College Confidential

Oklahoma to meet Stanford in Sun Bowl

Oklahoma has accepted an invitation to the Sun Bowl, Dec. 31 in El Paso. The Sooners (7-5) will meet Stanford (8-4) in a contest pitting two coaches whose names have surfaced frequently -- to the repeated chagrin of OU's Bob Stoops -- in the Notre Dame coaching search.

Presumably, the Irish will have found a successor to the fired Charlie Walsh before the teams arrive in El Paso to begin bowl week preparations. If not, at least Stoops with have Stanford colleague Jim Harbaugh on hand to join him in fielding questions about the vacancy.

_ Jimmy Burch

Thoughts from Saturday

A few thoughts about Saturday's games while waiting for the (drum roll please) first announcement of the BCS standings about 3:40 p.m. today on Fox.

1. Texas will probably be third in the first BCS rankings behind Florida and Alabama, especially with Virginia Tech's loss. Anything lower will be a shock. It will be interesting to see how the computers view the Longhorns. Texas proved it could win a defensive game against Oklahoma even though it registered few style points. The next two games, at Missouri and at Oklahoma State, will define the Texas regular season.

2. We don't know if we've seen Sam Bradford's last game in an Oklahoma uniform. That's his call. Hopefully, we did. He came to Oklahoma when he could have been a Top 10 (and maybe higher) NFL pick. He bounced from a serious shoulder sprain to return, showing grit. Now he's hurt again. He has nothing left to prove at OU and nothing he can prove to the NFL. Shut it down, heal, get surgery if necessary and get ready for the draft.

3. A couple of weeks ago, the pirate ship at Texas Tech looked to be taking on water. Now, the Red Raiders can make a legitimate claim, along with Oklahoma State, to being the second best team in the Big 12. (Hey, both lost to Houston). Backup QB Steven "Sticks" Sheffield was unfazed by a road start in Lincoln. And the defense - yes, the Tech defense - absolutely dominated with five sacks. Ndamukong who?

4. Speaking of a ship that may be sinking ... yeah, that's a transition to Texas A&M. At worst, I figured the Aggies could get two or three wins against the worst of the North and get to a bowl. After Saturday's 62-14 loss at Kansas State, the Aggies could be descending beyond the 2008 depths. "We got our butt kicked every which way," A&M coach Mike Sherman said. Unless Michael Bishop just gained some more eligibility, this isn't exactly a vintage Bill Snyder team. The Wildcats were coming off a 66-14 butt kicking of their own at Texas Tech.

5. SMU is 3-3 but could easily be 5-1 and a win away from bowl-eligibility. The Mustangs held second-half leads against Washington State and Navy and then lost in overtime in both games. SMU could still cobble together six victories, if it can post home wins against Rice, UTEP and Tulane. 

6. TCU has done pretty much everything it has needed to do as a potential BCS Buster. The Horned Frogs' biggest test comes Saturday at BYU, which has regrouped since that loss to Florida State. Since joining the Mountain West, TCU has split at Provo, winning 51-50 in 2005 and losing 27-22 in 2007. A win over Max Hall and Co. would be a major boost as TCU tries to climb past Boise State.

-- Chuck Carlton

OU receiver Ryan Broyles could be back in a month

Oklahoma’s leading receiver, Ryan Broyles, could return to action in a month or less, coach Bob Stoops said Monday morning.

“They have identified a fracture in his shoulder blade,” Stoops said. “[The medical staff’s] best estimate is somewhere between two to four weeks until he can return to play.”

That estimate is slightly more optimistic than the four-to-six week estimate offered Saturday night. Broyles was injured on the Sooners’ first series in a 21-20 loss at Miami after a 37-yard reception, OU’s longest play of the night.

He entered the game with a national-best seven touchdowns on 22 receptions for 309 yards.

Stoops also said the yardstick would be the same as last week to determine if quarterback Sam Bradford would play Saturday against Baylor.

“It’s making all the throws and making them comfortably, being able to execute the offense and make the throws he needs to make,” Stoops said. “And to be able to do them in a precise way and in a way that he is not aggravating [his right shoulder injury].

“I said that a week ago as well.”

-- Mike Jones

 

Bradford's evaluation will continue through the week, Stoops says

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said Monday morning that the evaluation of quarterback Sam Bradford’s status for Saturday’s game at Miami would continue through the week, but refused to speculate on Bradford’s chances of playing.

