KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Next week college football will hold its annual awards show in Orlando, Fla. The top players from throughout the land will be there to pick up some of the nation’s most valuable hardware.
Oklahoma’s lone representative will be kicker Garrett Hartley. The junior is a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, which goes to college football’s top kicker.
Other than Hartley, the national awards lists are void of Sooners.
That’s what makes No. 8 OU’s berth in tonight’s Big 12 championship game against No. 19 Nebraska (9-3, 6-2 Big 12) so odd; or, perhaps, eye-opening. Usually, when the Sooners (10-2, 7-1) play for conference titles, they bring enough star power to light up Times Square.
But this collection of Big 12 South winners is known more for its team deeds than individual achievement.
“The sum of all our parts are greater than any one individual, is what I’ve been saying a lot,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “And it’s very true with that, with the way we’ve been as a team.”
The map drawn by previous Sooner squads hasn’t exactly been followed.
OU venturing to Arrowhead Stadium in search of a conference title for the fourth time. But unlike those first three teams, there isn’t that one individual player who stands out above all others.
In 2000, quarterback Josh Heupel (now the Sooners’ quarterbacks coach) claimed multiple national awards, including the Associated Press Player of the Year and was runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting.
In 2003, the Sooners featured the Nagurski Award winner in cornerback Derrick Strait, the Butkus Award winner in linebacker Teddy Lehman and the Lombardi Award winner in defensive tackle Tommie Harris. And, of course, there was Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jason White running the offense.
A year later, OU returned to Arrowhead with Outland Award winner Jammal Brown anchoring the offensive line, White still engineering the offense and Heisman Trophy runner-up Adrian Peterson setting freshman rushing records.
The Sooners have set virtually no records this season. Their claim to fame is overcoming obstacles.
Plowing ahead despite the preseason dismissal of Rhett Bomar, the heartache of the Oregon loss and going 6-0 after Peterson was lost to a broken collarbone are this season’s impressive feats.
“I think it comes with us doing good, staying together as a team, being tight and winning games,” safety Reggie Smith said. “That’s what we’ve been doing since the very beginning of the year.”
The Sooners enter tonight’s game averaging 188.7 rushing yards a game and Peterson has played in only half the games.
The defense was the best in the conference during the regular season, but other than All-American linebacker Rufus Alexander, there isn’t the collection of established superstars that OU has boasted in the past.
Quarterback Paul Thompson admits this team doesn’t have the aura of the 2003 and 2004 teams. At least not yet.
“I’ve been a part of Big 12 championships here with Jason White and (All-American wide receiver) Mark Clayton, in that era, but it’s kind of like a new era with not as many recognizable guys, maybe from the outside,” he said. “It’s kind of a new era of players and a young team. So I’m looking to get a championship for them.”
Championships have always been the measuring sticks for Sooner teams. This one only has 12 seniors and a lot of potential yet to be reached.
A victory tonight could be the start of something bigger.
“To actually have a bigger part in winning a Big 12 championship would mean a lot to me and also for a lot of these guys that weren’t a part of it those past years,” Thompson said. “It’s a good experience for them to have that driving factor, for them to have that type of experience, and so they’ll be able to lead good teams for the next two or three years.”
There’s no doubt OU’s future is very bright, but it can start reaching for the stars tonight.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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