milesl
11/29/2006, 11:53 PM
Copy and pasted all the articles that had to do with the Sooners from the KC Star. Sit back and read !
Another back carries Sooners
Allen Patrick has been nearly unstoppable filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson.
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
NORMAN, Okla. | The way they talk about Adrian Peterson around here, you’d think that Bob Stoops would be spending this week on the corner of Asp Avenue and Lindsey Street, wearing a Santa hat and begging for rushing yards.
Stoops confirmed Tuesday that Peterson will not play in the Big 12 championship game, but that didn’t stop reporters from bombarding Stoops and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson with hypotheticals. What if Peterson suddenly recovered from his broken collarbone on Saturday morning? Would he play? Would his return affect team chemistry? It went on and on.
Wilson finally said what every other Sooner was thinking.
“Contrary to what people think,” Wilson said, “there was some blocking going on with Peterson the past few years. AD is one of the most special players I’ve coached, but he isn’t the Lone Ranger.”
If nothing else, Oklahoma has proved that during Peterson’s six-game absence. In fact, the Sooners have averaged 206 rushing yards per game without Peterson, compared with 172 with him.
That 34-yard difference can be attributed to many things, but certainly to the hard-nosed running of junior Allen Patrick and the maturation of the Sooners’ young offensive line.
In four games as the starter, Patrick has run for 603 yards and three touchdowns on 125 carries. He’s averaging more than 150 yards per game and 4.8 per carry. Patrick missed the Texas Tech and Baylor games because of an ankle injury, and freshman Chris Brown rushed for 253 yards and three touchdowns in place of Patrick.
“When Adrian went down,” Oklahoma left tackle Chris Messner said, “you could see it in Allen and Chris’ faces that they were ready to go butt it up with people.”
Patrick signed with Oklahoma after two years playing defensive back at Independence (Kan.) Community College. The Conway, S.C., native played running back in high school but came to Oklahoma to play defense. Or so he thought.
Last season, when Peterson went down temporarily because of an ankle injury, Stoops decided to move Patrick to running back because of his obvious athletic ability. Patrick ran a 4.45 40-yard dash and had the team’s highest vertical leap of 37 1/2 inches. He also had seen Patrick knock some people’s heads off on kickoff team coverage.
But nobody outside of Norman knew much about Patrick. So when Peterson went down against Iowa State this year, people assumed Oklahoma’s season was going with him. The Sooners knew better.
In his first game, Patrick battered Colorado 35 times for 110 yards. It wasn’t pretty, but it sent a message. This guy could take on the load.
“He hit the hole with a lot of attitude,” Oklahoma right tackle Trent Williams said.
“You can hit him as hard as you can, but he’s going to get up and let you know he’s coming again.”
Patrick has the look to match the swagger. After Monday’s practice, he wore a black skull cap and diamond studs on each ear. He smiled when asked about watching the defenses wear down week after week.
“You keep pounding the ball,” Patrick said, “and you can tell they’re getting tired of the contact.”
In the six games without Peterson, Oklahoma has achieved any sort of offensive balance only once, against Texas Tech. The Sooners simply haven’t had to throw to win games.
And on a cold night in Kansas City, in a game traditionally decided by great running backs, fans can bet on seeing a lot of Allen Patrick, affectionately called “AP2” by his teammates.
“Being a running back in a big game like this,” Patrick said, “it’s all on you.”
So far, that’s been a winning formula for Oklahoma. With or without AP1.
“It’s, ‘Hey, we’re coming at you,’ ” Oklahoma quarterback Paul Thompson said. “Sometimes, they might know where we’re going. As long as we’re more physical than they are, it doesn’t matter if we tell them where we’re going.”
Sooners, Huskers both had to repair key parts
Oklahoma got defense back on track, and Nebraska’s run game improved over last year.
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Oklahoma and Nebraska wobbled when the Sooners’ defense and Cornhuskers’ running game failed them.
But those standards of inevitability, like death and taxes, returned in force, and that’s why different shades of red are meeting in the Big 12 championship game Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Sooners’ defensive stand came after a few weeks of scrambling. The Huskers’ running game is a marked improvement over the previous season.
After three games, Oklahoma was surrendering nearly 400 yards per game. That was shocking, considering the Sooners had 12 defensive players taken in the NFL draft over the last four years.
