Sports
B1 Tuesday | October 7, 2014 | tulsaworld.com
Second-year guard Andre Roberson is the favorite to start. B3
OU’s Trevor Knight set to face some Texas heat
OSU FOOTBALL: A CLOSER LOOK
•• The QB must have calm nerves when he plays his once-beloved Longhorns.
Run game ISSUES
BY GUERIN EMIG
MIKE SIMONS/Tulsa World
World Sports Writer
Cowboys average only 3.9 per rush attempt BY BILL HAISTEN
World Sports Writer
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TILLWATER — Mike Gundy knows the value of a productive run game. As the Oklahoma State quarterback in 1988, and with Heisman Trophy recipient Barry Sanders at tailback, Gundy presided over a Cowboy offense that averaged 6.2 yards per rush attempt. In 2012, the Gundy-coached Cowboys averaged 5.4 yards per run play. In 2013, the Cowboys averaged 4.4 yards. This season’s average — 3.9 yards. The Cowboys are 4-1 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12, but their average gain per rush attempt is their Up next lowest since 2005, when Gundy was a first-year at Kansas head coach. That OSU team averaged 3.9 per rush and wound up with a Big 12 record of 1-7. 3 p.m. Saturday “First thing is, (the Cowboys are) going TV: FS1-67 the wrong direction,” Gundy said during his Radio: KFAQ Monday news conference. “ am1170 And the second thing is, it has to be much better.” In advance of Saturday’s 3 p.m., Fox Sports 1-televised conference game at Kansas, the Cowboys are ranked No. 16 in the Associated Press poll – and No. 72 nationally and seventh in the Big 12 in rushing at 163.2 yards per game. The average per game is only slightly below the 2013 average of 171.9, but the 3.9 average per attempt bothers Gundy and offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich.
NORMAN — Trevor Knight grew up within a reasonable drive from Austin, Texas, not Norman. He spent fall Saturdays at Texas Memorial Stadium, not Owen Field, paying tribute to Colt McCoy instead of Sam Bradford. “Me and some of my buddies, we’d walk around in our No. 12 jerseys in Austin before a game and tell people we were Colt’s little brothers,” Knight said. “It was just having Up next fun. We were vs. Texas at Dallas living it up. Now it’s funny be11 a.m. Saturday cause of where I TV: KTUL-8 am.” He is about Radio: KMOD to quarterback fm97.5, KTBZ am1430 Oklahoma in Saturday’s brawl with his formerly-beloved Longhorns. That puts an interesting twist on the Red River Rivalry, and adds to the substantial burden on the Sooners’ snap-taker. SEE OU B6
BEST EVER Who do you think is the best punter in OSU history? Best center in OU history? See the list for OU on page B6 and OSU on page B8. Voting ends Friday at OSUSportsExtra.com and OUSportsExtra.com.
TCU is still focus despite Texas game
SEE OSU B8
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OSU searching for consistent run game
ORMAN — USUALLY during OU-Texas game week, Bob Stoops’ weekly press conference focuses almost solely on Texas. Not this time. Stoops stood at the podium Monday and answered questions for more than 30 minutes, but queries on the Longhorns or the Red River Rivalry were few and far between. Stoops instead found himself answering one John E. question after about the Hoover another Sooners’ 37-33 Sports Columnist loss at TCU on john.hoover Saturday. @tulsaworld.com That’s what 918-581-8384 Twitter: happens when a @JohnEHoover team goes from national championship contender to playing like OU did in Fort Worth. “I believe a lot of it is easily correctable,” Stoops said, “and some of
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TILLWATER — OKLAHOMA State earned our respect in a season-opening loss to Florida State. In four victories since FSU the Cowboys have earned our skepticism. The Cowboys have done the most important thing — win games — but they’ve stumbled around enough to open up all kinds of questions. “We’ve got a lot of work to do,” said OSU coach Mike Gundy on Monday. Yes, OSU remains a work in progress in a lot of areas. The schedule has set up well for an OklaJohn homa State team trying to fight through with Klein one of the youngest teams in the nation. Experience, on the offensive line, secondSenior Sports ary and at quarterback, may be the biggest Columnist benefit of the last four games. john.klein The Cowboys had to change quarter@tulsaworld.com backs, and to a large degree change their 918-581-8368 Twitter: general offense, when J.W. Walsh was @JohnKleinTW injured in the second game of the season. The offensive line has been somewhat SEE KLEIN B8
SUE OGROCKI/Associated Press
SEE HOOVER B6
ALCS GAME 1: ROYALS AT ORIOLES
Royals rookies making their mark on postseason Kansas City Royals pitcher Brandon Finnegan throws against the Los Angeles Angels in the ninth inning of Game 2 of baseball’s AL Division Series in Anaheim. GREGORY BULL/ Associated Press
••Other playoff teams relying on influx of young talent as well. BY DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — One by one, the camera panned over the faces of the Kansas City Royals, who had lined up along the firstbase line for introductions before Game 3 of their AL Division Series. When it settled on Brandon
Kansas City at Baltimore 7 p.m. Friday TV: TBS-
Finnegan, the crowd roared just a little bit louder. On one hand, it made perfect sense. Finnegan has been downright stellar in the playoffs, pitching four sharp innings and earning a win. He’s provided the power lefthanded arm out of the bullpen that the Royals knew they would need if
they were to make a deep run. On the other hand, it made little sense at all. This is a guy who few fans knew anything about six weeks ago, and virtually nobody knew anything about six months ago. “It’s definitely a shock to me,” said Finnegan, who began the year leading TCU to the College World Series and could end it by leading the Royals to a very different World Series. “It’s been a whirlwind,” Finnegan SEE MLB B5