Vitals: Oklahoma vs. Florida State

The Sooners will have to recover from a mediocre season opener.

Thursday, May 26th 2011, 11:56 am

By: News On 6

Originally Published: Sep 10, 2010 10:41 PM CDT

Corey DeMoss
Oklahoma Sports Staff Writer

No.17 Florida State Seminoles at No. 10 Oklahoma Sooners
Saturday, Sept. 11, 2:30 p.m. CST
Oklahoma Memorial Stadium; Norman, Oklahoma

Statistical leaders:

	Oklahoma	Florida State
Passing	Landry Jones 17/36, 217 yards, 2 TDs, 2INTs	Christian Ponder 12/14, 167 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INTs
Rushing	DeMarco Murray 35 carries, 208 yards, 2 TDs	Ty Jones 8 carries, 107 yards, 1 TDs
Receiving	Ryan Broyles 9 receptions, 142 yards, 2 TDs	Taiwan Easterling 4 receptions, 56 yards, 1 TDs

Injury Report:
Florida State: LB Nigel Carr (suspension, out); WR Jarmon Fortson (team dismissal, out for season); DT Moses McCray (knee, out for season); RB Tavares Pressley (knee, out for season)

Oklahoma: DE Frank Alexander (leg, probable); DT Adrian Taylor (ankle, probable); OL Tavaris Jeffries (suspension, out); LB Austin Box (back, out); RB Roy Finch (ankle, out)

Where to find it?

On TV: ABC

On Radio: Sooners Sports Network

What you need to know?

The Sooners won their season opener over Utah State, but did not look great doing it. They struggled on both offense and defense, allowing quarterback Diondre Borel to pass for more than 300 yards and two touchdowns.

Cornerback Jamell Fleming gave up several long passes, but seemed to improve as the game continued. He eventually sealed the Sooners’ victory with an interception on the last drive of the game. The secondary as a whole struggled and will need to improve against a Florida State offense with significantly better athletes.

In their first game of the season, the Seminoles defeated Samford 59-6. Starting quarterback Christian Ponder had more touchdowns (four) than incompletions (two), and nine different players recorded at least one reception. Running back Ty Jones also gained more than 100 yards on only eight carries.

Who to watch?

Tom Wort made headlines last week for all the wrong reasons. He had two costly personal foul penalties on one drive, and Bob Stoops was visibly upset with him on the sidelines. After the game, Stoops and Wort’s teammates called Wort’s actions “poor,” “selfish” and “uncalled for.” Wort will need to tone down his energy a bit if he wants to stay in the starting lineup.

For Florida State, Ponder has been getting early buzz as a possible Heisman Trophy contender. His talent and athleticism could cause even more problems for the Sooners’ inexperienced defense, and he has plenty of weapons at his disposal. OU will have to do a better job of containment if it wants to take down a ranked opponent.