The Sooners took the 97th-ranked defense into their fourth game, against Middle Tennessee State.
Slowly, Oklahoma improved, and by the second half of the season, the Sooners again were dominating on defense.
Some personnel shifting was required, starting with a secondary shake-up that settled on Lendy Holmes and Marcus Walker at the corners and Reggie Smith at safety. Also, the front line simply got better, more than doubling the team’s sack total in the final seven games.
“This team adapted to changes,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “We had changes in some positions, and guys stepped up and performed.”
The Sooners are a team without superstars, at least healthy ones. It’s unlikely that an Oklahoma player will win a major defensive award. The Sooners had a remarkable run during 2001-2004, when Rocky Calmus and Teddy Lehman won Butkus Awards for the nation’s top linebacker, Roy Williams and Derrick Strait the Thorpe Award for the top defensive back and Tommie Harris the Lombardi as the best lineman.
But Oklahoma may not have a defense that better embraced a team concept.
“What I’ve enjoyed about this season is that we’ve gone through everything as a team,” said linebacker Rufus Alexander.
The Cornhuskers’ running backs can relate. Nebraska’s Brandon Jackson has emerged as the primary carrier in a backfield quartet that’s accounted for nearly 2,300 yards. Jackson ranks second in the Big 12 at 73.4 yards per game. Marlon Lucky, Cody Glenn and Kenny Wilson all have pitched in 100-yard games.
The result is a running attack that averages 183 yards per game, far more potent than last year, when Nebraska ranked last in the league and 107th in the nation at 96 yards per game.
Coach Bill Callahan said improving the running game became an emphasis long before this season opened.
“It goes back to the bowl game against Michigan,” Callahan said. “Our ranking was hideous last year, and we had to get better.”
The Cornhuskers average 250 passing yards from quarterback Zac Taylor, the kind of balance Nebraska sought since Callahan installed the West Coast offense upon arriving three years ago.
“It’s nice to be able to hand the ball off five or six times in a row and know the drive will still be alive,” Taylor said.
Together, OU coach and defender stand
Coach of the year Bob Stoops and defensive player Rufus Alexander help the Sooners rise above adversity.
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
He held it together through a suspended quarterback, a stolen victory and injured running backs, and he still won a division championship.
That’s why Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops is The Star’s Big 12 Coach of the Year.
“When things started happening, he said, ‘You can’t use that as an excuse,’ ” Oklahoma linebacker Rufus Alexander said. “He said there was no reason why we couldn’t win every game.”
That didn’t happen, but the Sooners went 7-1 in the Big 12 to represent the South division in the Big 12 championship game Saturday against Nebraska at Arrowhead Stadium. Oklahoma lost its league opener to Texas and won the rest of them.
The reason — Stoops wouldn’t allow the Sooners to fold. Not after returning starting quarterback Rhett Bomar was suspended and booted from school, not after Oklahoma lost a decision at Oregon because of a call that officials later admitted was a mistake and not after the broken collarbone to All-America running back Adrian Peterson.
“Expectations never changed,” Stoops said. “Players never flinched regardless of injuries or circumstances.”
Players such as Alexander, who is The Star’s defensive player of the year. Alexander leads the Sooners in solo tackles, tackles for loss and has recorded an interception and fumble. He’s on his way to becoming the first player to lead the Sooners in tackles in consecutive years since linebacker Rocky Calmus did it during 1999-2001.
Alexander is the centerpiece of a unit that ranks 14th in total defense. How much has Oklahoma improved? After the Oregon game, the Sooners ranked 97th.
“Everybody started playing better,” Alexander said.
After falling to Texas, the Sooners started a four-game stretch of league games in which they allowed a total of three touchdowns.
Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor said he won’t need to be introduced to Alexander on Saturday. They met a few times in the Sooners’ 31-24 victory in Lincoln last season.
“I definitely know who he is,” said Taylor, who is The Star’s offensive player of the year.
Taylor, a senior, is rewriting the Nebraska passing record books. He’s thrown for 2,789 yards and 24 touchdowns, both records. In his two years, Taylor owns the top two passing seasons in Nebraska history and the school career passing mark of 5,193 yards.
He’s been the critical component in the program’s transition from an option-based offense to a pro style, or West Coast, offense.
