What Happened to DeMarco Murray?

[Suerreal]

I don't remember seeing him play after the kickoff return late in the 3rd quarter. I've reviewed the play-by-play on Yahoo! and he never touched the ball after that.

I did see him on the sidelines, and he didn't appear to be hurt.

Did anyone see him in the game, or hear anything about why he didn't do anything for the 4th quarter?

[aurorasooner]

Didn't AP have a dry stretch in the game as well? Seems like in the 3rd qtr, I was going to post asking if AP was hurt again, then all of the sudden he reappeared.

[Sooner02]

I thought Chris Brown had an outstanding game, despite seeing little of Patrick and Murray.

[adoniijahsooner]

Stoops said cb was hot, so they stayed with him, but imo kevin wilson is wasting talent by not giving him the ball at least 10-15 times a game. He only had 4 carries tonight, that is unacceptable.

[tulsaoilerfan]

That's typical Kevin Wilson; Murray saves the Texas game, then totally is taken out of the next game.

[GottaHavePride]

None of them were running well, and once Chris Brown started finding some holes they stuck with him. Simple as that: you go with whoever's hot.

[Curly Bill]

What a great country where we can win a big game and still bash the OC! I love it, and so for my two cents worth: I want to see more of DeMarco, and more of Jermaine Gresham too, and I don't mean that stupid pass to him out in the flats that typically results in a 0 yard gain.

Chris Brown did look good huh?

...just so many weapons to choose from...

[LittleWingSooner]

He didn't get the ball enough. He did have one nice catch early on.

[Sooner02]

Speaking of missing RB's, where is Gutierrez???

[Rhino]

The way UPS was playing toward the end of the game, you'd be an idiot to replace him with Demarco or AOC.

[Curly Bill]

Speaking of missing RB's, where is Gutierrez???

Playing on special teams, at least some of them.

Only one ball to go around means he gets no touches on offense.

[LittleWingSooner]

I don't think we'll see too much of Gute at RB the rest of his career. The best shot he has is senior day but only in a blowout. He's a team leader though.

[tulsaoilerfan]

The way UPS was playing toward the end of the game, you'd be an idiot to replace him with Demarco or AOC.
Don't think anyone is saying that, just wondering if something happened and he got hurt; Brown was great in the 4th quarter but it's just strange how a guy can totally disappear a week after such a great performance against a much better defense

[BoomerGirl34]

Stoops said cb was hot, so they stayed with him, but imo kevin wilson is wasting talent by not giving him the ball at least 10-15 times a game. He only had 4 carries tonight, that is unacceptable.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. But DM had four carries for two yards. :eek:

Not good. I did notice him lined up in the slot. That's intriguing.

[tulsaoilerfan]

I agree with you wholeheartedly. But DM had four carries for two yards. :eek:

Not good. I did notice him lined up in the slot. That's intriguing.
Yeah, i think he ran a reverse and also caught 1 pass from that position, but the best play he made was on the dump off where he made a couple of guys miss and put us into position to score in the first half; after that they pretty much didn't use him which is quite puzzling really.

[Sooner02]

I don't mind. I think it's nice when you don't have to really on your very best players to win a game.

[King Crimson]

Murray is not an everydown back unless we are BLOWING people off the line, which apparently we weren't doing.

OL seems a little overrated to me. yeah, they are big. we didn't push Colorado or MU around.

[Sooner02]

Overrated? Not sure, but I know I personally haven't seen a better OL this year.

[silverwheels]

I think we should put him on offense and defense. If he's guaranteed to score every time he touches the ball on offense, then if he gets a pick that 6 points.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

After he made the big yardage on that pass play, I was thinking, "OK, let DeMarco have the ball, and we'll kick Missouri's a*s". Then, I don't remember seeing him after that...he's a special talent, and saving him is puzzling, no?

[Sooner02]

I'm just waiting for that big breakout game where Murray runs for over 200 yds. I know it'll happen.

[LittleWingSooner]

DeMarco isn't an every down back. I agree with that. And I would say the same thing about Reggie Bush. But DeMarco is also just a freshman. He's going to continue to grow and get better. He's not going to have 100 yard rushing games every game. I do think we probably needed to give him more touches today. We just didn't.

