Saturday's Big 12 title game will decide more than a conference champion. Should Missouri win, the Tigers will remain No. 1 in the BCS and play for the national title. Should Oklahoma win, the Sooners will move up and knock the Tigers out, but the championship game then depends on the plight of West Virginia. Either way, it's a complicated situation, made all the more complicated by the injuries hampering both teams. Oklahoma will play without top running back DeMarco Murray, who is having surgery this week that will end his season, and Missouri may be without half of its tight end tandem, as Chase Coffman is questionable with an ankle injury.

Continue reading "Big 12 Title Game: Each Side Loses One" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 06:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just two days after Oklahoma's national title hopes slipped away with a 34-27 loss to Texas Tech, the Sooners' Big 12 South title, which was all but locked up before Saturday, now appears to be hanging in the balance. Oklahoma's leading rusher, DeMarco Murray, has a dislocated kneecap that will keep him out of Saturday's all-important game against Oklahoma State. With QB Sam Bradford questionable after sitting out three quarters-plus of the loss with a concussion, the Sooners' conference title hopes are suddenly in jeopardy.

Continue reading "Oklahoma: Terrible Timing" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 02:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Week 12 was the week of the broken quarterback. After Oregon's Dennis Dixon went down with a torn ACL on Thursday night, Hawai'i's Colt Brennan lasted only two snaps before leaving his game on Friday to nurse the concussion that took him out of the last few minutes of the previous week's win. Then on Saturday, the barrage continued, as Michigan's Chad Henne was in and out of his team's loss to Ohio State with a shoulder injury and Oklahoma's Sam Bradford was knocked out of his team's loss to Texas Tech with a first-quarter concussion.

Continue reading "The Week Of The Broken QB" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 12:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Oklahoma will face Big 12 bottom-feeder Baylor this Saturday without one of their top players. Defensive end Auston English, the Sooners' leading sack leader and Big 12 sack leader, suffered a hairline fracture in his right leg against Texas A&M, and will miss at least the Baylor game, although he should be on the bench for a 1-2 week recovery, at least.

Continue reading "Oklahoma: Losing Their English" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 10:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Defensive tackle Gerald McCoy broke a bone in his right hand against Miami, but has found a way to keep playing. The 6-foot-4, 291-pound redshirt freshman missed the following game against Utah State before finding an on-field cast that allowed him to come back last week against Tulsa. McCoy only wears the cast while playing or practicingand although he cannot grab with his right hand while wearing it, he can move his wrist, which gave him enough movement to be able to record his first tackle of the season in last week's game.

Continue reading "Oklahoma: Wrist Movement Is Just Fine" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oklahoma defensive end John Williams put a damper on the Sooners' 62-21 victory over Tulsa when he tore his Achilles tendon in the third quarter of Friday's game, sidelining him for the rest of the year. This is not the first time Williams has felt the pain of a season-ending injury. The 6-foot-5, 256-pound defensive end was primed for a big season in 2005 before tearing his ACL in the season opener -- but not before he could record four tackles, a sack and a fumble recovery, just enough to make Oklahoma coaches drool about the power he would bring to the Sooner defense once healthy. Now, the coaches may never find out; since Williams redshirted in 2003, this should be his final year of eligibility, unless an application for a sixth season is approved by the NCAA.

Continue reading "Oklahoma: Major Victory, Major Injury" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 07:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oklahoma is enjoying the view from the nation's No. 3 spot after disposing of Miami last weekend, but the win was not so sweet for starting defensive tackle Gerald McCoy. The redshirt freshman broke his right hand against Miami and will not get the start against Utah State on Saturday. McCoy was back in practices by Tuesday with his right hand in a cast that he says is not at all painful, but does slow him down. If McCoy does get in the game this Saturday, his playing time will certainly be limited.

Continue reading "Oklahoma: Missing McCoy" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 02:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The big talk coming out of Oklahoma this preseason has been simple - we don't need Adrian Peterson; sure he was super-human and could carry the ball for weeks at a time, but we played better without him! And truth be told, they had a point - in games played without the star running back, Oklahoma averaged more rush yards than when he was suiting up. The big name replacing Peterson's production was tailback Allen Patrick, but with the senior still battling an ankle sprain, the run game in Norman has come under some duress.

Continue reading "Oklahoma: No Peterson and No Patrick Could be a Problem" »

Posted by Carolyn Braff at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)