“He’s done an outstanding job with everything we’ve given him,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. “He’s progressed at a much faster rate than anybody I’ve been around.”
Taylor started his college career at Wake Forest and transferred after one season to Butler County Community College.
He grew up in Norman, Okla., the son of former Sooners assistant coach Sherwood Taylor.
Taylor grew up a Sooners fan and lived for the Oklahoma-Nebraska games that were played annually when the teams were members of the Big Eight.
“Those are some of the most vivid memories I have,” Taylor said. “I know a lot about this rivalry. It was never about hate, but respect.”
Texas redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy is The Star’s offensive newcomer. McCoy is the league’s highest-rated passer and threw for 2,262 yards and 27 touchdowns. He replaced Vince Young and helped the Longhorns race to a 6-0 Big 12 start before they fell in the final two games.
Baylor redshirt freshman linebacker Joe Pawelek is the defensive newcomer of the year. Pawelek was the Bears’ leading tackler and ranked among team leaders in sacks and tackles for loss. He led Baylor with nine quarterback hurries.
THE STAR’S ALL-BIG 12 FOOTBALL TEAM
FIRST-TEAM OFFENSE
OL Lyle Sendlein Texas Sr.
OL Justin Blalock Texas Sr.
OL Corey Hilliard Okla. State Sr.
OL Kirk Elder Texas A&M Jr.
OL Chris Messner Oklahoma Sr.
TE Chase Coffman Missouri So.
WR Adarius Bowman Okla. State Jr.
WR Joel Filani Texas Tech Sr.
RB Jon Cornish Kansas Sr.
RB Jorvorskie Lane Texas A&M So.
QB Zac Taylor Nebraska Sr.
K Mason Crosby Colorado Sr.
FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE
DL Tim Crowder Texas Sr.
DL Adam Carriker Nebraska Sr.
DL Ian Campbell Kansas State So.
DL Abraham Wright Colorado Sr.
LB Rufus Alexander Oklahoma Sr.
LB Alvin Bowen Iowa State Jr.
LB Marcus Bacon Missouri Sr.
DB Aaron Ross Texas Sr.
DB Aqib Talib Kansas So.
DB David Overstreet Missouri Sr.
DB Lendy Holmes Oklahoma So.
P Daniel Sepulveda Baylor Sr.
Second-team offense
Pos. Player School Yr.
OL David Ochoa Kansas Sr.
OL Manuel Ramirez Texas Tech Sr.
OL Matt Slauson Nebraska So.
OL Greg Wafford Kansas State Sr.
OL Duke Robinson Oklahoma So.
TE Martin Rucker Missouri Jr.
WR Limas Sweed Texas Jr.
WR Robert Johnson Texas Tech Sr.
RB Brandon Jackson Nebraska Jr.
RB Dantrell Savage Oklahoma State Jr.
Big 12 needs classic Huskers-Sooners clash
BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Imagine the Yankees and Red Sox taking two years off from their series. They’d play the Devil Rays 18 times each, but not each other.
How about no basketball games between Kansas and Missouri until the 2008-2009 season?
Would not happen. Could not happen.
But a college football rivalry that stood with the best for nearly a century is once again in the first of a two-year hiatus. Nebraska and Oklahoma won’t face each other in the regular season this season or next.
In the 11th year of Big 12 football, 2006 will mark the fifth time these historic titans avoid each other in the regular season. It’s the biggest regret of the league’s cross-over scheduling policy that adds three other division opponents to the division scheduling to come up with an eight-game slate.
Everybody’s had a say in lamenting the situation: Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, former players and fans from both sides.
But there is another culprit in this, two actually, that could have kept the series alive annually.
Nebraska and Oklahoma, themselves, by missing each other in the Big 12 championship game.
Remarkably, 10 title contests are in the books, and none of them have matched the Big Reds that are separated by Kansas wheat fields.
How is this possible? We’ve had a pair of Nebraska-Texas tilts and Oklahoma-Kansas State clashes. The Longhorns and Colorado have played twice.
But no Huskers-Sooners to feast upon, which is odd because these programs have met under every other circumstance.
In an epic streak-buster, when Nebraska ended the Sooners’ 74-game hex over conference opponents in 1959.
