The Oklahoma Sooners will finish their 2010 football campaign by playing three of their final four games on the road. As to exactly how that worked out on the schedule Bob Stoops isn't quite sure but as he addressed it in his press conference on Tuesday afternoon you could tell he's ready to hit the road.
"I don't know how that worked out or how that happened, but in the end that's just how it is so we might as well embrace it and go get them. But in the end, I truly don't see the big deal in it because no matter what every year is different. You're going to play some on the road and some at home. Why is this year any different than others? That's how it is."
At least Oklahoma hits the road with some confidence after overpowering Colorado last Saturday night in the final regular season game against a North opponent. As you might guess the coach was pleased with his team's performance.
"I was pleased for us to match up well and play physical also and execute like we did. We had two penalties on the whole day, probably an all-time low for our program. We took care of the football in a very responsible way.
Landry Jones was just sensational. He was 14-15 yards from breaking Sam Bradford's record for passing yards in a game and he didn't even play the entire fourth quarter. Four touchdowns and no interceptions, you can't really ask for more. Ryan Broyles was just off the charts with special, big plays and consistency, route running and catching the ball, getting deep and getting behind people. He had a career day also, setting the record for most yards in a game. I was also pleased with our running game. DeMarco Murray, Roy Finch, the two of them. DeMarco had over 100 all-purpose yards with the number of catches he had. I thought we had good balance. The guys up front, Ben Habern and Gabe Ikard, really had good games. Our tight ends, James Hanna and Trent Ratterree, had really good games.
Defensively, very consistent. I thought we only had the one bad play the whole day, the rest of it we played great run defense. I thought our coverage was really outstanding. I thought the corners had a bunch of deflections. Jamell Fleming and Travis Lewis were kind of our players of the game. Jamell had a bunch of deflections. It was really solid game along with the other guys. We had better pressure up front and with some blitzes. Our kicking game was really good. I thought Jimmy (Stevens) hitting all of his kicks was big and all of our coverage was very solid also."
Saturday night's game against the Aggies took on a new look with Ryan Tannehill taking over at quarterback in place of Jerrod Johnson. Or did it?
"They're both big guys. They both throw the football well. They both have the ability to scramble around and run. In some ways they're pretty similar in how they play, body structure and the offense they run with them. In that regard, they're pretty similar in how they play."
Quarterback play hasn't really been one thing that Oklahoma has had to worry about this season as Landry Jones has developed a special relationship with Ryan Broyles that seemingly will surpass what these two accomplished on the field statistically from last season.
"It's probably fair to say that Ryan can have good chemistry with anyone that can throw the ball. He just has a way of beating them; he's just so quick, fast, such a good route runner, he has all of it. And then he has the hands to go with it and the body control to go after the ball. He's an obvious attraction for Landry."
Player Quotes
"They have really good wide receivers. (Jeff) Fuller and (Uzoma) Nwachukwu are really good wide receivers. They have a good quarterback and a really good offense, it will be a big challenge for us." - Jonathan Nelson on the Texas A&M offense
"I was there my freshman year, it's always loud. It's always a tough place to play. That place is always pretty crazy, but you just have to stay focused and not let the crowd affect us and just get our jobs done." - James Winchester on playing at Kyle Field
"I heard the atmosphere down there is crazy and intense, but that's what we live to play in and we're just going to go down there and try to get a win.
"It's never really been that difficult for me to block out the crowd. You just have to focus on what you're doing, focus on your plays and focus on the other team and what they're doing and what your responsibility is." - Trey Millard on playing at Texas A&M