Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford wore a knee brace on his left knee during the Washington game, but it was only as a precaution. The coaches decided to make him wear it after watching New England quarterback Tom Brady suffer a season-ending knee injury during the first week of the NFL season.
“A quarterback gets in the prone position where his leg is exposed and guys are flying at him,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “Everybody (the quarterbacks) was wearing them today in practice on the front leg.”
Idle plans
The Sooners don’t play again until Sept. 27 when TCU comes to Owen Field, meaning this week is the first without a game since preseason practice. The players have already received some extra time off. OU didn’t practice Monday.
OU coach Bob Stoops said practices will still be pretty intense throughout the week.
“We’ll get after it today (Tuesday) and tomorrow and Thursday. Our Tuesday and Wednesday will be pretty heavy,” he said. “We’ll go against each other to try and keep each other sharp. We’ll do that Tuesday, Wednesday and part of Thursday.”
OU can afford to keep practices physical. The only significant injury involving its two-deep depth chart is to defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger. He suffered a sprained foot in against Washington. Stoops said there still isn’t a timetable for how soon Granger will return.
“Hopefully he’ll be back for TCU. We’ll just have to see how it goes,” Stoops said.
More special
OU’s special teams were better against Washington than the previous week against Cincinnati. Even Stoops admits the Sooners have been little more than average in that area.
“I thought with the number of kickoffs we had, that we played pretty well,” Stoops said of the kickoff coverage against Washington. “We had three inside the 20 and a bunch of others inside the 25. So, that part improved.”
He did point out another negative.
“When we punted we always seemed to punt into the end zone. We need to down a few of those at the ten or better. We had one penalty on kick off return and we didn’t have many other opportunities.”
The Sooners are currently 93rd in the country in kick return yards allowed (23.54) per game and 65th (34.09) in net punting.
Sticking to the plan
OU has moved up to No. 2 in both national polls. Reaching the BCS title game has gone from a hope to priority among fans in the process.
Stoops said that factor won’t alter the way he sees the season in the big picture.
“We’ve only played three games. We haven’t even played a conference game yet,” he said. “In the end you have to get better and that’s all I think about and concentrate on. We just try to get better from week to week and what are we going to concentrate on today in practice.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Just a precaution for Bradford
OU Football Notepad
- OU Sports
-
-
Winning is only option
Every locker room in college basketball has the same topic floating around. It’s February. All are thinking about March Madness. Of course, some are thinking about their immediate future. Others are simply dreaming....
-
Sooners will test their mettle against country’s best at National Duals
Dual State is today....
-
Mizzou back on deck after another blowout loss to Baylor
Not again? Yes, again. For the second time this season, the Oklahoma women will have to put aside a disheartening and embarrassing loss to Baylor and get on with the rest of their season....
-
Sooners cruise past competition at Perfect 10
OKLAHOMA CITY — Compared to the rest of its schedule, Oklahoma was supposed to have a relatively easy night. Both Iowa State and Southeast Missouri are in the midst of down seasons. With little chance of losing, the fifth-ranked Sooners ...
-
Ricketts breaks record in season debut
LAS VEGAS — Well, it was going to happen. And still, it didn’t take long....
-
Schedule easing up for Sooners
For some time, the Oklahoma women have been done no favors by their schedule. That may still be the case, but not for much longer....
-
Sooners using roller-coaster season as motivation
Oklahoma’s women’s gymnastics team has been anything but consistent. After dominating its season opener, the Sooners fell to No. 7 Oregon State and No. 9 Nebraska before trouncing then-No. 2 Arkansas....
-
Sooners open season with World Series aspirations
The Sooners haven’t even taken the field yet, but there is already talk of a national championship floating around the Oklahoma locker room. The Sooners will take the first step toward that goal when they open the season at 1:15 p.m. ...
-
Sooners have to eliminate mistakes that are costing them wins
It was a typical practice for Oklahoma on Thursday. The long workout had a lot of energy and precision. It mirrored many it has had over the last three months....
-
Move to Big 12 is chance at stability
Maybe this Internet thing’s really going to make it after all. Maybe even as a news source....
- More OU Sports Headlines
-
Winning is only option
