Do you think this will hurt the Sooners? Will he come back next year? Many had said he'd go pro after this year.

It sucks for AD and will definitely hurt the Sooners for the rest of the season, but I have to think it makes the chance of him coming back a bit more likely. He'll need to prove to the NFL that he can last a season without injury.

We'll see. With dad back and out of the pokey, I think there's a lot of outside pressure for AD to start providing for his family.

I ran a news search on ebcso, and I think that this paragraph says it all:


NORMAN, Okla. -- Last month, Adrian Peterson told The Oklahoman the one thing that could keep him from leaving for the NFL after this season was a major injury. But the Sooner star probably never expected that possibility to come into play.

We knew this season was going to have a feel like it did when Hybl was under center. Thompson is there to lead the team and we should be okay. If anything, this will greatly help the running game as there won't be so much focus on one player. I also see them letting PT open it up much more and running him some.

Who knows...maybe out of all of this PT comes out as the knight on his white horse to save the day (again)...and maybe he will get some talk from that nice little trophy. I doubt it...but you never know.

I don't think any season has been more impacted by so many factors as this one. Regardless, now is the time for the young backs to come in and get some real practice and help groom the team for a title run in the next season or two.

I shudder to think what our average and young RBs are going to do behind that very average and young o-line.

It's going to be a long season.

OU season was done long ago, they did ok at first but are falling apart adn to me getting worse, with the beating from texas, I think its all over.

I was sick when I heard the news. It's like nothing has gone right AT ALL this season--it is just a bunch of "what ifs".

As for Adrian, I think he could go to the combine and still be a top-10 pick. Any smart NFL coach should know that it's a collar bone, not a knee.

I doubt it hurts him too much on the draft....Just a collarbone...Now if it was a knee that would be a completely different story

As for this year we should be fine...Weren't going to a BCS bowl anyway so doesn't hurt as bad as it would 2 years ago..Patrick and Gutierrez have filled in pretty well before and one of the freshmen will get some game time to help us in the long run

I doubt it hurts him too much on the draft....Just a collarbone...Now if it was a knee that would be a completely different story

As for this year we should be fine...Weren't going to a BCS bowl anyway so doesn't hurt as bad as it would 2 years ago..Patrick and Gutierrez have filled in pretty well before and one of the freshmen will get some game time to help us in the long run

There's another RB, Mossis Madu, that is said to be very good.

Kevin Wilson mentioned yesterday that they would be using all 3 RBs for the rest of the year.

There's always a chance the Sooners will be ok. But without Peterson, those chances are dwindled significantly. Thankfully, the defense seems to be playing a lot better than the first of the year.

I'm not as pessimistic as most of you here. I think ever since Adrian has come to OU, defenses have put tons of men in the box, and stopped either the RB or the QB. Now that not everyone is focusing on Peterson, I think we may be able to return to the offense Josh Heupel ran, opening it up more, and going back to the spread offense.

Looks like the new AP (not AD) will be Allen Patrick.

Looks like the new AP (not AD) will be Allen Patrick.
All I know is that they just have to keep their heads up high and do the best they can with the players they still have. Yes, Adrian Peterson will be missed, and I wish him a speedy recovery, so that he will still have a chance in the NFL.

i'm not as pessimistic as most of you here. i think ever since adrian has come to ou, defenses have put tons of men in the box, and stopped either the rb or the qb. now that not everyone is focusing on peterson, i think we may be able to return to the offense josh heupel ran, opening it up more, and going back to the spread offense. i totally agree... since peterson, i've felt ou has been pretty lazy in the plays it's called. hopefully it'll force the offense to once again depend more on the use of strategy and not just rely on raw athletic ability. though i'm not so sure that we currently have a strong enough o-line to completely return to the offense used while heupel was qb. -M

i totally agree... since peterson, i've felt ou has been pretty lazy in the plays it's called. hopefully it'll force the offense to once again depend more on the use of strategy and not just rely on raw athletic ability. though i'm not so sure that we currently have a strong enough o-line to completely return to the offense used while heupel was qb. -M
Well, since Adrian is gone, they won't be able to rely on just one person to make all the big plays. This is where playing as a team becomes very important. They need to count on each other now.

Looks like the new AP (not AD) will be Allen Patrick.

We also have Mossis Madu and Jacob Guttierez in the backfield. Offensive Coordinator, Kevin Wilson has said that all 3 will be used. Gute is almost a clone of Quentin Griffin -- about 5'7" and literally the strongest guy on the team. He's been huge on special teams.

Mossis Madu has worn the redshirt this year, but he's apparently a very talented RB.

