Post game after Sooners bounce back vs Buffs

Originally Published: Oct 31, 2010 1:57 AM CDT

OU went into the Colorado game eager to get back in the race. Colorado went in looking for the finish line. Missions accomplished.

The Sooners were not necessarily crisp on offense early. But by halftime the numbers seemed outlandish: 20 first downs to 4; 291 passing yards to 65; 354 total yards to 89a disparity of 263 yards.

Fans got their wish as true freshman Roy Finch started and touched the ball early. The shifty star-in-the-making started in the slot with DeMarco Murray the lone back and Ryan Broyles split wide right.  He looked better than Murray with better quickness, speed, explosiveness and most importantly, effortlessly showing the ability to make the first man miss. Finch had 9 carries for 69 yards (5.6 average). Murray, had a remarkable 9 catches for 72 yards in the first half, had 5 carries for a net 17 yards (3.4 average).

However, the offensive line was not blowing anyone off the balland CU is not exactly the Chicago Bearsthe old Bears. The home routes are always satisfying to the locals. But unless a reliable run game is established, I doubt this team will be outscore the fieldwhich means win all its road games: in College Station, Waco and Stillwater. 

The most stunning thing to me was the incredible numbers posted by Broyles. In less than three quarters he caught nine balls for a new school-record 208 yards and 3 TDs. I’m calling it stunning because I know for a fact that his ankle is worse than most people think. He’s a tough kid and doesn’t want to use the bad ankle (two are hurt but one is quite a bit worse than the other) as an excuse.  It speaks to his off-the-charts athleticism that he can post those  huge numbers playing at less than full strength. For OU to win all those road-ies I mentioned, it’s really important that Broyles be closer to full speed. How crazy does that sound? He sets the receiving yards record and there’s still a lot more there. By the way, he set that record in less than three quarters and he did it when a running back (Murray) actually caught more passes (10). 

In his post game presser, Stoops was complimentary of his friend Dan Hawkins, who is soon to be out of a job. Stoops was pleased with the overall play. “Landry threw some special passes into tight spaces. Very few penalties. Defensively, same thing. Outside of a couple of plays, we were really solid. Kicking game was overall really good.”

An OU staffer tossed out a stat that’s hard to believe. He correctly stated that Bob Stoops has lost fewer home games in his 12 years than Texas has lost this season. Stoops is 71-2 and Texas has now lost 3 in Austin. Stoops has now won 35-straight at home with the 36th all but a certaintythat being struggling T Tech.

It’s not just that Texas has lost three games in Austin. It’s that those losses were to UCLA, Iowa State and Baylor. When OSU plays in Austin, they will be the smallest underdog they have ever been against UT, regardless where they’ve played.

Stoops was really down about a bad knee injury sustained by running back Jeremy Calhoun“it really hurts.”

Stoops said moving Lane Johnson from tight end to DE will “fit him better. We think he has potential there.”

Stoops post game answers were short. But they were short because of the late hour, not because of being upset about being upset.
 
All in all a good night in Norman