What else could possibly happen to Oklahoma?
The season has been a hodgepodge of things gone wrong, of aspects that define a rag-tag and snake-bitten football program, not one fans have been accustomed to view as an enviable, role model-type enterprise.
But in the past three months, this is what has happened to the Sooners:
Promising young quarterback Rhett Bomar was found to have accepted thousands of dollars in work payments that weren’t earned at a local auto dealership. He was dismissed from the school and enrolled at Sam Houston State. The NCAA is investigating.
Two video-replay snafus arguably cost Oklahoma a win at Oregon, resulting in a national uproar over replay officials. Texas then defeated Oklahoma for the second consecutive season.
With his father in the stands watching for the first time since he was a preteen, Heisman Trophy hopeful Adrian Peterson broke his collarbone diving into the end zone at the end of Oklahoma’s rout of Iowa State on Saturday. He is out for the regular season.
And Sunday, leading tackler and bona fide NFL linebacker prospect Rufus Alexander was arrested on two misdemeanor charges. Alexander was charged with disturbing the peace and interfering with official process and was released after posting bail. Coach Bob Stoops said it doesn’t appear to be anything that would warrant a suspension.
The incidents are characteristics of a program fraying at the edges, even if it’s just for a season. It stands to reason the accumulation at some point might make it tough for OU to finish strong.
Not according to Stoops.
“That’s part of the game,” Stoops said Monday on the Big 12 coaches’ teleconference. “In the end, we’re strong enough hopefully to keep overcoming it. We feel like we are. Our players have had good attitudes. We have as coaches. We’ve worked through it all, and that’s part of the game.”
Off the hot seat at A&M?
Don’t look now, but Texas A&M has emerged as the next, biggest challenger for Texas’ throne in the South Division. And that can mean only one thing: more Fran.
Aggies coach Dennis Franchione started the season as a coach on the hot seat. His track record was solid, but the results haven’t been there in his three-plus years at A&M. Websites wanting Franchione fired sprang up. Franchione fired his defensive coordinator.
But his 6-1 start (2-1 in Big 12 play) has quieted some critics.
And he isn’t the only “hot seat” Big 12 coach doing well. In fact, Franchione beat the other – Missouri coach Gary Pinkel – over the weekend. Pinkel, who was probably an Independence Bowl loss last season from being fired, is now a candidate for conference and national coach-of- the-year honors.
Footnotes
Saturday’s Texas at Nebraska game is a contest of division leaders and a possible window into the Big 12 championship game…. Missouri ran just six plays in the third quarter of its game at Texas A&M. … Oklahoma State wide receiver Adarius Bowman set a Big 12 record with an eye-popping 300 yards receiving in a win over Kansas. It broke Texas Tech receiver Joel Filani’s record of 255, set last season.
Chris Dempsey can be reached at 303-954-1279 or cdempsey@denverpost.com.
