Oklahoma Sooners

WACO, Texas -- Oklahoma defensive end Ronnell Lewis could miss the rest of the regular season after suffering a sprained MCL during the second quarter of OU’s 45-38 loss Saturday at Baylor.

“I would think that’s probably at least two or three weeks,” coach Bob Stoops said. “It will heal on its own. But it’ll take awhile.”

The injury occurred during the second quarter on a 55-yard pass play. As Lewis chased Baylor’s Kendall Wright from behind, he went down and immediately clutched his knee. Lewis was fitted with a brace and watched the second half in street clothes.

Along with fellow end Frank Alexander, Lewis has been OU’s best defensive player all season. He is third on the team with 59 tackles, second with 13 tackles for loss and tied for second with 5.5 sacks. Until Lewis returns, David King likely will start at end.

WACO, Texas -- Robert Griffin III made his way into Baylor's locker room, but paused when he opened the door.

Nobody was there.

"I was like, where'd everybody go?"

They were still on the field celebrating. There was a postgame party at Floyd Casey Stadium, and everybody wearing green and gold was invited. The Bears had swiped the Sooners' picnic basket.

Before tonight, Baylor had never had a chance to celebrate a win over Oklahoma.

With a 34-yard toss from Griffin to Terrance Williams in the back corner of the end zone, that all changed.

"There at the end, God works in mysterious ways," Griffin said with a wide smile. "When I looked down the field, I saw him one-on-one. All this is happening in milliseconds, so I saw him one-on-one and I was like, 'Well, I’ll give him a shot.' I threw it up, and he made a great catch."

Baylor 45, Oklahoma 38.

That play, coach Art Briles admitted, was "not the way we drew it up."

"The dude has had the ability to take over a game by himself," said Baylor linebacker Elliot Coffey, "and you saw it."

We all saw it. We saw Griffin prove once again he's the best deep-ball passer in college football, throwing four touchdown passes, even if one of them unbelievably deflected off Tevin Reese's hands and helmet before floating into Kendall Wright's hands for a game-changing 87-yard score.

Griffin could only shake his head at that one, but he finished with a school-record 476 yards on 21-of-34 passing, breaking his own single-season school record for passing yards. He was also the Bears' leading rusher with 72 yards.

"Another day at the office for Robert," Briles said. "He’s been doing that for three or four years. When the ball’s in his hand, he’s going to make good things happen, because he’s very intelligent, very passionate and very gifted."

Said Baylor safety Ahmad Dixon: "You can't really defend him. You have to just take what he gives you."

No run was bigger than a 22-yard scramble on second down on the game's final drive, when Baylor had just 51 seconds left and no timeouts. Oklahoma had three, and when the Bears looked content to try to run it and settle for overtime, the Sooners used one. Baylor knew it needed a first down. The man they call RG3 provided those precious 22 yards.

"Then the whole thing flips," Briles said.

The aggressive move backfired, and the Sooners' fate was in the hands of the most dangerous player in the Big 12. Baylor should have known.

"Robert Griffin’s the best in the game," running back Terrance Ganaway said. "When the ball’s in his hands, expect big things."

The late toss to Williams was the biggest, and Griffin barely saw it. He took a big hit, but saw Williams haul it in. He wasn't sure, but the offensive linemen that mobbed him confirmed it.

"Robert, you just won us the game," they told him.

He got up, took a moment to kneel near midfield, then pointed to the sky and jogged to the sideline. He just wrote maybe the most memorable chapter in Baylor history. They'll never forget this night in Waco.

"When you work for something extremely hard for a lot of years, and you finally get it, it’s a great feeling," Griffin said. "We worked for this. We haven’t been waiting for it. We’ve been preparing for it. And it finally came to pass."

Baylor's already been through the whole bowl eligibility brouhaha. That's so 2010. Saturday was the third time Floyd Casey Stadium's field has been stormed in the past two seasons. Baylor's already equaled its win total from 2010 with two games remaining, and the Bears might be favored in both. Then there's a bowl game.

That's not lost on Griffin.