[silverwheels]

he's a special talent, and saving him is puzzling, no?

No, it's not, actually.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

No, it's not, actually.Ok, for you it isn't.

[silverwheels]

Ok, for you it isn't.

Because I can see that we've got 3 very talented RBs that each have their own strengths. One guy might work better in certain situations against certain teams. One guy might have an off night, and someone else might step up. It's great to have all 3 of them.

Seriously, this **** is so retarded. It's on OUInsider, too. "Stop giving Chris Brown the ball". Blah blah blah. We're loaded in the backfield. Any one of our guys could have an amazing game. DeMarco is very good, yes, but so are Allen Patrick and Chris Brown. And they're all Sooners and none of them have a problem with the way the backfield is being operated right now. If you do, you should probably shut the **** up.

[adoniijahsooner]

I dont disagree that all our backs are very talented, but to give demarco the ball only 4 times doesnt make sense. Macklin for mizzou is a gamebreaker and mizzou found ways to get him the ball, because any play could go the distance with a gamebreaker. Like I said before only 10-15 times.

[rubyspirit]

The team is simply sharing the wealth ... we have a lot of depth in the position, and we want to keep the opponent guessing.

I wanted to see Malcolm more in the mix, but he had no action after two dropped passes. It is what it is. DeMarco didn't do much with the few carries he had.

SOONERS!

[aero]

I think it is the best scenario to have where we have 3 backs, any which can come in and produce. I'm not sure that mizz was keying on DM and AP as much as CB was just hitting the holes better. Chris has always seemed to be a more rugged back. AP is tough but he doesn't always find the seam. It was Chris's night and it was great. I was actually glad it ended up being Chris as I've been waiting for him to have a game like that. Now, who does our future opponents prepare for? AP, Murray, or Brown? Doesn't matter who's in, we can run with any of them. Or pass. Or run. Or pass to a runner. This team has obvious things to fix but I really like where we are at. We are showing we are good enough to not only overcome the opponent but also ourselves. We will find out in the next few weeks if these mistakes have been something we can correct or are they inherent with this team.

[soonerhubs]

I'm not one to knock any of those all star backs, but in my observation it looked as though Brown and Patrick are better at hitting the gaps and going North and South. Murray in some of my observations seems to try a little too much East and West from time to time. Not that that's a terrible thing, but sometimes that's a sign of not looking for the gaps in the line.

That said, I think DM is going to put some fear in Defenses over the next few years (including this next couple months).

[OU-HSV]

I agree with you all that are saying Murray needs more touches. But Props to Chris Brown last night. He saved our asses a few times in critical down situations. Not to mention he was able to hang onto the ball when Sam threw it to him out of the backfield, whereas AP proved early in the season he has a little bit of a case of stone hands. Anyways, big game, big win, big play out of Lofton, CB, SB....we just have to get better on special teams.

[Remembering Tom Stidham]

The Dallas paper said he suffered a minor leg injury.

[aurorasooner]

The Dallas paper said he suffered a minor leg injury.Yeah, a lot of this thread is total conspiracy imagination bulls^%t. I just read this in the Ft. Worth Paper.
RB Murray limited: Redshirt freshman running back DeMarco Murray said he had his carries limited against Missouri because of a left foot injury.

Murray had a team-high 17 carries for 128 yards and an electrifying 65-yard touchdown run in a win over Texas last week. But against Missouri, he had only four carries for 2 yards.

"All last week, my foot was bothering me. It's a bruised bone or something like that," Murray said. "I really didn't practice as much as I usually do. It was hurting every time I got tackled."

[adoniijahsooner]

I apologize to Kevin Wilson, I knew he could not have been that clueless.

[stoopified]

Whyen you have as many talented RBs as OU,you go with who is getting the job done.AP (11 c-44yds),UPS(13-69-3TDs) were effective,Murray was not.Last week AP and UPS-nada and DM7 was the MAN(but he ain't 40).My question is when does Madu get his shot?

