Sports
B1 Tuesday | September 9, 2014 | tulsaworld.com
How will TU respond after its loss to OU? Find out in this week’s Hurricane Extra. B6
Sooners’ suspension of Shannon upheld ••The one-year penalty was levied after an alleged sexual assault. BY ERIC BAILEY
World Sports Writer
OKLAHOMA CITY — Frank Shannon’s fight to avoid a one-year suspension from the University of Oklahoma football program took a serious blow Monday.
The Oklahoma State Supreme Court upheld OU’s appeal to dissolve a stay granted by a Cleveland Country District Court, online court records indicated on Monday. The university filed Supreme Court paperwork on Aug. 11 in an attempt to possibly expedite the legal process. Shannon was granted a temporary order to stay the oneyear suspension by Cleveland County District Judge Tracy Schumacher, according to the Supreme Court petition. The one-year penalty was
levied as a result of a Title IX Sexual Misconduct proceeding centered on an alleged sexual assault. The January incident was never pursued criminally. OU asked the Supreme Court in the petition to prohibit the Cleveland Country District Court stay which allowed Shannon to remain a student at OU as well as take part in football team activities. “The University has and is taking every legal step possible to move this process forward,” OU Presi-
dent David Boren said in a statement on the same day that the university’s petition to the Supreme Court was filed. Records have been sealed in the case. OU made its Title IX Sexual Misconduct decision and set a oneyear punishment on June 18. On June 25, Cleveland County District Judge Tracy Schumacher issued a temporary emergency order until June 30, and then issued a summary order continuing the stay.
OU FOOTBALL: OFF TO A 2-0 START
Knight and day difference OU has improved first-quarter scoring BY GUERIN EMIG • WORLD SPORTS WRITER
NORMAN – The most impressive thing about Oklahoma’s first two games this season? Easy. Oklahoma’s two first quarters. The Sooners had the ball three times in the first quarter of their season opener against Louisiana Tech. They scored three touchdowns. They scored three touchdowns in four first-quarter possessions at Tulsa last Saturday. OU stalled out of the block a year ago, scoring 3 points in seven first-quarter possessions against season-opening opUp next ponents ULM and West Virginia. vs. Tennessee It isn’t so much what has changed in 7 p.m. Saturday one year’s time. It’s who. TV: KTUL-8 Simply put, Trevor Knight has settled in as starting quarterback. “Definitely,” coach Bob Stoops said Monday ahead of Saturday night’s game against Tennessee. “When you look at the number of snaps he’s taken
An Aug. 11 hearing in district court between the sides was offered, according to OU’s Supreme Court petition. But Shannon’s counsel was unavailable which postponed the hearing to Aug. 21. At that point, OU filed papers with the Supreme Court. The two sides met before a Supreme Court referee on Aug. 20. Shannon’s attorney, Aletia Timmons, held an Aug. 29 press conferSEE COURT B4
Garman’s start might change OSU game plan
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TILLWATER — SO what if Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy hasn’t always been accurate when picking a starting quarterback? He apparently has been terrific at having the Cowboy backup ready to play. That may be the case again with Daxx Garman, the strong-armed, long-idle backup who entered the game for injured starter J.W. Walsh last Saturday against Missouri State and showed he can flat-out spin the football. That’s not a John E. skill Walsh has abundance. Hoover in Not knockSports Columnist ing Walsh here. john.hoover When healthy, @tulsaworld.com he’s the OSU 918-581-8384 starter and Twitter: deserves to be. @JohnEHoover (Gundy said the status of his For more right foot injury OSU analysis will be deterof Saturday’s mined Tuesday game. B5 night and his availability for this week’s game against Texas-San Antonio could be finalized on Wednesday.) Walsh is a modern-day option virtuoso, a gifted runner, a John Wayne-type tough guy and, his SEE HOOVER B5
Drillers beat odds to reach TL finals
SEE OU B4
••The Drillers overcame history, momentum and other first-round factors. BY BARRY LEWIS
World Sports Writer
Oklahoma’s Trevor Knight scores a touchdown as he is pursued by Michael Mudoh (left) and Donnell Hawkins of Tulsa on Saturday. MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World
OU thinking about Tennessee, not SEC
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ORMAN — OREGON led Tennessee, 59-7, when the Oregon student section started chanting “SEC, SEC” in the third quarter last September. The Ducks won, 59-14, and quarterback Marcus Mariota threw for 456 yards and four touchdowns (687 total yards). Three years earlier, Oregon won at Tennessee, 48-13. Vegas oddsmakers believe Oklahoma is capable of a similar runaway rout. The Volunteers are a three-touchdown underdog at Oklahoma for Saturday’s game. Folks outside of the SEC love
John Klein Senior Sports Columnist
john.klein @tulsaworld.com 918-581-8368 Twitter: @JohnKleinTW
to take shots at college football’s kingdom in the south. It is OU’s turn this week. But, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, who hasn’t been shy about taking verbal shots at the Southeastern Conference, tried to avoid the subject on Monday. For Stoops this about football, not a chance to land another blow to the
SEC like the Sooners did in last year’s romp of Alabama in the Sugar Bowl. “Tennessee has a good football team,” said Stoops. “They have quality players like you get in all good leagues.” That’s about as far as Stoops will go in making his case that there are good teams and good players in all of the power conferences in college football. Tennessee is not a Southeastern Conference powerhouse. Those days are in the rear view mirror and coach Butch Jones hopes they will soon SEE KLEIN B5
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops says Tennessee “has a good football team. They have quality players like you get in all leagues.” JOEY JOHNSON/For the Tulsa World
A few days ago, conventional wisdom would never have projected that the Tulsa Drillers and Midland Rockhounds were going to meet in the Texas League Championship Series this week. Arkansas and Frisco were the favorites after posting the best regular-season records in the North and South Divisions, reTEXAS LEAGUE spectively. MoCHAMPIONSHIP mentum also is supposed to be Game 1 a big factor in vs. Midland the postseason 7:05 p.m. Tuesday, and that seemed ONEOK Field to favor Frisco, which won both Radio: KTBZ halves, and Aram1430 kansas, which was the secondhalf champion. In baseball’s postseason, the winner of a playoff opener often goes on to win the series, so that also favored Frisco and Arkansas. However, it will be the Drillers hosting the RockHounds in Game 1 of the TLCS at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at ONEOK Field. Game 2 will be on Wednesday before the series shifts to Midland for the final three games, SEE TULSA B3