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From:  brad.j.watson@mail.sprint.com <mailto:brad.j.watson@mail.sprint.com>
[SMTP:brad.j.watson@mail.sprint.com]
<mailto:[SMTP:brad.j.watson@mail.sprint.com]> 
Sent:  Monday, October 29,2001 10:57 AM
To:  brian.ringer@wcg.com; <mailto:brian.ringer@wcg.com;>
restephenson@yahoo.com; <mailto:restephenson@yahoo.com;>
rob.grindstaff@bellhowell.infolearning.com
<mailto:rob.grindstaff@bellhowell.infolearning.com> 
Subject:  FW: OU-NU Locker Room Report: All is not lost


Brad Watson
Branch Manager - Oklahoma & Western Arkansas
Sprint - Global Markets Group
(405) 815-8080
(405) 815-8010 -- fax


-----Original Message-----
From:	Sigler, Michael J. 
Sent:	Monday, October 29, 2001 9:52 AM
To:	'sigfu22@yahoo.com'; 'raalber@ppco.com'; 'dejohns@ppco.com';
	Watson, Brad J.
Subject:	FW: OU-NU Locker Room Report: All is not lost

 



(AP Photo/Dave Weaver)
	OU-NU Locker Room Report: All is not lost
By James Hale

Date:	Oct 29, 2001

The streak is over, but the season isn't. James Hale talks with the 
Oklahoma coaches a day after their 20-10 to Nebraska
Make no bones about it, Oklahoma is not down and out over their loss to
Nebraska. Sure they disappointed, but Oklahoma is still Oklahoma and they
know that it took everything that Nebraska had to beat them on their home
field.
The Sooner coaches feel very good about how they played in the game.  They
knew going in that it was going to be incredibly tough to win the game in
Lincoln, but without question felt they could have done so. In fact, now
knowing what they know they felt they should have won the game.
The game was a tight fit, so it turned on a couple of plays. OU was very
confident and very much alive with 8:54 to play in the fourth quarter.  In
fact, OU Head Coach Bob Stoops was so confident in his defense that he
decided to pooch kick a punt from Tim Duncan down inside the five instead of
going for a 53-yard field goal. Now, hindsight is twenty-twenty, but Stoops
said he would do it again.
"Considering how we were playing defensively, I would probably pooch it
again," Stoops said Sunday afternoon following the game. "Now that I know
what happened, I keep wrestling with that decision, but I like our defense
so much that I am sure that nine times out of ten I would pooch it down
there and tell our defense to go get the ball. I have a lot of confidence in
Tim (Duncan) and know that he can make a 53-yarder, but if he doesn't' we
lose field position and I just thought it was better we tried to pin them
down. Hey, give them credit, (Eric) Crouch makes a big play on the option
and then they beat us on the trick play. Things like that happen in a good
football game."
Eric Crouch's 19-yard gain was a game-saver for the Huskers. Crouch was
totally held in check, before he finally breaks one off the right tackle to
get the Huskers off their goal line. However, at that point the Sooners were
still in good shape, before game-saver number two occurred.
"We have them stuffed right there at the Nebraska 32, but we get called for
the inadvertent facemask," said co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables.
"That is just a bad break on our part. We stuff the play, just like we had
stuffed him the whole game, but we get a penalty and they keep the drive
alive. We played great defense on that series. Think about it, we let them
off the goal line, but we hold our poise and stuff them the next three
downs. Bingo, we should be getting the football back with a little over five
minutes remaining in fairly good field position.  As it is, we get the
penalty and then get burned on the trick play.  That's football. But because
of the way it happened, we are not discouraged how we played at all."
For 97 percent of the game, Oklahoma's defense was outstanding. Roy Williams
and Rocky Calmus were flying around the ball and Brandon Everage was doing a
great job in run and pass coverage. It took two Cornhuskers on most plays to
block freshman sensation Tommie Harris and in the fourth quarter, Harris was
stronger than any Husker offensive lineman.
Where the Sooners lost this game was in their lack of playmaking offensive
on offense and special teams. I can't believe I am saying the Sooners lost
this game on special teams, but on this rare occasion Nebraska had the
better special team play. 
"They made more plays than us in the end than we did and that made the
difference," said Stoops. "We had our opportunities that we didn't come
through and convert on. The reverse pass is wide open and we have a chance
to go ahead 14-10, but again we throw a bad ball and don't convert. Then, we
had some drops in the second half and missed some opportunities for some big
plays on fade routes. We have come up with those kinds of receptions before,
however we weren't able to do it against Nebraska. I felt in the kicking
