Aug 20, 2008 - 10:57 AM
2 shoutsBy Alan Eskew PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer
WTLG is the acronym slogan for the Oklahoma football team in 2008.
"Win the last game," Oklahoma safety Nic Harris said.
That is something the Sooners have not been able to do in recent years. They have appeared in four BCS bowls in the past five years, but have lost all four, including title games to LSU and USC after the 2003-04 seasons.
Oklahoma also was upset by Boise State in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2006 season and last January, West Virginia shocked the Sooners, 48-28, in the Fiesta Bowl.
Beginning with the new millennium, the Sooners have won 90 games - the most in the Football Bowl Subdivision - but have failed in those big bowl games.
"There isn't any one good answer," head coach Bob Stoops said of the bowl defeats. "In the end, too, I think it's obvious you're playing another championship team and if you're not at your best, you're not going to fare too well.
"We've been in six Big 12 Championships, and we won five of them. We are doing something right. We know how to win those games, so we'll manage the others the best we can."
Another thing that Stoops and Co. know by now - the expectations never change for Oklahoma football.
"People in Oklahoma aren't satisfied unless you win a national championship," senior center Jon Cooper said. "I know we can do a better job of closing things out. We will finish strong this year."
Oklahoma should be included on a short list of candidates for the 2008 national title game. The Sooners return 14 starters, including eight on offense, and should take a 5-0 record into an October 11 showdown with Texas that likely will determine the Big 12 South winner.
DeMarco Murray, who scored 15 touchdowns and rushed for 764 yards as a freshman before suffering a dislocated kneecap, is fully recovered and should play in the season opener against Tennessee-Chattanooga.
"DeMarco is an explosive, exciting player," Stoops said. "He's one of those special athletes. Everybody sees the great speed and moves that he has. But he's also a physical guy, too. When you get up next to him and you pat him on the shoulder, there's a lot to that guy. He's a stronger runner I think than people might notice."
Quarterback Sam Bradford, who passed for 3,121 yards, led the nation with a passing efficiency rating of 176.53 and set an NCAA freshman record with 36 touchdown passes, will operate the offense.
Bradford should have plenty of time to throw, and Murray and Chris Brown, who rushed for 611 yards as a sophomore, should have plenty of holes to gallop through.
Oklahoma's offensive line should be one of the elite units in the country, returning four starters and seven of eight from the two-deep chart last year.
Bradford's favorite target is senior Juaquin Iglesias, who hauled in 68 receptions for 907 yards and five touchdowns last season.
On defense, there is some concern, as linebacker Curtis Lofton and cornerback Reggie Smith opted to leave school early for the NFL draft. Lofton was a second-round pick of Atlanta, while Smith went in the third round to San Francisco.
Defensive end John Williams was granted a sixth year, but has to battle back from Achilles' tendon surgery. Jontae Bumpus, another defensive lineman, missed last season while recuperating from preseason surgery and was redshirted.
All-Big 12 defensive end Auston English, who logged 9 1/2 sacks as a sophomore, returns. He missed the last three regular-season games with a hairline ankle fracture against Texas A&M.
Harris, who has started the past two years, and Lendy Holmes are defensive back returnees, while junior college transfer David Sims, who has been clocked in a 4.38 40-yard dash, may provide immediate help.
Oklahoma's schedule is favorable, playing Kansas, Nebraska and Texas Tech at home. Now if the Sooners can just close the season with a bowl victory, they might just hoist another national title trophy.
