Oklahoma defensive tackles Gerald McCoy and Adrian Taylor finally caught a break last week at Kansas. With the outcome decided with a couple minutes left in the fourth quarter, the tandem finally got to take a break and sit out the final seven minutes.
It was the first meaningful in-game break the tandem has received since the final minutes of the Baylor game Oct. 10.
Not that either is complaining.
"You guys have been hearing me say this since I got here, whatever I have to do to help my team win, I'm going to do," McCoy said. "I don't even notice that I'm not getting in the rotation till the end. Then I was like, 'man I've played every snap.' But it doesn't bother me at all."
It doesn't hurt the tandem is playing at a dominant level.
Last week at Kansas, McCoy and Taylor combined for three tackles for loss, a sack and two pass breakups. It's been that way all season.
There's no way the Sooners' defense could be playing at its current level (No. 6 in total defense and No. 2 in scoring defense) without the tandem.
McCoy was a given. He bypassed an early trip to the NFL to improve his stock and has done so. Any short list of the best defensive tackles in college football includes McCoy if it doesn't start with him. But Taylor is the one enjoying the breakout season.
His 21?2 sacks is less than one of McCoy's pace of three. Taylor's 17 tackles are just one behind McCoy.
"He's played at a higher level really all this year," OU coach Bob Stoops said. "Maybe people are just noticing it, but I think he's playing at a better level than last year."
The level is so high, the Sooners can't seem to do without either if the game's on the line. Against Texas, the pair played every defensive snap -- 89 plays in all.
May not seem like a lot to some. Linebackers and defensive backs do it every game. But for defensive tackles -- 300-pound men who have to slug it out with other 300-pound men on every play -- it's rare.
Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek started at the spots from 2001-03 and have been the gold standard for OU defensive tackles during the Stoops' era. They never reached 70 plays in a game.
But the pair has no doubt they can keep it up.
"It's heart and determination," Taylor said. "We know what we need to do to help this team be better. If that's play this many snaps in this many games, that's what we'll do. We're not going to take a play off or loaf because we think we're tired."
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
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