We also have Demarco Murray. Murray was the Scouts #8 Running back last year and a top 25 player nationwide. At this time, I believe he is injured, so he will continue to redshirt.

I agree that our line needs some major help. All I can do is hope that they continue to develop over the next year or so.

keith,
exactly. adrian peterson is a great athlete, but ou's opponents have compensated for his ability... it's been my opinion that the offense has given him the ball too often. it's not so hard for an opponent to come up with a defensive strategy when it practically knows which player it has to defend against. now that ou will be relying on several players to get the job done, maybe its offense won't be so one-dimensional. -M

^^

Agreed.

OU's offense of late: First Down: I formation. Give the ball to Peterson up the middle for a gain of 1 yard. Second Down: I formation, Give the ball to Peterson up the middle for 3 yards. Third Down: Give the ball to Peterson up the middle for a gain of 12 yards. First Down. It's not hard to defend against that. I really think this will help OU by adding some creativity and balance back into the offense. It won't be Peterson running every play. It may be one of 3 RB's or a pass play.

OU's offense of late: First Down: I formation. Give the ball to Peterson up the middle for a gain of 1 yard. Second Down: I formation, Give the ball to Peterson up the middle for 3 yards. Third Down: Give the ball to Peterson up the middle for a gain of 12 yards. First Down. It's not hard to defend against that. I really think this will help OU by adding some creativity and balance back into the offense. It won't be Peterson running every play. It may be one of 3 RB's or a pass play.

Very good point. Speaking as a long time Mizzou season ticket holder I can tell you that the departure of Brad Smith has done wonders for the Tigers' offensive attack. When the defense actually has to guess where the ball is going, a little speed and good execution can bring you quite a bit of success (anywhere but College Station, apparently). I have to believe this Sooner team will get beyond the loss of having Adrian in the backfield - this is most certainly not a harbinger of doom for OU (although feel free not to bring your "A" game to Columbia in 2 weeks!). Incidentally, is anyone here making the trip for the Mizzou contest?

y_h...How long a drive is it to Columbia?

You can take I-35 north to Kansas City then hit I-70 eastbound which will take you right into Columbia. It's about a 7 hour drive. There's actually a more "straight line" route which involves taking I-44 to Lebanon, MO and then a series of jogs along state and US highways. That route "should" also take about 7 hours, however that figure may vary wildly depending upon the status of traffic on State Route 5.

Hey y_h...Predictions on this weekend's game?

I have OU winning it 24-21...Hoping to do what A&M did to you guys :tiphat:

It's hard to predict this one, Easy. I'm terribly superstitious, so I am loathe to make a prediction that might favor my beloved Tigers. I'm just hoping for a good game in which neither side embarasses themselves and nobody gets hurt. Between Adrain Peterson on the OU side and Brian Smith on ours, I think we've each endured our share of impact injuries for the year. If the Tigers can keep the Sooner ground game in check and if our offensive front four can protect Chase Daniel (the best MU quarterback since Brad Smith, as I like to say), then I think we'll make this a competitive ballgame from whistle to whistle. Of course this assumes that Pinkel preps the team better than he did for A&M. That's always the wildcard with Mizzou football as of late.

One of the great things about the Big XII is that I only have to root against the Sooners twice every four years. Nonetheless, sitting six rows behind the visitor's bench, it will be a thrill to be that close to a team that I cheer on fervently every other week of the year.

Oh...Hadn't heard about Smith going down on Saturday...Sounds like he was your best D lineman...Hate to hear that, but this year we will take as many breaks as we can get

You may be 6 rows from the field, but I will be 6 feet from the cold beers in the fridge :ou2

Hope it is a good game...You guys need to win it to stay in the race!

Well, that was certainly an impressive performance by the Sooners on Saturday. And I'm never underwhelmed by the fantastic performance of the OU contingent that populates the SW corner of the stadium anytime the Sooners come to town. Nebraska may bring more fans to town, but no group of visiting fans represents themselves the way the Sooner faithful do - polite, knowledgeable fans with confidence but without the taint of arrogance. The K-State and Colorado bandwagoners and the UT frontrunners that pollute Columbia every few years could certainly take a lesson from you all.

And could someone please find Adrian some OU colors to wear on the sideline? As soon as the temp warmed up, he removed his letter jacket to reveal a green and blue polo shirt. I was certainly close enough to him that I should have thrown him my Sooner Football tee that I was wearing under my Brad Smith jersey!

