John Shinn
When Oklahoma faces Kansas at 6 p.m. Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., the Sooners will play a second straight game without a true home team.
The Sooners, who faced Texas last Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, haven’t played back-to-back games on neutral fields in the regular season since consecutive games against Texas A&M; in Oklahoma City and Texas in Dallas in 1944. OU has played Kansas City, Mo., each of the past two seasons in the Big 12 championship game and has won two of its three Big 12 titles on the field.
“It’s a fun atmosphere to play in,” Sooner coach Bob Stoops said. “It’ll probably give them a little extra bounce.”
Although the Jayhawks aren’t expecting a 50-50 split among the fans. It was their decision to play there, giving up a home game to play 40 miles from their Lawrence, Kan., campus.
Kansas is hoping that moving the game to the city will help draw more fans.
“We won’t know unless we try it, and we’re trying it,” Kansas coach Mark Mangino said. “We’re going to see if it’s good for our fans, for our program. There’s a big market there in Kansas City right next to us, a lot of KU alumni there.
“We’re going to take a look at it. If it seems like it’s good for all parties, we’ll do it again. If we think it’s not doing anything for us to help us in any way, we won’t.”
But playing at Arrowhead Stadium also means a long time away from home for the Jayhawks.
They haven’t played at their Memorial Stadium since beating Louisiana Tech, 34-14, Sept. 17 and won’t play there again until they face Missouri Oct. 29.
No Peterson yet
OU running back Adrian Peterson did not practice Monday, but Stoops believes that will change in the next few days.
“He’s still a little sore from the little bit of work he had,” Stoops said after Monday’s practice. “He’s still ahead of where he was last week. We’re more and more encouraged every day by it.”
Peterson injured his right ankle Oct. 1 against Kansas State and only carried the ball three times for 10 yards against Texas last Saturday.
When asked if that means Peterson will be able to practice in the days leading up to Saturday’s game against Kansas, Stoops still wasn’t sure.
Baylor kickoff set
Fox Sports Net has picked up the Oct. 22 Baylor at Oklahoma game and set the kickoff time for 6 p.m.
A limited number of tickets remain for the OU-Baylor game. The tickets, which are available after being returned by the visiting team, are $65 each.
They are available online at SoonerSports.com, over the phone at 1-800-456-GoOU or in person from the OU Athletics Ticket Office located at the base of the Asp Avenue Parking Facility.
