Saturday’s game against Washington will be Oklahoma’s third ever meeting against the Huskies and its first at Husky Stadium. But two members of OU’s staff have memories of the stadium. Bob Stoops was Kansas State’s defensive coordinator when it played the Huskies there in 1991. Defensive coordinator Brent Venables was a linebacker on that team.
“It’s a beautiful venue, a prideful program, and it’s a great area of the country,” Stoops said of his first visit to the venue. “I thought it was really impressive.”
Of course, Stoops was up in the press box calling plays. He got a full view of Lake Washington and the Cascade Mountains.
The only thing Venables remembers from the 56-3 loss was getting knocked around by former Washington tackle Lincoln Kennedy.
“They beat the dog out of us,” Venables said. “We ran like a (man-to-man) blitz on every play and I got to run into Lincoln Kennedy a bunch. I was a 205-pound outside linebacker and it wasn’t working. We didn’t stand a chance.”
Washington went 12-0 and shared the national championship with Miami.
Returns next
Stoops has said he would also like to use freshman receiver Ryan Broyles in the return game. The former Norman High product had a breakout game against Cincinnati with seven catches for 141 yards.
When asked when Broyles might start fielding kicks, the coach said it could happen sooner rather than later.
“Maybe this week,” Stoops said.
He can be better
Quarterback Sam Bradford has thrown for 587 yards and seven touchdowns through the first two games, but he wasn’t free from mistakes.
Against Cincinnati he threw a pair of interceptions. Although one bounced off a receiver before being picked off.
“Turnovers really hurt us, so I’ve got to be able to protect the ball. And there are a lot of other little things,” Bradford said. “I missed a couple of reads that I saw on film yesterday. So there are still a lot of other things for me to improve.”
What’s excessive?
Washington’s coming off a loss that included a controversial excessive celebration penalty in the final seconds. OU wide receiver Juaquin Iglesias said every OU player is well-schooled about the rule.
“Coach Stoops showed us a video talking about it,” he said. “I didn’t really know until then. I didn’t know you couldn’t throw the ball up in the air until then. I don’t really worry about it. I always throw the ball back for some reason.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Stoops has been there before
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