Baker remembers his first time

The Norman Transcript

October 03, 2007 12:49 am

— Oklahoma linebacker Lewis Baker’s fondest memories from the OU-Texas series occurred his freshman season in 2003 and didn’t involve anything that happened on the field.
“Coach Venables wasn’t going to let me go to the game unless I weighed at least 215 pounds and I only weighed 205,” Baker recalled. “I ate the whole week. I was carrying like trash bags full of stuff to class so I could gain weight.”
Baker got up to the 215-pound plateau and played on special teams and played a few snaps at the end of the Sooners’ 65-13 romp over the Longhorns.
Four years later, Baker weighs just 210 pounds and will take his current playing weight over the gorging he did before his first OU-Texas game.
“It wasn’t all good weight,” Baker said. “I kind of remember being sick the night before the game.

Last play jinx
The loss to Colorado continued a trend of late-game misfortunes for the Sooners.
Four of their last five losses 23-21 to Texas Tech in 2005, 34-33 to Oregon in 2006, 43-42 to Boise State in 2006 and 27-24 to the Buffaloes last Saturday) all occurred on the last play of the game.
The last OU loss that didn’t come down to the final play was a 28-10 loss to Texas last season.

Friend vs. Friend
OU offensive tackle Trent Williams will be on the field with former Longview (Texas) High School teammate and Texas running back Vondrell McGee.
“We grew up together. I’ve known him since Day 1. My daddy (Freddie Williams) and his daddy (Victor McGee) played high school football together,” Williams said. “He just decided to go to Texas and I went to OU.”
Williams said the game is tough for the fathers. They are best friends and will even be sitting together at the Cotton Bowl Saturday. Williams said he wasn’t sure whether they’d be sitting on the Oklahoma or Texas side.

Preparing for two
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy’s status for Saturday’s game remains questionable. He suffered a mild concussion in the Longhorns’ loss to Kansas State last week.
The Sooners are preparing to face backup quarterback John Chiles, too. Chiles doesn’t possess McCoy’s passing ability, but is more of a running threat.
“There’s just more quarterback run game, so that’s the biggest factor,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “They run some of those plays with McCoy as well, so you just have to work those and make sure we’re sharp on them.”

More work for Franks
Stoops said Dominique Franks could be used more as a punt returner to give Reggie Smith some rest against Texas.
Smith muffed a punt late in the Colorado game that set up Colorado’s game-tying touchdown. OU’s defense was on the field most of the second half and fatigue could have been a factor for Smith.
“I think I’ve got to be smarter in how fatigued he is at times, and how many snaps he’s had,” Stoops said. “Dominique Franks has done a great job with it. We need to probably spell (Smith) some just for that reason.”

Not surprised
The August incident at an Oklahoma City bar that left a Texas fan with serious injuries in his groin area has been discussed a lot the last few days.
Texas coach Mack Brown said he doubts he would ever wear a Texas T-shirt into an Oklahoma bar after hearing about it.
Stoops drew some laughs when he said he wasn’t surprised to hear about something like that happening.
“Some of those joints you go in are probably pretty rough,” Stoops said. “And there’s some strong allegiances … I wouldn’t be wearing my OU shirt anywhere down there either.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript-.com