In a Game of the Century, won by Nebraska in 1971.
In a bowl game, won by Oklahoma in 1979.
In a second Game of the Century, won by Oklahoma in 1987.
How they’ve missed each other on the first Saturday of December over the past 10 years is a matter of atrocious timing. Nebraska dominated the first four years of the league, winning three North titles.
At the same time, Oklahoma flopped like a fish on the pier with not even a bowl game in the league’s first three years. Enter Bob Stoops in 1999, and the Sooners won a national title a year later, just as circumstances were lining up to push the Cornhuskers into their fall.
The result: Big 12 title games for Nebraska in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Four for the Sooners in five years beginning in 2000.
The programs were on a collision course for Texas Stadium in 2001, but both blew it in their final games — Nebraska at Colorado and Oklahoma to Oklahoma State.
Although neither appears to be a national-championship contender, this could be the year.
The Cornhuskers, clear favorites in the North for the first time in years, return eight offensive starters and in Zac Taylor have the league’s toughest quarterback. Nebraska’s offense has much room for improvement, but it’s all but certain this group will be capable of finishing higher than 107th in the nation in rushing and 96th in total offense.
Offense is Oklahoma’s concern at the moment. Quarterback Paul Thompson, the replacement for Rhett Bomar, has gotten nice reviews from teammates during fall workouts, but at the very least, it’s going to take awhile for Thompson to adjust to game speed.
Defense will rule at both programs. Half of the all-conference defense should come from these teams with players such as Sooners ends Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You and linebacker Rufus Alexander. The Huskers are equally strong up front with ends Adam Carriker and Jay Moore, and a linebacker corps led by Corey McKeon.
The Sooners aren’t expected to win the South, especially after the Bomar incident. But Oklahoma has won five of the last six meetings with Texas, which is the favorite. Whichever team plants the flag after the Cotton Bowl bash usually ends up in the title game.
That same early October day, Nebraska visits Iowa State, and the North could become defined then.
It might add up to Huskers-Sooners on Dec. 2 at Arrowhead Stadium, the perfect neutral-ground setting to renew a series that should never have been interrupted.
Another back carries Sooners
Allen Patrick has been nearly unstoppable filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson.
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
NORMAN, Okla. | The way they talk about Adrian Peterson around here, you’d think that Bob Stoops would be spending this week on the corner of Asp Avenue and Lindsey Street, wearing a Santa hat and begging for rushing yards.
Stoops confirmed Tuesday that Peterson will not play in the Big 12 championship game, but that didn’t stop reporters from bombarding Stoops and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson with hypotheticals. What if Peterson suddenly recovered from his broken collarbone on Saturday morning? Would he play? Would his return affect team chemistry? It went on and on.
Wilson finally said what every other Sooner was thinking.
“Contrary to what people think,” Wilson said, “there was some blocking going on with Peterson the past few years. AD is one of the most special players I’ve coached, but he isn’t the Lone Ranger.”
If nothing else, Oklahoma has proved that during Peterson’s six-game absence. In fact, the Sooners have averaged 206 rushing yards per game without Peterson, compared with 172 with him.
That 34-yard difference can be attributed to many things, but certainly to the hard-nosed running of junior Allen Patrick and the maturation of the Sooners’ young offensive line.
In four games as the starter, Patrick has run for 603 yards and three touchdowns on 125 carries. He’s averaging more than 150 yards per game and 4.8 per carry. Patrick missed the Texas Tech and Baylor games because of an ankle injury, and freshman Chris Brown rushed for 253 yards and three touchdowns in place of Patrick.
“When Adrian went down,” Oklahoma left tackle Chris Messner said, “you could see it in Allen and Chris’ faces that they were ready to go butt it up with people.”
Patrick signed with Oklahoma after two years playing defensive back at Independence (Kan.) Community College. The Conway, S.C., native played running back in high school but came to Oklahoma to play defense. Or so he thought.
Last season, when Peterson went down temporarily because of an ankle injury, Stoops decided to move Patrick to running back because of his obvious athletic ability. Patrick ran a 4.45 40-yard dash and had the team’s highest vertical leap of 37 1/2 inches. He also had seen Patrick knock some people’s heads off on kickoff team coverage.
