Oklahoma’s record-setting offense will be without its most versatile player Jan. 8, when the Sooners play Florida in the BCS national championship game in Miami.
Starting running back DeMarco Murray, the team’s all-purpose yardage leader (2,171), will undergo surgery Monday and won’t play in the title game. The sophomore, injured Dec. 6 on a kickoff return against Missouri, has a partial rupture of a hamstring tendon in his left leg.
Murray is Oklahoma’s second-leading rusher with 1,002 yards and 14 touchdowns on 179 carries. He was the Sooners’ top kickoff returner, averaging 27.6 yards per attempt, and was a tough matchup when he lined up as a slot receiver (31 catches for 395 yards and four touchdowns).
Junior Chris Brown, who leads the Sooners with 1,110 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns on 195 carries, will start in Murray’s absence.
Paterno gets extension.
Penn State Hall of Fame coach Joe Paterno, who turns 82 on Sunday, has a new three-year contract extension to go along with his new hip.
The agreement will provide “for the opportunity of coach Joe Paterno leading the football program through the 2011 season,” the university said. “It was also agreed that the parties might re-evaluate their circumstances and alter the arrangement by either shortening or extending its length as necessary.”
The Nittany Lions play Southern California in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.
Gill staying in Buffalo.
Buffalo coach Turner Gill is staying put for at least another season and won’t consider interviewing for any more jobs after receiving a one-year contract extension and a raise.
The new deal, which runs through 2013, is a reward for a first-time coach who in three years turned around a program that was one of the worst in major college football.
The Bulls (8-5) won their first Mid-American Conference title this season and will face Connecticut in the International Bowl at Toronto on Jan. 3.
“I’m going to be here at the University at Buffalo,” Gill said. “I’ve given you my word, I’ve given my football team our word that I will be the football coach in 2009 at the University at Buffalo.”
The Bulls have a 15-22 record in three years under Gill after going 10-69 in their previous seven seasons.
Footnotes.
Newly hired Mississippi State coach Dan Mullen has decided to stay with top-ranked Florida through the national championship game. Gators coach Urban Meyer said Mullen will call plays in the Jan. 8 title game in Miami.
• South Carolina safety Emanuel Cook, who has led the Gamecocks in tackles for the past two years, with 92 tackles last season and 87 this year, has been declared academically ineligible for the Jan. 1 Outback Bowl against Iowa.
Denver Post wire services
