Published November 18, 2005 12:24 am -
Dvoracek questionable
John Shinn's Oklahoma Football Notepad
The Norman Transcript
Oklahoma still doesn’t know if senior defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek will be able to play Saturday against Texas Tech.
Dvoracek injured his right foot in the second quarter of last Saturday’s victory over Texas A&M. He did not play in the second half of that game. He did not practice Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday and has been wearing a medical boot on his foot this week.
“It’s another one of those situations where we’ll just have to see how he goes through the week,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “It’s a sprain, so it will be what he’s able to tolerate.
“It will be one of those deals from day-to-day how much more weight and how much pressure can he put on it. We’ve got a good number of days until we play, so we’ll see where it goes.”
The days may be running out, but Dvoracek’s ability to practice this week will not be the deciding factor as to his availability Saturday. Practice or not, if the fifth-year senior can play, he’ll play.
“He’s played a lot of football,” Stoops said.
It depends how Rankins feels
If Jejuan Rankins’ tender ankle can hold up, he will return punts against the Red Raiders.
Kejuan Jones handled the chores last week against Texas A&M and returned one punt for 5 yards. Rankins also returned one against the Aggies.
“I just felt the wind was so bad we wouldn’t get much of a return into the wind,” Stoops said. “And Jejuan has the most experience catching them, so I just told him to go in there and fair catch it and get us the ball back.”
The forecast for Saturday calls for relatively light winds, so fielding punts shouldn’t be near as difficult was it was last week against Texas A&M at Owen Field.
Not much new from Leach
Stoops was asked how much Texas Tech’s offense has changed over the last six seasons.