Star-Telegram.com: Sports

Charean Williams’ five cents

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:29 CST

My five cents

1The Lions started playing on Thanksgiving in 1934, but tradition seems to be the only reason to keep the game in Detroit. The Lions are guaranteed their ninth consecutive losing season, and they have five losses in a row on Thanksgiving.

2T.J. Houshmandzadeh picked the Seattle Seahawks over the Vikings in free agency, the best thing that could have happened to Minnesota. If Houshmandzadeh had picked the Vikings, they wouldn’t have drafted Percy Harvin. Houshmandzadeh is 32. Harvin is the leading offensive Rookie of the Year candidate with 31 catches for 422 yards and three touchdowns. He leads the NFL with an average of 30.7 yards on 29 kickoff returns with two touchdowns.

3Trent Edwards’ career as the Buffalo Bills’ QB starter is over. He was yanked from last Sunday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans and has been benched in favor of Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Bills signed Brian Brohm from the Green Bay Packers’ practice squad Thursday. Edwards’ contract runs through 2010, so he might return as a backup next season.

4Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy is a work in progress in blitz recognition. He has failed to pick up blitzes at least a half dozen times this season, including last Sunday when Chargers safety Paul Oliver sacked Donovan McNabb. With Brian Westbrook out, the Eagles likely will use fullback Leonard Weaver more frequently in the three-receiver, one-back, one tight end set that coach Andy Reid favors.

5On Saturday, the Pro Football Hall of Fame will announce the 25 semifinalists for the Class of 2010. Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith will be the stars of the class. It makes sense the Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers would play in the Hall of Fame Game. Two AFC teams — the Bills and the Titans — played in the Hall of Fame Game this year.

Who’s hot

Vikings quarterback Brett Favre leads the NFL in passer rating (107.5) and has completed 68.1 percent of his passes for 2,269 yards, 17 touchdowns and three interceptions. Two of his interceptions came on tipped balls. Favre, who is in his 19th season, has never had fewer interceptions through nine games.

Who’s not

Cleveland Browns quarterback Brady Quinn suffered his first shutout since the fifth game of his freshman season at Notre Dame. In the 16-0 loss to the Baltimore Ravens on Monday night, Quinn set career NFL lows for completions (13), passing yards (99) and passer rating (23.5). He also threw two interceptions and an illegal low block on Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs after an interception. Suggs will be out several weeks with a knee injury. Quinn was fined $10,000.

He said it

"No, he didn’t. Did he really? He is a cool owner, and it is good to see him around here supporting us. To have an owner like that, it’s cool." Titans linebacker Stephen Tulloch, after team owner Bud Adams directed an obscene gesture at the Bills’ sideline.

Numbers game

22Victories by AFC South teams. Indianapolis is 9-0. Houston and Jacksonville are 5-4. Tennessee is 3-6. The overall win total of 22 is three more than any other division. The worst division is the NFC West with 14 wins.

Charean Williams’ NFL blitz

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:29 CST

The Blitz

San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is 5-2 in his career against the Denver Broncos.

The Chicago Bears’ running game has been absent since the bye week. While losing four of five games since then, Chicago has averaged only 58 rushing yards in the losses. It had 170 rushing yards in the victory over the Cleveland Browns.

The Philadelphia Eagles have 38 plays of 20 yards or more, but it’s the small plays that have been giving them the most trouble. In the past two games — losses to the Cowboys and the Chargers — the Eagles have converted only 1 of 7 third downs of no more than 2 yards. They settled for three red-zone field goals last week against the Chargers.

In his three seasons as the Houston Texans’ starter, Matt Schaub is averaging 7.98 yards per pass attempt. Only Tom Brady is better. Schaub’s average this season (8.1) is better than his career average.

The Browns have five offensive touchdowns this season. The New Orleans Saints have seven defensive touchdowns. Cleveland has not had a running back run for a TD since Nov. 17, 2008, when Jerome Harrison went 75 yards.

The Buffalo Bills have gone seven consecutive games with fewer than 300 net yards, a first since the 1968 season. They have had 14 consecutive games with fewer than 230 passing yards.

