OU football notebook

Saturday's game between Oklahoma and Middle Tennessee State is available on a pay-per-view basis only and will be offered by almost all cable providers throughout Oklahoma and Texas, including Cox Communications and Cable One.

Satellite providers DirecTV and Dish Network also will offer the game nationwide. Cost is $29.95. Contact your provider for availability or ordering details.

Kansas City Chiefs play-by-play voice Mitch Holthus, KWTV-9 sports director Dean Blevins and Hornets basketball broadcaster Sean Kelly form the announcing team.

The game will be replayed on Fox Sports Southwest (Cox 37) Monday at noon.

• Beeler could start: True freshman Chase Beeler from Jenks will likely make the first start of his young career Saturday as starting center Jon Cooper nurses his sore ankle.

Beeler played the final three series at center against Oregon after Cooper went out.

Starting tackle Chris Messner likely will back up Beeler on Saturday.

For quarterback Paul Thompson, the transition between Cooper and Beeler was smooth last week and he doesn't foresee any problems Saturday.

"I hadn't taken a snap with (Beeler) in a while, but I took some practice snaps on the sideline and we were ready to go," Thompson said, adding that a clean, quick exchange between center and quarterback is most important.

Reggie gets it: Oklahoma sophomore Reggie Smith only played strong safety last season. This year, he moved to cornerback, began returning punts and has seen a few snaps as a slot receiver.

Last week, coaches threw another change at Smith, moving him from the field corner position to the boundary, or short, side of the field. After only a week of practice at the new position, Smith played well against Oregon.

Coaches say it's Smith's ability to learn quickly that allows him to make such a transition.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables wasn't at all surprised by Smith's performance

"It's amazing what good players can do," Venables said. "We were hoping it would transition as smooth as it did. It didn't surprise us, because Reggie's instinctive. He gets it."

Smith will stay on the boundary side this week, with junior Marcus Walker making his first start of the season at the field corner.

By Scott Wright