But nobody outside of Norman knew much about Patrick. So when Peterson went down against Iowa State this year, people assumed Oklahoma’s season was going with him. The Sooners knew better.
In his first game, Patrick battered Colorado 35 times for 110 yards. It wasn’t pretty, but it sent a message. This guy could take on the load.
“He hit the hole with a lot of attitude,” Oklahoma right tackle Trent Williams said.
“You can hit him as hard as you can, but he’s going to get up and let you know he’s coming again.”
Patrick has the look to match the swagger. After Monday’s practice, he wore a black skull cap and diamond studs on each ear. He smiled when asked about watching the defenses wear down week after week.
“You keep pounding the ball,” Patrick said, “and you can tell they’re getting tired of the contact.”
In the six games without Peterson, Oklahoma has achieved any sort of offensive balance only once, against Texas Tech. The Sooners simply haven’t had to throw to win games.
And on a cold night in Kansas City, in a game traditionally decided by great running backs, fans can bet on seeing a lot of Allen Patrick, affectionately called “AP2” by his teammates.
“Being a running back in a big game like this,” Patrick said, “it’s all on you.”
So far, that’s been a winning formula for Oklahoma. With or without AP1.
“It’s, ‘Hey, we’re coming at you,’ ” Oklahoma quarterback Paul Thompson said. “Sometimes, they might know where we’re going. As long as we’re more physical than they are, it doesn’t matter if we tell them where we’re going.”
Sooners, Huskers both had to repair key parts
Oklahoma got defense back on track, and Nebraska’s run game improved over last year.
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Oklahoma and Nebraska wobbled when the Sooners’ defense and Cornhuskers’ running game failed them.
But those standards of inevitability, like death and taxes, returned in force, and that’s why different shades of red are meeting in the Big 12 championship game Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.
The Sooners’ defensive stand came after a few weeks of scrambling. The Huskers’ running game is a marked improvement over the previous season.
After three games, Oklahoma was surrendering nearly 400 yards per game. That was shocking, considering the Sooners had 12 defensive players taken in the NFL draft over the last four years.
The Sooners took the 97th-ranked defense into their fourth game, against Middle Tennessee State.
Slowly, Oklahoma improved, and by the second half of the season, the Sooners again were dominating on defense.
Some personnel shifting was required, starting with a secondary shake-up that settled on Lendy Holmes and Marcus Walker at the corners and Reggie Smith at safety. Also, the front line simply got better, more than doubling the team’s sack total in the final seven games.
“This team adapted to changes,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “We had changes in some positions, and guys stepped up and performed.”
The Sooners are a team without superstars, at least healthy ones. It’s unlikely that an Oklahoma player will win a major defensive award. The Sooners had a remarkable run during 2001-2004, when Rocky Calmus and Teddy Lehman won Butkus Awards for the nation’s top linebacker, Roy Williams and Derrick Strait the Thorpe Award for the top defensive back and Tommie Harris the Lombardi as the best lineman.
But Oklahoma may not have a defense that better embraced a team concept.
“What I’ve enjoyed about this season is that we’ve gone through everything as a team,” said linebacker Rufus Alexander.
The Cornhuskers’ running backs can relate. Nebraska’s Brandon Jackson has emerged as the primary carrier in a backfield quartet that’s accounted for nearly 2,300 yards. Jackson ranks second in the Big 12 at 73.4 yards per game. Marlon Lucky, Cody Glenn and Kenny Wilson all have pitched in 100-yard games.
The result is a running attack that averages 183 yards per game, far more potent than last year, when Nebraska ranked last in the league and 107th in the nation at 96 yards per game.
Coach Bill Callahan said improving the running game became an emphasis long before this season opened.
“It goes back to the bowl game against Michigan,” Callahan said. “Our ranking was hideous last year, and we had to get better.”
The Cornhuskers average 250 passing yards from quarterback Zac Taylor, the kind of balance Nebraska sought since Callahan installed the West Coast offense upon arriving three years ago.
“It’s nice to be able to hand the ball off five or six times in a row and know the drive will still be alive,” Taylor said.
Together, OU coach and defender stand
Coach of the year Bob Stoops and defensive player Rufus Alexander help the Sooners rise above adversity.
By BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
He held it together through a suspended quarterback, a stolen victory and injured running backs, and he still won a division championship.
