Daniel. Chase Coffman. Jeremy Maclin.

First, replacing Daniel, that love him/hate him quarterback that put Mizzou in the national spotlight and won two straight Big 12 North titles.

Pinkel shot straight: Former prep phenom (and Nebraska commit) Blaine Gabbert is the guy.

“Any time you have a transition quarterback,” Pinkel said, “everybody sits back and goes, ‘Wow, what's going to happen?’ When you lose a high level guy like that, hopefully, we can replace him with a high-level guy.”

Pinkel said he’ll bring along Gabbert, a sophomore, much as he did Daniel in his corresponding season. Daniel was inconsistent in 2006, alternating between excellent and average. He made “the leap” in 2007. Pinkel’s hoping the same for Gabbert.

He’s not so sure Maclin, the receiving and return whiz, can be replaced. But, he added, this version of the Tigers was his fastest.

On replacing two coordinators, Pinkel referenced the “Bill Belichick approach” of training and promoting from within. Pinkel the admitted he hasn’t lost two coaches, much less coordinators, in nine years at Mizzou.

***

Baylor’s Art Briles delighted the media with clever lines and quick answers. Briles kept referring to “turning hope into happen” throughout his interviews, because, at this point, that the Bears’ next step.

Briles talked a lot of about his quarterback, Robert Griffin, the fast, gifted sophomore quarterback. Griffin has helped with TV exposure, with recruiting, with fan recognition, with everything.

But Griffin, and his Bear teammates, won’t be sneaking up on anyone in 2008. Teams that narrowly escaped with wins – like Missouri, Nebraska and Texas Tech – learned their lesson.

“People are going to approach us differently on the other side, in other staff rooms and on other practice fields because they're going to come into Baylor with a different mindset than they did a year ago,” Briles said. “We understand that. We understand we're going to have to rise up and be better in all facets
of the game, not only physically, to deal with the charges that are going to come our way.”


Briles drew laughs for his stories about accompanying Jason Smith to the NFL Draft, and his comments on the wardrobe of some of his questioners. Briles is going to make an interesting push in the Big 12 South. He’s the first with the raw charm to recruit head-to-head with Mack Brown. His program doesn’t have the facilities, it doesn’t have the tradition, and it doesn’t have any recent success. But Baylor does have Briles.


***


There’s a curious, gentlemanly quality to the way Kansas Coach Mark Mangino handles himself in front of media. You tend to see a lot of different sides of the guy. You see the pride, the attention to detail, the self-made aspect. Just about every coach brings that to the table. But with Mangino it’s something a little more – a vulnerability, perhaps? A love for the little guy?


The coach talked with great care about recruiting quarterback Todd Reesing to KU several years ago, about how Reesing, tiny as he was, just had a confidence, a style, a belief that belied his looks. You could see why that might impress a guy like Mangino, who gets more comments about his appearance than he did his coaching.


Yes, Reesing runs around a little too much – and sometimes gets himself in trouble for doing it.


“But that's what makes him unique, you know, the idea that he believes in himself and that
he can make plays when there's not one,” Mangino said. “Kind of really reflects his personality; that he always thinks he can overcome. He always wants to prove the opposition wrong. Those traits have served him well.”


Good coaches tend to know – what’s best for each player is to fulfill their potential…through their own personality.


Also appreciated that Mangino admitted he likes to recruit “tough” players – read, guys a little rough around the edges – and that “sometimes we fail in that area, but we like kids that love to play this
game.”


***


Mr. Heisman and Big Game Bob was last to appear Tuesday, as Oklahoma took the podium.


The big questions for OU, of course, revolved around its offensive line. Everything else about the Sooners – QB Sam Bradford, the running backs, the extraordinary defense – is in place. But the line, which must replace three starters, remains a weakness.


“Mistakes they were making on day one, day two, they weren’t making on day 14 and day 15,” Bradford said. “I think we still need that progress once we’re in camp.”


Bradford also touched upon the “frustration” of never having won a bowl game. Especially when reporters, who have to find something negative about the kid, ask so often.


“It’s not something we like to do – “oh, we had a good season, let’s lose the last game,’” he said. “It’s starting to really to get to everyone.”



At one time, Bradford didn’t much care for the no-huddle offense, either.


“When we first switched to it, I didn’t it like it,” Bradford said. “It just seemed like chaos, it seemed like no one was on the same page. It sucked. If you would have seen us trying to run it the first couple days, you would have thought it was just a disaster.