"It's great, but you've still got to show up every day and go to work. Go to practice. Watch film. That's something I've learned to appreciate, because the year I was hurt, I couldn't practice," said Griffin, who missed the final nine games of the 2009 season with a torn ACL. "I couldn't walk. I couldn't go to the bathroom by myself. My mom had to help me. My fiancee had to help me. So, when things like that happen to you, it makes you appreciate everything."

America learned to appreciate Griffin once again, too. He captured the nation's attention with a game-winning drive on the first weekend of the season against TCU, but the Bears suffered a pair of losses and dropped out of the Top 25. A slew of losses from top-ranked teams, though, combined with RG3's heroics?

The Heisman race has gotten a sudden face-lift.

"They say we needed a signature win," Griffin said with a laugh. "And we got it."

WACO, Texas--Chalk this one up among the greatest wins in Baylor history.

Art Briles has done a lot of big things at Baylor, but this is among the biggest. Baylor ended one of the most lopsided all-time series in college football with a 45-38 win, the first for the Bears in 21 tries throughout the history of college football.

Lots more to come tonight, but here's some instant analysis.

How the game was won: Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III rolled to his left and hit Terrance Williams for a 34-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds left and the Bears recovered a squib kick. One kneel by RG3 and the Baylor fans stormed the field for the second time this season.

Turning point: Baylor reversed momentum and answered two quick touchdowns by Oklahoma to open the second half with three touchdowns of their own, highlighted by a crazy 87-yard touchdown catch by Kendall Wright that bounced off Tevin Reese's hands and helmet before floating into Wright's hands in stride. Easily one of the plays of the year in the Big 12, if not all of college football. Oklahoma threatened to run away with the game, but Baylor wasn't shaken. The Bears did what they do best -- throw the ball deep -- and snatched back control of the ballgame.

Player of the game: Griffin III, QB, Baylor. Who else? RG3 was the man for the Bears. He threw for 479 yards and four touchdowns without a turnover, torching Oklahoma's secondary in the second half and breaking a few records in the process. Speaking of which ...

Record performance: Griffin broke his own single-game record for passing yards in a game (479) and broke his own record for passing yards in a season, all on the same night. He also helped his team get one of the biggest wins in school history. Not a bad day's work.

Second guessing: Baylor faced a 4th-and-1 in its own territory early in the third quarter, but decided to go for it. That's OK, I guess, but running Griffin into the pile from the shotgun? Not good. Oklahoma stuffed it, celebrated and scored right away to take the lead. What would this game have looked like if the Bears simply punted there?

What Baylor learned: It really can go head-to-head with the Big 12 titans and get a win. The Bears have ascended to the second tier of the Big 12, but failed to prove themselves against an elite opponent. Safe to say this game qualifies. The Sooners had a lot to play for and couldn't get it done.

What Oklahoma learned: Life without Ryan Broyles is going to be hard. The Sooners host Iowa State next Saturday, but they'll face a similarly dangerous offense in Oklahoma State on Dec. 3. The offense put 38 on the board Saturday night and it wasn't enough. Don't be surprised if 38 isn't enough against the Cowboys, either, with a Big 12 title hanging in the balance.

What it means: Oklahoma's national title hopes are kaput. Oklahoma State's loss on Friday night didn't help, but there's an SEC West logjam at the top of the BCS and Oregon lost earlier on Saturday. The Sooners were still alive ... until they weren't. A Big 12 title is still on the table for the Sooners, but a season that began with a beeline to the national title game will come up short. Big 12 titles are great and always difficult to win, but Oklahoma fans have come to expect more. They won't get their eighth national title in 2011.

WACO, Texas -- Oklahoma defensive lineman Ronnell Lewis went down and clutched his knee on a 55-yard catch-and-run from Kendall Wright in the second quarter.

He won't be back.

Lewis is on Oklahoma's sidelines in street clothes and a knee brace. That's a big loss for the Sooners. Frank Alexander has been Oklahoma's best defender this year, but Lewis is a close second. Both are in contention for the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year.