That’s why Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops is The Star’s Big 12 Coach of the Year.
“When things started happening, he said, ‘You can’t use that as an excuse,’ ” Oklahoma linebacker Rufus Alexander said. “He said there was no reason why we couldn’t win every game.”
That didn’t happen, but the Sooners went 7-1 in the Big 12 to represent the South division in the Big 12 championship game Saturday against Nebraska at Arrowhead Stadium. Oklahoma lost its league opener to Texas and won the rest of them.
The reason — Stoops wouldn’t allow the Sooners to fold. Not after returning starting quarterback Rhett Bomar was suspended and booted from school, not after Oklahoma lost a decision at Oregon because of a call that officials later admitted was a mistake and not after the broken collarbone to All-America running back Adrian Peterson.
“Expectations never changed,” Stoops said. “Players never flinched regardless of injuries or circumstances.”
Players such as Alexander, who is The Star’s defensive player of the year. Alexander leads the Sooners in solo tackles, tackles for loss and has recorded an interception and fumble. He’s on his way to becoming the first player to lead the Sooners in tackles in consecutive years since linebacker Rocky Calmus did it during 1999-2001.
Alexander is the centerpiece of a unit that ranks 14th in total defense. How much has Oklahoma improved? After the Oregon game, the Sooners ranked 97th.
“Everybody started playing better,” Alexander said.
After falling to Texas, the Sooners started a four-game stretch of league games in which they allowed a total of three touchdowns.
Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor said he won’t need to be introduced to Alexander on Saturday. They met a few times in the Sooners’ 31-24 victory in Lincoln last season.
“I definitely know who he is,” said Taylor, who is The Star’s offensive player of the year.
Taylor, a senior, is rewriting the Nebraska passing record books. He’s thrown for 2,789 yards and 24 touchdowns, both records. In his two years, Taylor owns the top two passing seasons in Nebraska history and the school career passing mark of 5,193 yards.
He’s been the critical component in the program’s transition from an option-based offense to a pro style, or West Coast, offense.
“He’s done an outstanding job with everything we’ve given him,” Nebraska coach Bill Callahan said. “He’s progressed at a much faster rate than anybody I’ve been around.”
Taylor started his college career at Wake Forest and transferred after one season to Butler County Community College.
He grew up in Norman, Okla., the son of former Sooners assistant coach Sherwood Taylor.
Taylor grew up a Sooners fan and lived for the Oklahoma-Nebraska games that were played annually when the teams were members of the Big Eight.
“Those are some of the most vivid memories I have,” Taylor said. “I know a lot about this rivalry. It was never about hate, but respect.”
Texas redshirt freshman quarterback Colt McCoy is The Star’s offensive newcomer. McCoy is the league’s highest-rated passer and threw for 2,262 yards and 27 touchdowns. He replaced Vince Young and helped the Longhorns race to a 6-0 Big 12 start before they fell in the final two games.
Baylor redshirt freshman linebacker Joe Pawelek is the defensive newcomer of the year. Pawelek was the Bears’ leading tackler and ranked among team leaders in sacks and tackles for loss. He led Baylor with nine quarterback hurries.
THE STAR’S ALL-BIG 12 FOOTBALL TEAM
FIRST-TEAM OFFENSE
OL Lyle Sendlein Texas Sr.
OL Justin Blalock Texas Sr.
OL Corey Hilliard Okla. State Sr.
OL Kirk Elder Texas A&M Jr.
OL Chris Messner Oklahoma Sr.
TE Chase Coffman Missouri So.
WR Adarius Bowman Okla. State Jr.
WR Joel Filani Texas Tech Sr.
RB Jon Cornish Kansas Sr.
RB Jorvorskie Lane Texas A&M So.
QB Zac Taylor Nebraska Sr.
K Mason Crosby Colorado Sr.
FIRST-TEAM DEFENSE
DL Tim Crowder Texas Sr.
DL Adam Carriker Nebraska Sr.
DL Ian Campbell Kansas State So.
DL Abraham Wright Colorado Sr.
LB Rufus Alexander Oklahoma Sr.
LB Alvin Bowen Iowa State Jr.
LB Marcus Bacon Missouri Sr.
DB Aaron Ross Texas Sr.
DB Aqib Talib Kansas So.
