Oklahoma Sooners Football Blog: (9/13) Stoops/Media, Saturday Interview Special, Oklahoma Tickets, OU-Texas and much more!

Oklahoma Sooner Football Articles and Notes

Stoops gets testy about Poll Rankings: OU has fallen in the polls despite its 2-0 start, but Stoops doesn't seem worried. He believes that undefeated teams rise to the top. "I don't care about that," Stoops said. "They're not giving out any trophies this week." (Dallas Morning News)

Coach Stoops Interview Special Saturday on ABC before Kickoff: Back in August, Kirk Herbstreit came to Norman for a lengthy interview with Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops. It was part of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award. ABC and Liberty Mutual -- the sixth largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. -- announced the launch of the Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year Award to honor the college football coach who best exemplifies responsibility and excellence on and off the field of play. Six coaches are being profiled as part of ABC's involvement. The segment on Stoops will air this Saturday at 1 p.m., central. In conjunction with this award, Liberty Mutual has enlisted the support of famed ABC sportscaster, Keith Jackson, known to many as "the voice of college football." During September, ABC will air three one-hour Liberty Mutual Coach of the Year specials (1-3 p.m. CT), hosted by Keith Jackson with commentary and interviews from notable College Football Hall of Fame inductees and national college football media as they feature six prominent NCAA Division I coaches: September 9 -- Mack Brown (Texas) and Jim Tressel (Ohio State) September 16 -- Pete Carroll (USC) and Bob Stoops (Oklahoma) (SoonerSports.com)

Players of the Week: Stoops gave his defensive player of the game honor to Larry Birdine, the coach said Tuesday. Birdine, a senior defensive end finished with five tackles, including one for loss. Adrian Peterson and Malcolm Kelly shared offensive honors. Peterson had 165 rushing yards and two touchdowns. Kelly finished with 121 receiving yards and two scores. Garrett Hartley, who converted three field goals and had seven touchbacks on kickoffs, was the special teams player of the game. (NewsOK.com)

Limited Oklahoma-Middle Tennessee tickets available: Huge crowds have been flocking into Gaylord Family -- Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to see OU football this season and now another opportunity is available thanks to returned tickets from Middle Tennessee. The Sooners host the Blue Raiders on Sept. 23 with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. The only television for the game is pay-per-view. OU officials said today that approximately 500 tickets, which were returned by Middle Tennessee, are available. The tickets sell for $57 each. Purchases can be made online at SoonerSports.com, over the phone at 1-800-456-GoOU or in person at the office located in the Asp Avenue Parking facility. (SoonerSports.com release)

Yo ABC, Where's the Coverage? If Wilson used the media to criticize his running back last week, he used his running back to criticize the media Tuesday. "If you want a real issue, why is it on ABC the other night, I'm watching the Texas game, they do all the highlights of the games at halftime, and the Sooners are playing the Huskies on ABC, and we get no clips?" Wilson said. "Because they're trying to stack it where my man (Peterson) doesn't win the Heisman. I got Miami-FAU highlights. I got West Virginia against Eastern Washington. I got Nebraska against Nicholls State. I got Florida State-Troy . . . "We're on a national game, regional coverage, we had two-thirds of the market, and that night when they show the clips, there's not one clip. The only comment they made about us was that Adrian can't win the Heisman. (Tulsa World)

Updated injury report: Coach Bob Stoops pronounced starting fullback Matt Clapp "very probable" to play Saturday. Clapp, who missed the victory over Washington with an ankle injury, did not practice Tuesday. Stoops also reported that Brian Simmons, a starting guard last spring before he injured his knee over the summer, is practicing again. Stoops does not know when Simmons will be game-ready. (Tulsa World)

OU-Texas Student Tickets Sold Out! The Oklahoma Athletics Department announced that student football tickets for the OU-Texas game sold out on Tuesday. Tickets were gone the first day they were offered, which has traditionally been the case for the Red River Rivalry. "Coach Stoops and the Sooner football team certainly appreciate the enthusiastic support of our students," said Assistant A.D. for Ticket Operations Billy Ray Johnson. The Sooners meet the Longhorns on October 7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. (SoonerSports.com release)

Sooners need more out the Defensive Line, McCoy, Taylor not likely: OU coaches have tried strengthening the middle by playing three defensive ends up front, with C.J. Ah You lined up over a guard. Coach Bob Stoops said that gets more speed on the field. Granger, Carl Pendleton, Steven Coleman and Cory Bennett have combined for 14 tackles in two games. Stoops said freshmen Gerald McCoy, the USA Today high school defensive player of the year, and Adrian Taylor of Mansfield are not likely to join the rotation soon. (Dallas Morning News)

Thompson wants to expose young Oregon backs: With quarterback Paul Thompson coming off a career-best passing performance against Washington, it stands to reason that the Sooners might want to throw the ball this Saturday in Eugene. "They have some young guys back there," Thompson said. "We want to try to expose that as much as we can." "We've just got to grow up in a hurry," Oregon coach Mike Bellotti told the Oregonian. (Tulsa World)

Defensive back starters TBD: Stoops hasn't tabbed his starters at cornerback and strong safety yet, but said Tuesday that Lendy Holmes is likely to start at corner and Jason Carter is leading the competition at safety. "Those guys have to keep competing and then make plays to stay on the field," Stoops said. (NewsOK.com)

FSN to produce PPV telecast: SoonerSports.com

Sooners eager to handle adversity of the road: Norman Transcript

You know you're right, don't be afraid to say it: Norman Transcript