After last Saturday's bye we're back to game week this week. That means in Bob Stoops Tuesday press conference we actually get to hear the coach talk about an opponent rather than the off week routines. Possibly the biggest sound byte that came from Tuesday's meeting was the fact that the coaching staff is still ardent on the fact that they want freshman running back Roy Finch to play. Stoops eluded to that fact early in the meeting when he said the following on Oklahoma's injuries.
"Rather than detail everyone, everyone practiced yesterday and is expected to play except Casey Walker and (Geneo) Grissom, a young freshman defensive end that hasn't played yet. He's running now and getting closer to be back on the field and is going to be an excellent player for us. Outside of that, everyone practiced yesterday and is scheduled to play."
Then for those who didn't take the hint he went on to mention Finch by name when discussing the running back rotation.
"We anticipate Roy (Finch) playing, he practiced well yesterday. So we'll see, that's always something that's kind of fluid so we'll see how the game is going."
Then there's the matter of Oklahoma's opponent this weekend.
"Leading into the homecoming game with Iowa State, a team that a year ago was in a bowl game. I think that Paul Rhoads and his staff are doing an excellent job. Last week's game was not indicative of how they've played the last couple of years. Just a week before they had an excellent win over Texas Tech at home. We're very aware of how capable and good this team can be. I think they have an excellent quarterback and some good, skilled guys around him. They're very solid in their schemes and structure defensively."
With the school's touchdown record in reach for DeMarco Murray Bob Stoops took some time to look back over his career as a Sooner and the impact he's had.
"He's been very consistent and an excellent player for us for a long period of time here. Obviously when you look at breaking that record, with all of the great players we've had here and great running backs, DeMarco has consistently been a great worker, a big play guy for us. He's had a lot of success. I think too much has been talked about his unfortunate and odd injuries that he's had because he's had a lot of excellent seasons with it and a lot of success with it being that two of those injuries came at the end of the year. We're very proud of DeMarco and like I said, he's a great young guy in how he works, his attitude, everything that he does is what you want. We're just glad he continues to have a great year."
One other interesting comment from Coach Stoops came when he was asked specifically it was difficult to recruit a good kicker.
"Obviously for us it is. What you can't gage is when a guy gets out here and everything is happening with TV, 85,000 people, wind conditions and how they handle it all. We're going to continue to work with these guys, but we'll continue to look too at what other possibilities are there."
Hmmmm...Did we just throw some guys under the bus?
Player Quotes
"There are some techniques and flaws that I had, and I think it was more adjustments in speed and just seeing that it's a different game, it's not just any regular game. Being out there in the Texas game it opened my eyes on what I needed to work on, just reading my keys better, just the little stuff." - Corner Aaron Colvin on what he needs to improve on
"As far as their schemes, it shouldn't be too much more complicated than what we are used to seeing. We've been preparing for them, we had a bye week, so we got some extra work on them and we're just trying to get ready." - Tight End James Hannah on the Iowa State defense
"They're very good defensively. Their great middle linebacker makes a lot of plays and they have big d-linemen. They have a big, powerful three-technique and a nose guard that plays hard every play. They're not going to be anything we've seen. They're good players and we're going to have to bring our A-game and knock them off the ball or else we're going to have trouble." - Left Guard Gabe Ikard on Iowa State's defense
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