The Sooners defense will need to play well without him, too. Baylor scored on an unbelievable 87-yard play that caromed off Tevin Reese and floated right to a wide-open Kendall Wright in stride downfield, tying the score at 24.

You won't see that too often, but the Sooners had a similar touchdown pass to Jermaine Gresham against Oklahoma State back in 2008.

Oklahoma has been dominant in the third quarter all season.

Two quick touchdowns against Baylor and that streak has continued. Oklahoma has taken a 24-17 lead in just 3:39 of game time in the second half.

Oklahoma has now outscored opponents 132-10 in the third quarter this season.

Landry Jones has been on the money so far, too. He hit James Hanna for a 54-yard gain on the half's opening drive and found Kenny Stills for a 31-yard gain on the second drive.

Those were sandwiched around a fourth-down stop in Baylor territory that ignited a huge celebration on the OU sidelines.

The Sooners looked like they missed receiver Ryan Broyles badly in the first half, which featured just one touchdown.

All of a sudden, that doesn't look like the case.

WACO, Texas -- I'll go ahead and do it.

No. 5 Oklahoma's officially on upset alert.

Baylor's gone step-for-step with the Sooners on both sides of the ball, and the scoreboard shows it. The Bears lead 17-10.

Both teams have caught a few breaks and bad calls, but this one looks like it's going down to the wire.

Time for a bit of halftime analysis after the Bears jogged into the tunnel to raucous cheers and a "B-U! B-U!" chant.

Turning point: Kendall Wright took a short pass and weaved his way for a 55-yard gain, outrunning Oklahoma's defense. On the play, OU defensive end Ronnell Lewis went down, too. The Bears scored two plays later on a 15-yard run by Terrance Ganaway, and you got the sense that Baylor and its fans started to believe they could win.

Stat of the half: It's been an ugly half. We've already seen 12 penalties for 114 yards.

Best player in the half: Robert Griffin III, QB, Baylor. Griffin connected on a 69-yard touchdown pass to Tevin Reese that counted and was thrown perfectly. Another 80-yard bomb on the opening drive was thrown perfectly and didn't count because of a hold. Still, he's 8-of-13 for 197 yards and a touchdown and has played mistake-free football. He has to stay that way. He's got OU safety Javon Harris on his heels.

What Baylor needs to do: Keep poking at the Sooners and keep testing them deep. Baylor did a better job of handling the Sooners' blitzes in the second quarter and giving Griffin III some time to make plays. The Bears kept working the screen game to receivers on the outside, and the Sooners backed off a bit. The running game's only worked when Baylor's offensive tempo has been at its highest, so the solution there seems pretty obvious, too. Counter-intuitive to moving the clock, yes, but it's much too early to think about anything like that just yet. The Bears need to keep moving the ball.

What Oklahoma needs to do: A big win seems like it's almost out of the question now. Baylor's not a team that's going to be pushed around tonight on either side of the ball. This game may stay low scoring, and as the road team, when the Sooners get opportunities to score, they have to take advantage. They've done that so far, outside of a Trey Franks fumble on a long run and a third-down sack to take them out of field goal range. It's telling that they've taken advantage of opportunities and still only have 10 points.

WACO, Texas -- I wouldn't flick the upset alert switch just yet, but Baylor's looking like a top-25 team through the first quarter against Oklahoma.

The Sooners and Bears are locked in an uncharacteristic defensive battle and tied at 3.

The Bears secondary has slowed Sooners quarterback Landry Jones tonight while the Bears offense has struggled with a fast, physical pass rush from maybe the best defensive-end duo in the country, Frank Alexander and Ronnell Lewis.

The defense has taken its knocks this season, and that didn't change early. The Bears broke up two passes before giving up a 26-yard completion to Kenny Stills to convert a deflating third down.

Oklahoma receiver Trey Franks broke a long gain on the next play, but who was there? The Bears secondary, flipping Franks and forcing a fumble.

This one hasn't gone how anyone projected it, but the Bears will take it.

