Trying to get bowl eligible

By John Shinn
The Norman Transcript

October 21, 2005 01:31 am

— Oklahoma fans have grown accustomed to welcoming the new year by following the Sooners, sometimes literally, to any number of Bowl Championship Series bowls, including the Rose, Sugar and Orange the last three seasons.
With the Sooners 3-3 on the season, chances of them finishing their season in a BCS bowl would require lottery-winning-type luck.
But OU isn’t counting on luck quite yet. It has to win at least six games to become bowl eligible. That’s where the focus is right now.
“Right now we’re just taking it one game at a time and trying to win as many games as we can,” offensive tackle Davin Joseph said. “From there, we’ll try to get into the best bowl possible to keep this program going.”
But the idea of playing in the Holiday Bowl, Alamo Bowl or Independence Bowl has to be a letdown, right?
“Some aren’t the best of the best. Obviously, the best one is the national championship,” Joseph said. “But I don’t know if there’s such thing as a bad one. I think it’s worse to not be in one.”
That’s a player’s perspective.
Coaches see things in a different way. Getting to a bowl game has other benefits.
“We’d love to get into a bowl game because that’s another spring ball,” offensive coordinator Chuck Long said. “Those extra 16 practices mean a lot.”

Peterson update
An official decision on wheth-er injured running back Adrian Peterson will play against Baylor Saturday still hasn’t been made.
Earlier in the week, Stoops thought a decision would be made Thursday, but it now appears it won’t made until today or Saturday.
“It’s a a day-by-day deal and it is getting better,” Stoops said. “How much better it is by Saturday, we’ll see.”
Peterson has gone through light workouts since injuring his right ankle Oct. 1 against Kansas State.
He’s only carried the ball eight times over the Sooners’ last two games.

Cummings
has surgery
Freshman tight end Aaron Cummings, who was already redshirting, underwent surgery Wednesday to repair a broken ankle he suffered last week.
“Everything went well and he should be fine,” Stoops said.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com