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Oklahoma-Miami Preview

Oct 1, 2009 - 7:39 PM By DAN PIERINGER STATS Editor

No. 1 Oklahoma (2-1) at Miami (FL) (2-1), 8:00 p.m. EDT

A brutal schedule to start the season finally caught up to Miami as it suffered its first loss last week.

Things don't get any easier for the Hurricanes as they try to bounce back against an Oklahoma team riding a two-game shutout streak.

The eighth-ranked Sooners look for another outstanding defensive effort Saturday night when they visit the No. 17 Hurricanes, playing their fourth consecutive game against a ranked opponent.

Oklahoma thought it might get Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford back this week to complement its defense, but coach Bob Stoops said Thursday the junior quarterback's sprained shoulder will keep him out again.

Bradford won the Heisman last season and finished with 4,720 yards and 50 touchdown passes. He decided to return to Oklahoma for another chance at a national title after falling short in the championship game in January, but the 2009 season got off to a rocky start when he suffered the injury in a 14-13 loss to then-No. 20 BYU in the opener.

Freshman Landry Jones has stepped in and done a nice job, completing 43 of 69 passes for 622 yards, nine touchdowns and three interceptions in his first two starts. He set a school record with six TD passes Sept. 19, matching the NCAA freshman mark in a 45-0 win over Tulsa.

Jones has gotten plenty of help from Oklahoma's defense as the Sooners (2-1) have dominated opponents over their last two games. They routed Idaho State 64-0 on Sept. 12 before blowing out Tulsa, recording back-to-back shutouts for the first time since 1987.

Tulsa, which has averaged 45.7 points in its other three games, boasted the nation's top offense each of the last two seasons and hadn't been blanked in five years. The Sooners held the Golden Hurricane to 269 yards, their lowest output since a bowl loss to Utah in 2006.

Despite the impressive performance, Stoops found some fundamental flaws in his team's defense that he wants fixed before the showdown with the explosive Hurricanes.

"I still thought going through it we have some basic issues that we could have been quite a bit better," Stoops said. "I don't think that for us, it's not being too picky. Our players see it. There's a few run plays that we weren't position that we should have been."

The Hurricanes (2-1) were able to exploit defensive mistakes in wins over then-No. 18 Florida State and then-No. 14 Georgia Tech. However, they were shut down last Saturday, totaling 209 yards in a 31-7 loss at then-No. 11 Virginia Tech.

Sophomore Jacory Harris, getting rave reviews and some Heisman hype after opening the season strong, was 9 for 25 for 150 yards, no touchdowns, one interception and a lost fumble while constantly getting hounded by the Hokies' defense.

"I take all the blame for what happened tonight," Harris said.

Harris wasn't Miami's only problem last week, but coach Randy Shannon sees the poor overall performance as a valuable lesson for the young Hurricanes.

"It's a great situation for us to learn as a football team," Shannon said. "Yeah, we won two good games against two big, tough teams, but we had to come back and be ready in the third game against Virginia Tech and we didn't do it. So now, we've got to step up and get ready for Oklahoma."

Shannon said the Hurricanes are going "back to basics" this week. By his count, Miami missed 17 tackles that gave the Hokies 180 extra yards. He said the Hurricanes dropped eight passes, all but one of those potentially being first downs or touchdowns.

Oklahoma cruised to a 51-13 home win over rebuilding Miami in the teams' last meeting Sept. 8, 2007, to even the series at three wins apiece. The Hurricanes have a 2-1 edge in Miami, where the teams haven't met since squaring off for the national championship in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 1, 1988.

In that game, second-ranked Miami beat No. 1 Oklahoma 20-14 to win its second national title.