“But the more time we spent on it, and the better we got, the more I fell love with it.”

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One day after the media selected Nebraska to win the Big 12 North, it tabbed NU defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh its Preseeason Player of the Year in the league. Suh finished 76 tackles, 7.5 sacks, 11.5 tackles for loss and two defensive touchdowns.

No Blackshirt has won the award since Grant Wistrom in 1996 and 1997.

Suh is also on the Big 12's preseason first team.

He's joined there by kicker Alex Henery. Henery made 18-21 field goals last year, including a 57-yarder - The Kick Heard Round Nebraska - to help beat Colorado 40-31. Henery has a shot to be NU's punter in 2009, as well.

Sam Bradford beat out Colt McCoy for Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year. Baylor defensive tackle Phil Taylor - featured in our BU breakdown - won Newcomer of the Year.

On the entire first-team itself, there are only four players from the entire Big 12 North: Henery, Suh, Kansas receiver Dez Briscoe and KU defensive back Darrell Stuckey. Texas, surprisingly, only has four players. Oklahoma has twice as many, with eight. Oklahoma State boasts five.

Read the entire list here.

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Our preseason Heisman includes the three finalists from last year – we’re idealistic, but not stupid – and seven more contenders.

We’ll update our Heisman board each week during the season.

1. Colt McCoy, Texas QB
Stock: Up
He’s the only one of last year’s three finalists without a trophy, and even now it’s hard to understand how Sam Bradford beat him. McCoy may not be as coveted by pro scouts as Bradford, but he’s a terrific leader, eerily accurate and a good runner.

2. Tim Tebow, Florida QB
Stock: Up
Tebow finished third last year, and probably deserved to. But the Gators should have the nation’s best team, and Tebow’s physicality and stature in the game is highly recognizable. Whether he wins a second Heisman or not, he’ll be remembered as one of the great college football players in history.

3. Dez Bryant, Oklahoma State WR
Stock: Up
This year’s Michael Crabtree, with a twist: Bryant also returns punts better than anyone in the nation, with a 17.9 yard average last year and two touchdowns. Bryant is poised to have a very big year, as is OSU; the question becomes whether teammates Zac Robinson and Kendall Hunter siphon away too much of the credit.

4. Sam Bradford, Oklahoma QB
Stock: Down
Bradford will have the tough task of duplicating astounding 2008 numbers with a new offensive line and new receivers. Great player and great kid, but not likely. A repeat winner has to be a little more special statistically than Bradford is bound to be next year.

5. Eric Berry, Tennessee DB
Stock: Up
Somebody has to stand up for the best defensive player with a shot at the award. Berry has been a starter at safety from the day he stepped on campus. Last year, as a sophomore, he had 72 tackles, seven interceptions, six more pass breakups and three sacks. And he does this while being a ferocious hitter in run support. Berry, at 5-11, 203, is simply a great player, that rare strong safety who’s also a top-notch cover guy. Worthy of the Heisman.

6. Jevan Snead, Mississippi QB
Stock: Up
When the light went on for this Texas transfer in the last half of last season, it really went on. Snead is a more a big playmaker than McCoy or Bradford; when Ole Miss throws the ball, it tends to be downfield, for big plays. That will diminish his completion percentage, and possibly his chances. But an undefeated regular season – which is possible – sure would help.

7. Jahvid Best, California RB
Stock: Up
Here’s your best bet at 2,000 yards, a short, shifty dude who averaged 8.1 yards per carry and gained 1,580 yards overall against the defensively weak Pac 10. Best could be part of the first Cal team to win a league title in ages. Don’t be surprised if Best has close to 1,000 yards after four games, heading into a game vs. USC. His performance there will shape his Heisman candidacy.

8. Terrelle Pryor, Ohio State QB
Stock: Up
You already know he’ll get more publicity than the average player, but, to boot, Pryor probably deserves it. He was good as advertised in his true freshman season, a lanky, confident runner with better-than-average passing mechanics. Games vs. USC, at Penn State and at Michigan will be the measuring sticks, but, either, we expect giant numbers from a quarterback of a top 15 team.

9. Zac Robinson, Oklahoma State QB
Stock: Up
The trigger man of OSU’s offense may not have the glitz of McCoy and Bradford, but he’s no less indispensable. For Robinson, much like Texas Tech’s Graham Harrell, it all lays out there in front of him. Win the games, and reap the rewards. A big test in the season-opener vs. Georgia needs to be passed. After that: Texas, Texas Tech and Oklahoma.