“I would think we would know here later in the week what Sam is able to handle and where we are with it,” Stoops said Monday morning.

He said he doubted the decision would go to game time.

“I would think it would be earlier than that,” he said. “We just have to feel comfortable that he feels healthy, that he is good enough to make the throws we need to make and he’s ready to do it.

“All his rehab to this point, everything has been positive.”

Stoops described Bradford’s weekend trip to Alabama to consult with noted orthopedic surgeon Dr. James Andrews as nothing more than a checkup and that he was not seeking a “clearance” to play as some had speculated about the visit.

“As much as anything [it was] an extra opinion,” Stoops said.

“Our [medical staff has] been awesome in their evaluations. When it first happened, they got multiple opinions and everybody’s were all pretty similar and felt our guys were definitely on the right track and doing the right things. And I think that was the outcome the other day as well.

“Our doctors, through all the MRIs and everything, visited with many, many people, including Dr. Andrews.”

-- Mike Jones

NCAA denies Balogun's appeal

The NCAA has denied a final appeal from Oklahoma linebacker Mike Balogun and his attorney Woody Glass to overturn the organization's decision to bar Balogun from playing for the Sooners this season.

The NCAA upheld its ruling that Balogun played amateur league football after his 21st birthday and is therefore ineligible.

"I am so disapointed for Mike," Glass said Friday morning. "His only avenue now is in the courts."

The 25-year-old Balogun turned 21 on Sept. 28, 2004.

Glass hasn’t had a chance to talk to Balogun to decide the next course of action, but the route through the NCAA has been exhausted.

Balogun can re-enter the court system in hopes of gaining a permanent injunction barring the NCAA’s action, but that would leave Oklahoma in danger of forfeiting any games in which Balogun played under by-law 19.7. Glass said that would entail a process that might end before next season in hopes that Balogun could take a redshirt option and possibly play in 2010, although that course of action might not be available under NCAA guidelines.

Balogun’s other option would be to abandon any further pursuit of playing again, seek a trainer and try and prepare for possible tryouts with NFL teams

-- Mike Jones

Bradford's injury won't affect his NFL career, or his pocketbook

No doubt you’ve read online or heard the talking heads yaking on about how Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford “left millions on the table” by not entering last spring’s NFL draft.

And now, see? What did he get for coming back? He got hurt. Na-na-na-na-na, we told you so!

Shut up.

Bradford is going to be fine. And would have been fine even if he would have had to have surgery to repair the AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. Didn’t seem to affect the career of quarterback Eli Manning, who came back from a similar injury in the season-opener against Dallas and didn’t miss a game on the way to leading the New York Giants to a Super Bowl win two years ago. As Manning pointed out over the phone to Bradford on Sunday.

And as for costing himself a small fortune in the draft? Bunk. At least that’s the opinion of former Dallas Cowboys vice president Gil Brandt, whose approach and establishment of a scouting network revolutionized the way the NFL approached the draft.

“I was one of the ones encouraging him to stay in school,” Brandt said over the phone the other day. “And immediately now people are saying if he would have come out he would have gotten this money and so forth.

“That’s somewhat true. But if he’s healthy and he gets picked in the same place he did last year, he will get more this year than he would have if he would have come out last year.”

This from a guy who actually knows what he’s talking about, not some mouth or dot.com guru who has never had a whistle around his neck.

Recall that Bradford himself pointed out his decision to return had nothing to do with money.

“I think one of (the pros of coming back was) getting to go through another year of college. You only get to go to college one time and I’m having a blast right now. I’m living my dream. I dreamed of playing at Oklahoma. That’s something I want to do, and want to continue to do.”

The only initial consequence--which could eventually be negated if Bradford’s prognosis of a two to four-week return is right on--is that it has cost him some game experience. And that was one of Brandt’s points to Bradford. He explained if you track the success of quarterbacks who came out early against those who stayed and played--those to came to the NFL with 40 or so starts behind them-- it’s easy to see that more experience means a greater chance of success.

Bradford has 28 starts and a half-game in his resume, 575 completions in 838 passes thrown.

Brandt said the fact that Bradford played at OU is also in his favor.

“Think how much emphasis Oklahoma has put on the passing game,” Brandt said. “And Oklahoma doesn’t win all those games by accident. They do a really good job of coaching those guys. The quarterback coach (Josh Heupel) is really good.

