Dvoracek questionable

John Shinn's Oklahoma Football Notepad

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.

The answer? Not much.

The Sooner coach said he still has the notes he used to prepare for Leach’s offense back in their Southeastern Conference days. Stoops was the defensive coordinator at Florida and Leach was the offensive coordinator at Kentucky.

“I pull it out every year and look at it,” Stoops said. “A few variations and wrinkles, but for the most part, the body of it is still there. Mike knows what he’s doing, and they do it over and over. And they do it on everybody. That’s the beauty of what he does.”



Musical centers

OU quarterback Rhett Bomar has been charged with 16 of the Sooners’ 28 fumbles this season, most of them occurring during the exchange from center.

Still, Bomar has had it more difficult than his predecessors. Former Sooner quarterbacks Nate Hybl, Jason White and Josh Heupel played with a grand total of six centers over five seasons from 2000-2004.

Bomar has taken snaps from three different centers in just nine games.

Freshman Jon Cooper is OU’s latest center due to broken right hands suffered by both Chris Bush and Chris Chester.



Bedlam tickets remain

The University of Oklahoma Athletics Ticket Office has a limited number of tickets for the Nov. 26 game against Oklahoma State. The tickets became available when unclaimed by OU students.

Tickets will also be available for purchase by the public at 8 a.m. today by calling the Athletics Ticket Office at 800-456-4668 or 405-325-2424 or in person at the Athletics Ticket Office on the west side of Owen Field on the plaza level of the Asp Avenue parking garage. Tickets also will be available online at www.SoonerSports.com.

Cost is $72 and will be available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.

John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com