Three points after one quarter for an offense like Oklahoma's? Maybe there's something to the way the Bears play at home. They haven't lost at Floyd Casey Stadium this season.

WACO, Texas -- Oklahoma's pursuing Baylor's running game aggressively, and it's paid off.

The Bears carried the ball six times on their opening drive.

Four went for losses. One was for no gain. The other went 6 yards.

Oklahoma looked bent on flying to the ball and making Baylor's offense one-dimensional.

Baylor, though, tried to answer. Robert Griffin III is looking deep, but his only connection, an 80-yard touchdown to Kendall Wright, was erased by a hold. The Bears ran a double pass from Griffin to Jerod Monk to Terrance Williams, too.

The Bears are trying to soften up the Sooners defense, but Oklahoma's bringing all kinds of blitzes and put a handful of big pops on RG3 on the opening drive.

Baylor will have to hit on a couple of those deep balls before the Sooners back off.

Additionally, we've already had five penalties for 60 yards tonight. An odd start on that front.

David Ubben previews tonight’s Oklahoma-Baylor game from Waco.

A week after struggling with Idaho State's zone defense in a close win, the Sooners came out prepared Friday night.

Turns out, all Oklahoma needed was its best perimeter shooter.

Junior guard Steven Pledger, who was suspended for OU's 78-74 win over Idaho State because he participated in a pro-am game last summer, returned to score 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting to lead the Sooners to a 92-65 rout over Coppin State.

Pledger, who admitted to being nervous in his first game of the season, led the Sooners on a 23-0 run early in the first half as OU jumped out to a 30-6 lead. They shot 45 percent from the field and 42 percent from three-point range against the Eagles.

Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger said Pledger's return to the starting lineup sparked the Sooners, but it wasn't just his shooting.

"He does so much more," Kruger said. "He sees the floor well. He's got a good feel for the game. He makes plays for others. Defensively, he's got a good feel."

Player of the Game: Steven Pledger.

Unsung Hero: Romero Osby. With 11 points and 10 rebounds, he has back-to-back double-doubles in his first two games as a Sooner.

Key Stat: 61. The Sooners out-rebounded Coppin State 61 to 27. The 61 rebounds are Oklahoma's most in a single game since joining the Big 12. Andrew Fitzgerald, C.J. Washington, Casey Arent and Osby each had at least 8 rebounds tonight.

Quotable: “Coach (Kruger) always preaches rebounding.” -- Osby, who had 10 rebounds for Oklahoma.

"We practiced really hard this week. Coach (Kruger) preached to us about how we have to create our own energy and I think we brought it tonight." -- Fitzgerald on the team's energy level.

"This is not a vacation; it's more of a business trip." -- Pledger on playing in the 76 Classic tournament next week.

A season-ending knee injury derailed the junior season for wide receiver Dejuan Miller and spurred Cameron Kenney to make big plays down the stretch.

Now with star Ryan Broyles out for the season, Miller is looking for a role reversal and is hoping to make the last four games of his OU career memorable.

Miller has 11 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown this season.

SoonerNation: It’s been more than a week now since Broyles’ injury, what has changed for you?

Dejuan Miller: It’s about going out and having good practice habits. When you have the confidence and develop that certain type of swagger, you start self-talking you know you can make this play. That attitude translates into the game. Next three weeks honing in on practicing a lot better.

SN: One player who has stepped it up is Jaz Reynolds, has anything surprised you about his emergence this season?

Miller: I’ve never seen anybody just pluck it out like that with one hand. Jaz, as a person and a player, has really progressed throughout the season. Any player once they get confidence, you start to develop a swagger. You go out there and really start to believe you can make every play.

SN: Winding down to the final games of your career, how would you characterize your time at OU?

Miller: I’ve had a good time here at OU. I want to end my senior year 4-0 and hopefully playing in New Orleans for the national championship. I’m looking forward to the challenge of these next three games and seeing what the future holds for us.

SN: Going from New Jersey to Oklahoma was a big move, has OU been everything that you hoped it would be?