DB David Overstreet Missouri Sr.
DB Lendy Holmes Oklahoma So.
P Daniel Sepulveda Baylor Sr.
Second-team offense
Pos. Player School Yr.
OL David Ochoa Kansas Sr.
OL Manuel Ramirez Texas Tech Sr.
OL Matt Slauson Nebraska So.
OL Greg Wafford Kansas State Sr.
OL Duke Robinson Oklahoma So.
TE Martin Rucker Missouri Jr.
WR Limas Sweed Texas Jr.
WR Robert Johnson Texas Tech Sr.
RB Brandon Jackson Nebraska Jr.
RB Dantrell Savage Oklahoma State Jr.
Big 12 needs classic Huskers-Sooners clash
BLAIR KERKHOFF
The Kansas City Star
Imagine the Yankees and Red Sox taking two years off from their series. They’d play the Devil Rays 18 times each, but not each other.
How about no basketball games between Kansas and Missouri until the 2008-2009 season?
Would not happen. Could not happen.
But a college football rivalry that stood with the best for nearly a century is once again in the first of a two-year hiatus. Nebraska and Oklahoma won’t face each other in the regular season this season or next.
In the 11th year of Big 12 football, 2006 will mark the fifth time these historic titans avoid each other in the regular season. It’s the biggest regret of the league’s cross-over scheduling policy that adds three other division opponents to the division scheduling to come up with an eight-game slate.
Everybody’s had a say in lamenting the situation: Tom Osborne, Barry Switzer, former players and fans from both sides.
But there is another culprit in this, two actually, that could have kept the series alive annually.
Nebraska and Oklahoma, themselves, by missing each other in the Big 12 championship game.
Remarkably, 10 title contests are in the books, and none of them have matched the Big Reds that are separated by Kansas wheat fields.
How is this possible? We’ve had a pair of Nebraska-Texas tilts and Oklahoma-Kansas State clashes. The Longhorns and Colorado have played twice.
But no Huskers-Sooners to feast upon, which is odd because these programs have met under every other circumstance.
In an epic streak-buster, when Nebraska ended the Sooners’ 74-game hex over conference opponents in 1959.
In a Game of the Century, won by Nebraska in 1971.
In a bowl game, won by Oklahoma in 1979.
In a second Game of the Century, won by Oklahoma in 1987.
How they’ve missed each other on the first Saturday of December over the past 10 years is a matter of atrocious timing. Nebraska dominated the first four years of the league, winning three North titles.
At the same time, Oklahoma flopped like a fish on the pier with not even a bowl game in the league’s first three years. Enter Bob Stoops in 1999, and the Sooners won a national title a year later, just as circumstances were lining up to push the Cornhuskers into their fall.
The result: Big 12 title games for Nebraska in 1996, 1997 and 1999. Four for the Sooners in five years beginning in 2000.
The programs were on a collision course for Texas Stadium in 2001, but both blew it in their final games — Nebraska at Colorado and Oklahoma to Oklahoma State.
Although neither appears to be a national-championship contender, this could be the year.
The Cornhuskers, clear favorites in the North for the first time in years, return eight offensive starters and in Zac Taylor have the league’s toughest quarterback. Nebraska’s offense has much room for improvement, but it’s all but certain this group will be capable of finishing higher than 107th in the nation in rushing and 96th in total offense.
Offense is Oklahoma’s concern at the moment. Quarterback Paul Thompson, the replacement for Rhett Bomar, has gotten nice reviews from teammates during fall workouts, but at the very least, it’s going to take awhile for Thompson to adjust to game speed.
Defense will rule at both programs. Half of the all-conference defense should come from these teams with players such as Sooners ends Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You and linebacker Rufus Alexander. The Huskers are equally strong up front with ends Adam Carriker and Jay Moore, and a linebacker corps led by Corey McKeon.
The Sooners aren’t expected to win the South, especially after the Bomar incident. But Oklahoma has won five of the last six meetings with Texas, which is the favorite. Whichever team plants the flag after the Cotton Bowl bash usually ends up in the title game.
That same early October day, Nebraska visits Iowa State, and the North could become defined then.
It might add up to Huskers-Sooners on Dec. 2 at Arrowhead Stadium, the perfect neutral-ground setting to renew a series that should never have been interrupted.