10. Colin Kaepernick, Nevada QB
Stock: Up
Who is he? A guy who rushed for 1,130 yards and passed for 2,849 while amassing 39 total touchdowns in Chris Ault’s Pistol offense. He plays in the defense-challenged WAC, but he’ll get two early season games on national TV: at Notre Dame, and vs. Missouri. If Kaepernick shines in both, and Nevada goes on run through its conference, he’ll be in the conversation.

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There still isn’t any use crying over spilled milk.

But it’s probably better than ignoring the spill altogether.

Such is the case in a Dallas Morning News article that asserts – with the assistance of Big 12 coaches and Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne – that the league is ready to stand toe-to-toe with the SEC in 2009. Osborne’s comments are reasonably tame – they usually are on any topic – but even he, of a half-century experience, looks out at the football landscape and sees a level playing field.

We did too, once. You may recall we made this Big 12 > SECassertion for 2008. It was, based on the measurables, a quality bet. And on about, oh, Nov. 22, it looked like a good bet, as undefeated Texas Tech took the field against one-loss Oklahoma in the year’s hottest game, on national television. Mike Leach, Bob Stoops, pirates, Crabtree, Harrell, Bradford, Murray, the Heisman up for grabs…

Some fun!

Three hours later, when OU had fitted the Red Raiders for a casket, the Big 12 began an odd march southward.

Tech struggled in its final regular season game vs. Baylor. Though a thrilling game, Missouri limped into the Big 12 Championship with a 40-37 loss to Kansas. Oklahoma and Oklahoma State engaged in a game of pick-up basketball in bright orange end zones. Worst of all, the Big 12 left it up to the BCS ranking to determine the South champ, giving the nod to Oklahoma over Texas. The Sooners then, not surprisingly, thrashed the Tigers in the league title game.

Meanwhile, the SEC had afternoon heavyweight fight between No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Florida, complete with Tim Tebow’s “win one for the Timmer” speech after a touchdown.

While Sam Bradford inched out UT’s Colt McCoy for the Heisman, bowl season, aside from Nebraska’s comeback win over Clemson, was equally middlin’. Missouri outlasted an average Northwestern team in overtime, then acted as if it had cured polio. Oklahoma State flopped out in San Diego vs. Oregon. Texas

Tech lost to Mississippi. Texas needed every last drop of McCoy’s blood to beat Ohio State. And OU outsmarted itself against Florida.

So the Big 12 drove the green in two, then three-putted from 25 feet.

And that was in a year when the Big 12 had all the advantages.

In the 2009 – flip the script.

Yes, the Big 12 again fields Texas and Oklahoma. But the SEC counters with Florida and Ole Miss, and the Rebels, with their own eccentric coach (Houston Nutt) are just as good of a story as Texas Tech was last year. Just as we did last year, we line up the teams based on a general consensus of predicted finish, although we move up Georgia one spot to face Oklahoma State for obvious reasons. Imagine these games on a neutral field:

Florida vs. Texas
Ole Miss vs. Oklahoma
Georgia vs. Oklahoma State
Alabama vs. Nebraska
LSU vs. Kansas
Arkansas vs. Texas Tech
Tennessee vs. Missouri
Auburn vs. Baylor
South Carolina vs. Colorado
Vanderbilt vs. Texas A&M
Kentucky vs. Kansas State
Mississippi State vs. Iowa State

How’s that play out for you? Three of the four bottom SEC teams were bowl squads last year (Vandy and UK won their bowl games, as well); Tennessee and Arkansas flamed out in offensive rebuilding years, but should return to the middle of the division in 2009.

We want your take here. Does the Big 12 surpass the SEC given this slate? How about in terms of talent? Exposure? While the Big 12 had seven players go in the first round of the NFL Draft, and may have just as many this year, is the league’s across-the-board talent as impressive as the rosters at the top half of the SEC schools?

So, anyway, pick a winner in the above games, and comment below.

See also: The BCS Comes to UNL

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Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford has trouble shaking his offense's miserable performance in the biggest game of his short career - the BCS National Championship.

Good kid, Bradford. Glad he's back in college football, quite frankly. If Nebraska's is to slay OU in Lincoln may it be with the best Sooner quarterback since Josh Heupel.

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The numbers for Oklahoma’s offense are gaudy and daunting.



