Bob Stoops Weekly Press Conference-Week 5

Coach Stoops previews the upcoming matchup against Ball State.

Tuesday, September 27th 2011, 2:36 pm

By: News 9


Layna Dewell, News9.com

NORMAN – University of Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops took time Tuesday to meet with the media during his weekly press conference where he addressed the upcoming game against Ball State.

The Sooners who are 3-0 on the season thus far will take on the Cardinals Saturday at 6 p.m. in Norman and Stoops and the team are looking forward to a better week of practice in preparation for the game.

Stoops says the 3-1 Cardinals have a lot of good things going for them so far this season.

"You can tell they've got a lot of great chemistry going," said Stoops. "I think their quarterback does a really nice job throwing the football and they're very balanced, they like to run the football but they're going to compliment it with passing game on defense they're structurally very sound--they make you work defensively to beat them.

"They've got a lot of good players and they are very sound and good at what they're doing schematically," Stoops added.

Related Story: Vitals: Oklahoma vs. Ball State

The Sooners return to practice this week after what Coach Stoops said was a 'disappointing' week of practice last week leading up to the Missouri game.

Many of the players addressed this after the game Saturday and already made it a point to not let that happen again.

"It's a long road, and the better teams get better as you work through  the year so hopefully we will make some strides here through this week," said Stoops.

Coach Stoops added that he was "very pleased" with Monday's practice.

Saturday the Sooners will be without center Ben Habern who broke the radius bone in his right arm during the Missouri game.

Stoops said he is told that Habern could be back in as early as 4-6 weeks to play at the guard position.

 "It's because of the bone, the rotation of it. If it didn't have anything to do with the rotation of the wrist then he could go probably earlier, but that's why it's going to take at least that long to play guard."

Related story: Oklahoma's Habern Out 6-8 Weeks With Broken Arm

Coach Stoops added that the doctors still say it will be between 6-8 weeks before he could snap the ball and return to play at center.

"He'll be back, he's a strong, great leader," said Stoops. "He hasn't been able to be around yet but he will be."

As far as other players, Kenny Stills will return to play Saturday against Ball State but Trey Franks remains suspended for the upcoming game. Stills sat out last week's game because he had concussion-related symptoms while Franks was suspended indefinitely as of last week. When asked if Franks will play in the game against Texas Stoops said "we'll see where it goes."

Stoops was also asked about the status and playing time of freshman running back Brandon Williams and Coach said they fully intend on playing him, but that he needs to become more reliable for that to happen.

"We continue to bring Brandon along, he's a great young guy that's working hard so we love him and he is going to play as time goes and he knows it's just being more and more reliable and taking care of the football and being assignment correct," said Stoops. "We fully intent to play Brandon so hopefully he will continue to practice in a way we know we can count on."

The Sooners game against Ball State is available only on a pay-per-view basis and it will be available in high definition.

Chuck Cooperstein will call the play-by-play while former Oklahoma All-American safety Roy Williams and former two-time national championship Sooner quarterback and News 9 sports director Dean Blevins will be the color analysts. Kelly Crull will also be covering the game as the sideline reporter.

Tickets are still available for the game at soonersports.com.

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