game that their punting game got the better of ours. When both teams punt 10
times there is a lot of exchanging there and I felt they had better field
position in the end.  That, coupled with two turnovers hurt us, because in
tight games that makes a difference. Again, they made more plays than us and
won the game."
The lack of production out of the wide receivers continues to be the big
story offensively. Granted, the quarterbacking has been up and down, but if
the Sooner wide receivers played like they did a year ago, then the
quarterbacks would look a lot better. 
First, let me point out that nothing has changed at the Sooner practices.
The wide receivers catch the same amount of footballs that they caught last
year. Wide receiver coach Steve Spurrier Jr. is doing the same outstanding
job he did a year ago, and it is basically the same guys.
However, you have to factor in they lost of Andre Woolfolk and the fact that
Mark Clayton is the only wide receiver that is stepping up on a consistent
basis. Woolfolk did not play one snap on offense, but did an outstanding job
on defense. Clayton, once again played well coming up with 62 yards on six
catches. Norman also had a solid game with four catches for 48 yards.
However, where is Curtis Fagan and Antwone Savage?  Savage had two catches
for 35 yards, but both juniors are not getting open enough or making big
plays.
"We had some opportunities slip through our hands, literally slip through
our hands," said Offensive Coordinator Mark Mangino. "It's obvious on the
plays that we are talking about that we had our hands on the ball and just
didn't haul them in. We are not asking our wide receivers to make any plays
they didn't' make last year, but right now we are not getting the same
production. However, let me point out that they are not totally problem. Our
quarterbacks are not always finding the right receiver in their progressions
and many times the quarterback is having a defender right in his face,
because our o-line didn't do a good enough job. It takes 11 guys to make an
offense work and 11 to break it down."
At right tackle, the Sooners alternated Jerod Fields and Jammal Brown, and
both gave a solid account of themselves.
"They played right tackle by committee and I think we will keep it that
way," said Mangino. "Both played well enough to give us a chance to have
success and that is about all we can hope for right now. Right now, both
can't play an entire game by themselves, so we are going to play both of
them and both have potential to be very good offensive linemen."
Bob Stoops says that starting quarterback Jason White has a sprained knee
and that he will miss the Tulsa game, but he has a chance to be back for
Texas A&M. White was getting X-rayed Sunday and reports indicate that the
knee injury is a torn ACL and that White will attempt to play on it if he
can stand the pain. This situation is very similar to OU defensive back
Terrance Simms' knee injury that occurred early in the season. Simms
attempted to comeback after sitting out one game and and re-injured the knee
in the fourth quarter of his first game back, which has forced him to sit
out the rest of the season. What you hope is that there is nothing more to
White's knee injury and he can come back in two weeks. 
It's another opportunity for Nate Hybl to get something going at
quarterback. The coaches seemed pleased with Hybl's performance against
Nebraska and he did look good in the first half. In the second half, he
struggled against the Nebraska pressure and his wide receivers didn't catch
the ball on some nicely thrown fades. 
There is no question that the team has total confidence in White and they
would like to feel the same way about Hybl. For that to happen, Hybl needs
to deliver some big throws. 
Most of the national media at the game believes that OU and Nebraska are two
of the top four programs in the country. All believe that Florida and Miami
belong with the Big 12's top two big two. All believe that OU and Nebraska
will battle again in the Big 12 Championship game, and if the Sooners win
they will still have a great shot to play for the national championship.
The projected BCS poll tomorrow is Nebraska, Miami, OU and Florida with
Texas fifth.
One final point. Bob Stoops and his football team handled the loss with
great class. Stoops was great at the post-game press conference and won over
many national friends. He was intelligent, funny and right to the point with
his answers.
Mike Stoops, Brent Venables and Mark Mangino were the same. All were dressed
very well, handled themselves very well and were total class.  The Sooner
players answered every question, and despite the fact they were hurting
inside, really won over the national media.
This OU program is all about doing things the right away and that was 
never more evident than in their first loss in 20 games