OU prepares to battle 

ASU Indians

by Justin Waganer

September 4, 2000

Well, week one for the Sooners and Indians were quite different with OU winning over UTEP by 41 and ASU losing to N.C. State 38-31 in double OT.  For the betting public, you may want to bet on a repeat performance by the Sooners rather than a repeat performance from the Indians.  No offense to Joe Hollis and his Arkansas State ball club, but Oklahoma is a bit more talented than the Wolfpack.

Arkansas State owned a 17-7 lead in the 3rd quarter at North Carolina State, yet saw it fade away when Kent Passingham hit a 33-yard field goal with one second on the clock to send the game to OT.  Cleo Lemon, who is on pace to own all passing records at ASU by years end, fumbled the ball on 3rd down in the second overtime to finalize the loss to the Wolfpack. 

Oklahoma, on the other hand, was quite sure of their lead with one second left with the scoreboard reading 55-14 in Norman.  Though the Sooners were not sharp on offense it was obvious that all the work needed in Norman this week was on holding on to home run passes and the OU fun & gun would be rolling again.  Oklahoma must fine tune its offense in terms of getting everyone on the same page as Saturday's game was full of plays that looked like game breakers, yet ended in play-busters. 

The Indian defense struggled greatly against the Wolfpack, giving up 397 yards and 3 TD's to freshman quarterback Philip Rivers and allowed Ray Robinson to run freely with 139 yards and a TD.  ASU Head Coach Joe Hollis is offensive minded with his best work being in Ohio State in the early '90's with such greats as Eddie George and Orlando Pace.  However, his defense will be greatly tested by a senior Heisman candidate in Josh Heupel, Quentin Griffin's bouncy style, and the hard nose running of Renaldo Works.

The Sooner Defense was tested by an underrated (by yours truly as much as anyone) UTEP offense last week and will face a senior All Big West candidate in Cleo Lemons.  Jonathan Adams, who had 137 yards and a touchdown in Saturday's loss, will also greatly figure in to the Indian offense that is mainly represented by multiple versions of the I-formation. 

The bottom line in this Saturday's OU-ASU game is that the Sooner fans, coaches, alumni, and especially the players need to see improvement from last weeks peak and valley performance against UTEP.  Although the Indians do walk in 0-1, they walk in a winless team with confidence.  While, N.C. State is not in the upper echelon of college football, they are a respectable team and even more respectable at home. 

Sooner fans know that they will come out firing and the offense feels it has something to prove after somewhat of a down performance last week.  The defense will return Torrance Marshall and Brandon Everage from suspension and take on an offense without the firepower of even UTEP.  While the Sooners will certainly improve to 2-0 and a betting man would take OU and the points, don't be surprised if its still a game at the half.