Published September 14, 2008 12:07 am -
Stoops wins No. 100
OU football notepad
John Shinn
Stoops 100th: Saturday night’s victory was the 100th for Bob Stoops as head coach. Now in his 10th season, the Sooners have gone 100-23 under his direction. Bennie Owen, Bud Wilkinson and Barry Switzer are the only other coaches in OU history to reach the 100-win mark.
OU’s captains presented Stoops with a game ball following the victory. The Sooner coach didn’t have much to say about it though.
“I’m not concerned with that,” he said. “I’m just glad to win one more this week.”
It took Owen 16 seasons and 150 games to reach the mark. Wilkinson did it in 11 seasons and will still hold the all-time record in terms of pace by doing in just 111 games. Stoops just missed the pace Switzer set. He reached the mark in 122 games.
Kick coverage changes: OU made two personnel changes on its kickoff coverage Saturday night. Backup linebacker Austin Box and fullback Matt Clapp replaced backup linebackers Mike Balogun and J.R. Bryant on the unit.
The Sooners were torched for 265 return yards (37.85 per return) the previous week against Cincinnati. The average dropped considerably against the Huskies. They averaged just 19.4 yards per return.
But Washington had one return that was incredibly close to going the distance. After OU’s second touchdown, Jordan Polk broke free up the middle and nothing between him and the end zone but daylight. Luckily for the Sooners, Desmond Jackson dragged him down from behind.
Granger injured: Defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger was on crutches most of the second half after suffering an apparent injury to his left foot. The injury occurred late in the first half. The junior appeared to get twisted up in a pile of offensive linemen. He did not return to the field in the second half. Stoops said he didn’t think the prognosis was too bad following the game, but he expects to have a better idea today.
Running it up: DeMarco Murray, Chris Brown and Mossis Madu rushed for 187 yards in the first half. That total was 21⁄2 yards off the Sooners’ average in the first two games. The trio finished with 153 for the game with Brown (107) and Murray both going over 100. It was the first time OU’s had two backs go over 100 yards since Murray and Allen Patrick both did it last season.
Replay now works in the Pac-10: Saturday night’s game was the Sooners’ first with a Pac-10 Conference officiating crew since the debacle at Oregon in 2006. OU lost that game 34-33 thanks to several monumental officiating errors on the field and in the replay booth.
Against Washington, though, two calls that could have gone against the Sooners were either upheld or reversed in OU’s favor.