[SoonerGM]

i like all our running backs, even the ones who dont get to play. its crazy right now. next year it gets even better with(if) callhoun coming in.

i have no problem with brown getting playing time, he produced well. i do think murray should get at least 10 touches. 4 touches in the early part of the game is not a good benchmark to say whether or not he was prodcutive.

i dont give credit to brown for finding the holes. i discredit the oline for not creating any holes until late in the game. our pass blocking is stellar. there is something wrong with the run blocking. there isnt any. now i am not trying to bash the line, its great that they are able to wear the defense down. i just think they have some work to do. the reason patrick didnt find holes is because they didnt exist, its just great that he is physcial enough to run in to people and get 3-5 yards anyway.

in the 4th quarter, when brown was getting his carries, we had different packages in the game. i remember at least once where we had only 1 WR in the game. thats a lot of blockers and it worked pretty good on an already worn out defense. that is different than running in the 1st quarter.

finally, i dont like to compare murray to reggie bush. bush = joke. great career at USC, thanks to his OLINE. they blew holes open that reminded me of the dallas cowboys when they had nate newton. bush is not physcial at all and we all see this now that he is in the NFL. i am actually quite impressed with the strength of murray. obviously he is no AD, but i have seen him fighting for extra yards and dragging people. murray is a football player.

[aurorasooner]

n the 4th quarter, when brown was getting his carries, we had different packages in the game. i remember at least once where we had only 1 WR in the game. thats a lot of blockers and it worked pretty good on an already worn out defense. that is different than running in the 1st quarter. Yeah, I think KW got the message from Bob in the 4th to "run the damn ball no matter what it takes". I also think they're all still scratching their heads in somewhat stunned disbelief on why we can't move people off the LOS and really run the ball with this OL from the 1 back set. I think I even saw a misdirection trap-type running play where we had someone just behind the left side of the OL in the slot. The one back off-tackle SOP snoozer started to the left with that ""slot-back (person) moving to the right behind and down the OL, then our running back took the hand-off and immediately cut-to the right behind our ""slot-back/blocker (sort of like pulling a tackle without the tackle). I set there for a second in disbelief. We really need to improve our running back formations in case Sam gets dinged early and we have to go to the bull-pen/, we need to eat clock, or he's just off that day.

[tulsaoilerfan]

Whyen you have as many talented RBs as OU,you go with who is getting the job done.AP (11 c-44yds),UPS(13-69-3TDs) were effective,Murray was not.Last week AP and UPS-nada and DM7 was the MAN(but he ain't 40).My question is when does Madu get his shot?
In all fairness to Murray, i don't think 4 carries is enough to say he wasn't getting the job done; i'm leaning to the DMN story being right as to why he didn't see the field much.

[aero]

i dont give credit to brown for finding the holes. i discredit the oline for not creating any holes until late in the game. our pass blocking is stellar. there is something wrong with the run blocking. there isnt any. now i am not trying to bash the line, its great that they are able to wear the defense down. i just think they have some work to do. the reason patrick didnt find holes is because they didnt exist, its just great that he is physcial enough to run in to people and get 3-5 yards anyway.

in the 4th quarter, when brown was getting his carries, we had different packages in the game. i remember at least once where we had only 1 WR in the game. thats a lot of blockers and it worked pretty good on an already worn out defense. that is different than running in the 1st quarter.

Its not uncommon for a good pass protecting line to not be as good at run blocking and vice versa. I think that was one of the things that made the Dallas line so good and unique. I love AP but his running style is straight ahead and sometimes he misses openings and typically when he gets hit he goes down. Brown was getting hit and bouncing out. There was a visible difference early on. They kept trying AP and nothing wrong with that but I was glad they saw the same thing as everyone else - that night, Brown was the runner that had it going on. As for the O line, other than some penalties, they played a good game. As long as they protect Sam the way they have been, you'll get little criticism from me. The backs can fend for themselves. :D

[r5TPsooner]

Murray is not an everydown back unless we are BLOWING people off the line, which apparently we weren't doing.

OL seems a little overrated to me. yeah, they are big. we didn't push Colorado or MU around.


They are very good in pass protection and mediocre run blockers.

[boomersooner28]

Can I pay Stoops like $1200 to give the ball to Demarco more?

I am greedy, I want more DEMARCO!!!!!!

[SoonerEmpire]

I second that motion!

[Frozen Sooner]

Demarco apparently has a hurt foot. Nothing major, but that limited his carries somewhat yesterday.

[stoops the eternal pimp]

Chris Brown looked good enough for me