Miller: I can’t really say it has. I mean nobody really expects to get hurt their junior year. I was starting and getting into my groove. It’s not like starting all over again, but I had to pick up the pieces and look within myself. But OU has been a lot of fun, met a lot of great people. And I got some of the best coaching in the country from [Bob] Stoops, [Jay] Norvell, [Josh] Heupel and even coach [Kevin] Wilson before he left for Indiana. They’ve all taught me so much.

SN: The injury to Broyles, though a huge loss for the team on and off the field, is going to give other players a chance to show what they can do.

Miller: It is bittersweet. Me and Ryan have been playing together for so long, four years, definitely hate to see him go down at this time in his career. On the sweet side, other guys get a chance to step up and show what they can do. Everybody is talented with this receiving group. From Jaz to Trey to Kameel to Kenny, they can all catch and make things happen. Landry is capable enough to spread the ball around. I think we’re going to have good balance with the receivers.

Jake Trotter answers readers' questions about Oklahoma football in his mailbag every Friday. Got a question for Jake? Submit it here.

Jack in Sedalia, Mo., writes: Ryan Broyles was one of the best players in OU history. Where do you think he will be drafted in the NFL and what round?

Jake Trotter: It’s too early to speculate where he might get picked, but what about the St. Louis Rams? Sam Bradford needs receivers, and the Rams like to utilize the slot. I see Broyles being a second day pick, somewhere in the third round.

Randy Jordan in Manila, Philippines, writes: With the year most likely turning out to not end in a national championship game, do you think Landry Jones will stay for another year? Are his chances of going high in the draft still good?


Jake Trotter: Randy, I think you’re underrating OU’s chances of sneaking into the national title game. If the Sooners win out, I think they get in. But if OU doesn’t win it all, I can see Jones coming back, especially considering his situation with fiancé and OU women’s basketball star Whitney Hand. Jones’ stock has slipped a bit this year, but he’d still probably be a first round pick. By coming back, he could play his way into be a high first round in 2013.

Michael Schultz in Frankfurt, Germany, writes: The Huskers and Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl? That would be a great game, and definitely would pull in the fans from both sides.

Jake Trotter: The Fiesta Bowl is very aware of OU fans having fatigue with another trip to Phoenix, where the Sooners have been three of the last five years. But the Fiesta also believes it can get a matchup that would excite the OU fan base. That’s why it’s looking very hard at Nebraska.

Michael Henson in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., writes: What is your opinion of the Big 12 adding Central and South Florida? They are in metropolitan areas, in great recruiting areas, have large student populations and are great big donor travel destinations.

Jake Trotter: All great points, Michael, but you’re leaving out one major negative: proximity. That would be a killer for Olympic sports. If anyone else gets added to the Big 12, I believe it will be Louisville first.

Charles McDonald in Dallas writes: Do you think the fact that Brent Venables hasn't been in touch with Brian Nance in quite awhile is contributed to either Oklahoma not wanting to cater to his entitled ego? Or more likely that they've seen something in someone else they like more and they're silently okay with him going to Baylor or USC instead?

Jake Trotter: I called in OU recruiting expert Bob Przybylo to give you a more thorough answer to this question. Here’s what he said:

It's a good question because OU still doesn't have a verbal commit at linebacker. After talking to Brian Nance several times in the last two months, I don't believe it has anything to do with an entitled ego. He's been very open and honest about his situation and has actually stay level-headed through everything. The red flag on Nance, if there is one, is academically. I'm not sure if OU is willing to take a shot on someone who might not qualify academically. Nance has said he is putting all the time and dedication into his grades this year, but I cannot say that I know how he has done so far as a senior. I do agree Venables would reach out if it was a No. 1 priority. If he didn't have the time, he would make the time to stress to the recruit how important he is to OU.

With Nance taking a backseat, a lot of attention is now being geared toward LB Quanzell Lambert (Sicklerville, N.J./Timber Creek). Lambert made his official visit against Texas A&M and his father was very impressed with the atmosphere and campus. Lambert still has to take a visit to Alabama in December, but it sure seems like Lambert is the No. 1 linebacker on OU's board right now.