It was a good game with OU getting a lot of breaks (Which we need all we can get this year)...Daniel does look like he will be a good one...Turnovers did you guys in and the wide open drop by Coffman didn't help either

One question...They came out in the 2nd half w/ no huddle and drove it right down and scored...Why did they stop doing the no huddle again since it worked so well?...Seemed odd to me since we looked horrible on that drive

..Why did they stop doing the no huddle again since it worked so well?...Seemed odd to me since we looked horrible on that drive
I was wondering the same thing. I thought we were going to be in trouble if they kept it up. We do so many substitutions that it's hard to keep up with a no-huddle offence if you aren't prepared for it. Maybe the Tigers became tired and couldn't keep up that pace for very long, but I would think they could have used it effectively every other series or so. But, I'm not complaining. ;)

I believe Missouri's tailback suffered a bruised/injured shoulder and was unable to play in the second half, which reduced their run game to QB draws/sprints and allowed OU to play up in the underneath routes that the Tiger offense uses so effectively.

I think MU's loss of Smith really showed Saturday. I told some other friends that I expected OU to run right at MU, which is precisely what they did, and particularly to the side Smith vacated. The loss of a great DE like that will give an offense a chance to break containment on the corners (see Thompson's option TD run in the first quarter), or run play-action more than you'd otherwise expect.

The bottom line, however, in addition to the Tiger miscues, was that OU was just more physical up front than Missouri. Starting the 3rd quarter, OU's first drive ended with a Patrick Allen fumble around the MU 30, but in that drive Oklahoma set a tone in dominating the line of scrimmage - carving out big chunks of ground yardage - and I think was en route to what would have been a 23-3 lead. MU scored their only TD on the drive following that fumble recovery.

All-in-all, I think its one of the best preparation jobs Stoops and crew have done in a long time. They had a great game plan, executed it well, played it confidently, didn't make too many mistakes (very few motion penalties, etc), got lucky on a play or two, and came away with a really solid win. Any time you can go to Columbia and win by 16 points you've got to come away pretty darned happy.

Next question for MU fans: Will this year's performance save Pinkel's job? I had him pegged as a sure-fire lame duck this year. Chase Daniel is one tough kid; he got hit and hit, but kept punching...I personally *still* think MU wins the north because I believe Nebraska's defense is a fraud, and if Mizzou can be patient and overcome the early crowd/emotion at Lincoln this Saturday, they can win that game and take the B12 North.

-SoonerDave

Yeah it was great to see Patrick hit those holes hard...The O-Line is looking really good and they are very young...Should help us next year with a new QB

Not going to get any easier this weekend at A&M...Their win at OSU looks a lot better now after what the Pokes did to Nebraska

Next question for MU fans: Will this year's performance save Pinkel's job? I had him pegged as a sure-fire lame duck this year. Chase Daniel is one tough kid; he got hit and hit, but kept punching...I personally *still* think MU wins the north because I believe Nebraska's defense is a fraud, and if Mizzou can be patient and overcome the early crowd/emotion at Lincoln this Saturday, they can win that game and take the B12 North.

-SoonerDave

Well, SoonerDave, that is the $64,000 question. My gut instinct says yes, largely thanks to the Brian Smith injury. Even if the Tigers finish 7-5 and wind up losing to say Rutgers in the Texas Bowl (not such a far-fetched possibility I regret to advise), I think GP gets a pass this year for a few reasons. First of all, I think that the Smith injury will provide somewhat of an excuse for a drop in the defense's performance. Clearly a weakened defense puts more pressure on the offense to perform and a pressured offense coughs up the ball more frequently - and there you have your excuse. Is it irresponsible to place the fortunes of an entire team on one player? You bet, however Mizzou is not yet blessed with the type of depth that a first tier D1A program has, so that type of excuse does have legs at this stage of the game. Second reason has to do with Chase Daniel. I think the athletic dept. would be reluctant to change coaches on the Little General when he seems to be very comfortable with the system that GP and Dave Christensen have set up. I don't think anyone wants to take a very capable QB and force him to learn an entirely new system in his junior year. Third reason - Mizzou is breaking in a new hoops coach this year, so I doubt they're looking to essetially start both of their bread and butter programs from scratch in such immediate succession. Fourth and final reason - Warren Powers. For those who recall the late 70's and early 80's, you'll remember that Powers took the Tigers to bowl games in 5 of his first 6 years, but then tripped up in 84, dropping to 3-7-1. Mizzou wasted no time in canning him and then didn't have another winning season for 13 years, hiring and firing 3 more coaches along the way.

Something tells me that this year's 6-0 start will keep GP at Mizzou for at least another two seasons, however if this fast start peters out and isn't replicated next year, perhaps the trigger will get pulled.

Oh, and by the way, notwithstanding the four turnovers and the shorthanded defense of Mizzou, the Sooners played exceptionally well. They won this game on their own merit and should wind up back in Dallas on January 1 for a hell of a game against the Hogs.