By John Shinn
The Norman Transcript
September 12, 2007 12:47 am
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Oklahoma is No. 3 in the latest Associated Press Top 25 and No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Most of the players say they haven’t paid much attention to the rankings and OU coach Bob Stoops said he has largely ignored what else is going on in college football.
“I’m so engrossed in what we’ve got to do, I don’t have much time for everybody else,” he said. “If everyone asks me about this that or the other, I’m like, ‘Shoot, I haven’t seen them.’ It’s hard to keep up with what else is out there.”
Stoops, like many in college football, would like to see the first polls released midway through the season instead of preseason. He said it again Tuesday as he has many times in the past.
But if he’s not paying attention to what’s going on around the country, then why does he vote in the coaches poll?
“I knew that was coming,” he laughed. “You think I’ve got time to analyze all 25? You do your best, but it isn’t easy.”
Rare miss
Kicker Garrett Hartley missed a PAT kick against Miami and he’s still a little miffed by it.
“It definitely rattled me a little bit,” he said Tuesday. “I try to be perfect with everything regardless if it’s a field goal or extra point and when it hit off the left upright I kind of was in shock at first, but I have moved on. I watched film and I know what happened and it was just a timing issue.”
The miss was Hartley’s third over the last four seasons. He’s made 115 of 118.
Keeping up
Stoops said he wasn’t able to see any of Adrian Peterson’s first game Sunday for the Minnesota Vikings. Peterson rushed for 103 yards and had a 60-yard touchdown reception in the Vikings’ 24-3 win over Atlanta.
“I felt bad that I didn’t,” he said. “We were game-planning and watching our tape for the week and by the time I realized that it was on and we can get it, it was too late. So I watched all the highlights and am just happy for him. It’s great.”
He also said he’d talked to former Sooner Dusty Dvoracek Monday. Dvoracek, who was a starting defensive tackle for Chicago, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the Bears’ opener against San Diego.
“He’ll be OK,” Stoops said. “Talking to some of their people there, they really love the way he plays. So they still feel he’s got a good future with them.”
Bradford
gets another award
Quarterback Sam Bradford has been named the national offensive player of the week by the Walter Camp Foundation.
The redshirt freshman completed 19-of-25 passes for 205 yards and matched a school record with five touchdowns (tied) with no interceptions against Miami.
The TD passes tied a record for the most ever allowed by Miami.
Through the first two games of his career, Bradford is 40-of-48 for 568 yards with eight touchdowns and no interceptions.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
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