OU is fresh off its highest-scoring first half in history and its highest yardage output in 20 years. Out of 43 trips to the red zone, it has scored 42 times, with 39 touchdowns, which is No. 1 in the nation. If you count the inevitable bowl game, the quarterback is on pace for 4,000 yards passing, two running backs are on pace for 1,000 yards rushing and two receivers are on pace for 1,000 yards receiving.



And you thought the 1971 OU team was the unstoppable one.



“They’re very, very balanced in the problems they present,” Nebraska head coach Bo Pelini said of the No. 4 Sooners’ attack.



If by “balanced,” Pelini means Oklahoma has done pretty much whatever it wanted against opposing defenses, he’d be right. OU has averaged 542 yards per game, 48 points and was the only team to truly tax Texas’ physical, athletic defense.



Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford – “a smart, smart football player,” Pelini said - has thrown for 2,775 yards and 29 touchdowns, comfortably sitting behind what Pelini said is the best offensive line Nebraska’s faced all year.



That same line, which features All-American candidates Phil Loadholt and Duke Robinson at left tackle and left guard respectively, has plowed significant holes for the Sooners’ lightning/thunder duo of DeMarco Murray (624 yards, nine touchdowns) and Chris Brown (585 yards, eight touchdowns).



“We want to run the ball now,” Bradford said Tuesday. “We’ve always wanted to run the ball, there’s just a greater sense of urgency.”



Only Texas, in a 45-35 win that was more defensive-minded than the score seems, was able to take that OU line’s best punch and hit back with some power of its own. The unit, which features four seniors, will be a tall order for Nebraska’s front four, which has, thus far, been the strength of the Cornhuskers’ defense.



“They move you off the ball,” NU nose tackle Ndamukong Suh. “They don’t necessarily try and reach you all the time and get you moving one way or the other . They try to go through you to get off the ball.”



What Texas did, Suh, said, was attack Oklahoma’s line before the Sooner players could bring that second step toward their blocking assignment.



“That’s what we’re taught,” Suh said. “(OU) was off balance by the time they actually moved to where they wanted to go.”



Easier said than done, especially in the wake of what might be Oklahoma’s best two games of the year vs. Kansas and Kansas State. They also happen to be two of the stranger games of the year.



Against KU, the Sooners constantly kept the Jayhawks at best with a sustained, balanced gameplan. Bradford threw for 468 yards and three touchdowns. OU added 206 rushing yards for a 674 total – on nearly 100 plays – in a 45-31 win. Amidst 36 first downs, Oklahoma still managed punt five times and miss two field goals.



OU topped that oddity last week at Kansas State, when the Sooners jumped out to a quick 28-7 lead after one quarter, relinquished it when KSU tied the game at 28, then added 27 more points in the last 6:26 of the first half for a 55-27 halftime lead. The 55 first-half points were a school record, presumably doing Barry “hang half a hundred” Switzer proud.



“Never really been part of a football half like that before,” Bradford said. “It was exciting. We got some things going, got in a rhythm and scored really quick.”



And this was a game that, statistically, might have been Bradford’s worst, as he completed only 13-of-32 passes. OU only converted 4-of-14 third down chances, and added just three second-half points in a 58-35 win.



“Everyone was a little disappointed with the way we performed in the second half,” Bradford. “…Just a lack of energy, lack of focus. Probably just came out a little complacent. I think we came out just a bit too relaxed.”



Pelini brushed off Bradford’s performance, noting that the Sooners running game easily controlled the Wildcats. Indeed, Murray and Brown gashed KSU’s defense for large chunks of yardage. And while Bradford only completed 13 passes, he completed them for 255 yards – almost 20 yards per completion. That’s part of why OU’s had 11 scoring drives of a minute or less and 70 plays – yes, an entire game’s worth – of 20 yards or more.



The big play bust happens to be the Nebraska defense’s primary weakness. While NU has held its opponents to just 18 first downs a game – first in the Big 12 – those same foes have ripped chunks of yards on one play. Baylor had five of them over 30 yards on Saturday.



An alarming trend, considering it’s the ninth game of the year and OU’s quick-strike capability.



“I can’t put a finger on exactly what’s going on out there,” safety Larry Asante said. “All the points (Baylor) was just off a bust, just guys being misaligned. If guys were in their gaps and playing their assignments, those touchdowns would have never occurred.



“That’s why I still see hope. We haven’t played our best football yet. It’s up to us to put it on film against a great team on Saturday.”


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