“This is not going to hurt Bradford.”

-- Mike Jones

Oklahoma falls out of Top 10 in both college football polls

Oklahoma fell out of the Top 10 in both college football polls released today after Saturday’s season-opening loss to Brigham Young in Arlington.

The Cougars (1-0), who climbed to No. 9 in the latest Associated Press rankings, passed the Sooners (0-1) in both polls on the strength of a 14-13 victory at Cowboys Stadium. The contest was marked by an injury to Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner, who will be sidelined for two to four weeks with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder.

BYU checked in at No. 12 in the coaches poll. Oklahoma, which began the season at No. 3 in both sets of pre-season rankings, fell to 13th in the AP poll and 14th in the coaches poll. TCU, which opens its season Saturday, climbed one spot in the AP poll to No. 16.

The top two teams in both polls, No. 1 Florida (1-0) and No. 2 Texas (1-0), remained unchanged. But the Gators lost two first-place votes in the AP poll to Alabama, which climbed to No. 4 after a 34-24 victory over Virginia Tech in a battle of pre-season Top 10 teams.

Oklahoma State (1-0) jumped to No. 5 in today’s AP poll, up four spots from last week, after its 24-10 victory over Georgia. It marks the Cowboys’ highest ranking in the AP poll since Oct. 12, 1985, when the fifth-ranked Cowboys fell to No. 9 Nebraska, 34-24.

The updated AP poll includes six teams from the Big 12, with No. 25 Missouri (1-0) added on the strength of a 37-9 victory over Illinois. Other Big 12 teams joining Missouri, Texas, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State in this week’s poll were No. 22 Nebraska (1-0) and No. 24 Kansas (1-0).

BYU and TCU joined No. 17 Utah (1-0) as the Mountain West teams in the latest AP poll. The Big East, which was shut out of the pre-season polls, made its 2009 debut when Cincinnati (1-0) landed at No. 23 in both polls.

Cincinnati joined Missouri and No. 20 Miami among newcomers to the AP poll. Three teams fell out of this week’s AP rankings: Oregon (0-1), Florida State (0-1) and Iowa (1-0).

_ Jimmy Burch

OU's Gresham to have surgery

Oklahoma All-America tight end Jermaine Gresham will undergo arthroscopic surgery today to determine the extent of the cartilage damage in his injured right knee, coach Bob Stoops said Tuesday.

According to Stoops, three MRIs did not reveal the extent of the damage and that necessitated the arthroscopic procedure.

Oklahoma linebacker's lawyer doesn't expect good news from NCAA staff today

The lawyer for Oklahoma’s Mike Balogun said Friday morning he has been notified the NCAA amateurism certification staff will make a decision on his client's eligibility today, but he is not optimistic the news will be good.

In fact, just the opposite.

"I am confident they will not certify him," attorney Woody Glass said. "If [the staff] was going to certify him, they would have done it a long, long time ago."

At issue is whether Balogun, 25, competed in amateur football after turning 21, which would cost him a year of eligibility and make him ineligible this season.

Friday's decision will not, however, be final unless Balogun is re-certified.

“The amateurism staff will submit their proposed findings of fact supporting their decision,” Glass explained. “They will request a response from [Oklahoma] and Mike to agree with their proposed findings.

“If we cannot agree, we will submit our proposed findings of fact.  The two position statements will then be submitted to a fact finding committee that will resolve the factual issues.  Once the factual issues are decided, the case gets submitted to the Amateurism Certification Committee for decision.”

-- Mike Jones 

Oklahoma tight end Gresham won't play against BYU

Oklahoma All-America tight end Jermaine Gresham will miss Saturday's season-opening game against BYU because of a knee injury that could have further consequences.

Coach Bob Stoops acknowledged Thursday afternoon that Gresham suffered cartilage damage in his right knee this week and was being evaluated further. Stoops said Gresham, team doctors and the training staff are considering options "that could have a bearing on his return."

Gresham, who did not enter last spring's NFL Draft in order to return for his senior season, is a key player in the Sooners' offense. He caught 66 passes for 950 yards and scored 14 touchdowns as a junior.

Apparently, Gresham's loss will not affect cross-trained tight end Brody Eldridge's move to center. Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said Flower Mound sophomore James Hanna and sophomore Trent Ratterree will head Saturday's TE depth chart.

--Mike Jones.