Dallas voters OK Cotton
Bowl improvements
Tuesday’s election results in Dallas may impact the future of the OU-Texas series, with the passage of several bond propositions. Voters approved more than $1.35 billion worth of projects, including a major renovation of the Cotton Bowl.
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Among the targeted stadium improvements: seats, scoreboard, bathrooms, concessions, locker rooms and expanding capacity to more than 92,000.
There’s even a study to investigate the feasibility of doming the stadium, which may be necessary to keep the annual Cotton Bowl Classic game in the 76-year-old facility.
Pounding the rock: Since losing Adrian Peterson to a broken collarbone in Game 6, the Sooners haven’t backed off their running game, they’ve pounded it.
OU is coming off its two best rushing games to date, going for 231 against Missouri and 224 against Texas A&M. The previous high was 207 at Oregon in the third game of the season.
Allen Patrick, Peterson’s replacement, has extended OU’s streak of 100-yard games to 15. Patrick’s three games as the starter have produced outings of 110, 157 and 173 yards.
The Sooners had 169 yards by halftime at A&M, before slowing down in a second half that saw a Patrick 78-yard touchdown run wiped out by penalty.
Patrick regularly ran behind left guard George Robinson and left tackle Chris Messner.
“I’m not going to say it was the best game I’ve ever played, but for a half, it was like we could do no wrong,” Messner said.
Food drive: Donations for a local holiday food drive will be accepted before Saturday’s game against Texas Tech.
Donations of $1 are sought to help feed some 500 families across Oklahoma. This is the seventh year the football team has participated in a program that provides enough to feed a family of four for a week and includes a Thanksgiving meal.
The Sooner football program also assists each year by hosting a night at the Switzer Center where families pick up boxes of food and interact with the players and coaches for photos and autographs.
Secondary shutdown: OU’s defensive backs face a test Saturday against Tech, but the Sooner secondary has been stingy of late, not allowing a touchdown pass the past three games.
The Sooners forced Texas A&M quarterback Stephen McGee into a rough passing day Saturday.
McGee completed just 8-of-18 passes for 63 yards and was picked off once by cornerback Marcus Walker. In the end, the Aggies didn’t pass a lot, but they tried in a lot of ways.
“They tried every which way you can try to get people open,” said Sooners coach Bob Stoops, “off option passes, throwback passes, reverse passes. This, that and the other.
“And we covered them great.”
Sooner DBs fired up to face Tech Oklahoma at Texas... 11/09/2006 Lewis Baker gets a little more excited during a week of practice like this one. Nic Harris, too. When you only get to play defense in passing situations,...