Indianapolis Colts tight end Dallas Clark is on pace to shatter single-season league records for the position. He is second in the NFL with 64 catches and ranks fifth with 768 yards. Clark needs one reception to break the team record for career receptions by a tight end, which he shares with Hall of Famer John Mackey.

In the past five games, in which the Atlanta Falcons are 2-3, Matt Ryan has thrown 10 interceptions and completed less than 55 percent of his passes. He has thrown 12 interceptions this season after only 11 last season as a rookie.

Mike Singletary has a 9-9 record as 49ers head coach since replacing Mike Nolan seven games into last season. Nolan and Dennis Erickson were 27-60 in the 5 1/2 seasons before Singletary.

The Philadelphia Eagles are 0-8 in Sunday night games under Andy Reid.

The Green Bay Packers have beaten the San Francisco 49ers six consecutive times at Lambeau Field. San Francisco hasn’t won there since 1990.

New York Giants running back Brandon Jacobs has 617 rushing yards, on pace for a career-high 1,096. But his 4.1 yards per carry is his lowest since his rookie season in 2005 when he averaged 2.6 yards.

Tennessee Titans running back LenDale White has only 59 carries for 204 yards, and only seven carries in the past two games.

The New England Patriots’ Randy Moss has 28 receptions for 524 yards and six touchdowns in his past four games.

Bullitt stopped Pats in their tracks

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:51 CST

CHAREAN WILLIAMS

Indianapolis Colts safety Melvin Bullitt wasn’t surprised Bill Belichick decided to go for it on fourth-and-2 from the New England 28 late in last Sunday night’s game. Bullitt, like Belichick, thought that was the Patriots’ best chance to win.

"But I felt like if we stopped them, we were going to win," the former Texas A&M standout said in a telephone interview. "Get our offense on the field, and we’re going to win the game. That was it."

Lost in the debate about whether Belichick was gutsy or stupid was the great defensive play Bullitt made on Patriots back Kevin Faulk, who caught the pass on the play.

"As soon as I saw the back motion out, I knew I had him man-to-man," Bullitt said. "We knew from our film study and everything that Kevin Faulk and Wes Welker are their go-to guys on third-and-short and fourth-and-short situations. Our coach told us, 'Whoever is on these two guys, you’ve got to step up and make a play.’ That’s what we did."

Faulk ran a quick turn-in, just past the first-down marker. Bullitt read the play and stopped Faulk just short of the first down as Faulk bobbled the ball. The Colts got the ball back and scored a touchdown with 13 seconds remaining to beat the Patriots 35-34.

"I kind of felt him juggle the ball," Bullitt said. "When I hit him, I knew he was short. There was no way he got the 2 yards. He couldn’t have. That’s the way I felt."

But after watching it a million times on ESPN, Bullitt admits it was closer than he thought.

"It was definitely close," said Bullitt, who made seven tackles, including five solos. "Maybe it was fourth-and-1, maybe he would have got it. But maybe I would have played him a little tighter. It was just a good play."

Belichick’s decision turned Bullitt into a star.

Scott ready for action

Last week, he was the AFC special-teams player of the week. This week, rookie Bernard Scott is the Cincinnati Bengals’ starting running back.

With Cedric Benson nursing a hip flexor injury, Scott will get the first extended playing time of his NFL career today against the Oakland Raiders. Scott has only 29 carries for 95 yards and only two receptions for 35 yards. But the former Abilene Christian player proved last week with his 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown against the Pittsburgh Steelers that he is ready for his chance.

"Without a doubt, it was frustrating [not to play much]," Scott said in a telephone interview. "You want to show everybody that you can play. You want to gain the confidence of your teammates and your coaches that you can go out there and step up. At the same time, you’ve got to stay humble and stay hungry, and when your chance does come, you’ve got to be ready to make the most of it."

In his first game as the team’s No. 1 kick returner, Scott had five returns for 206 yards. It was the third-highest single-game total in team history. His touchdown was the Bengals’ first kickoff-return score in two years.

"I realized when I got past the kicker I knew I had a shot to take it the distance," said Scott, a sixth-round pick who is averaging 37.3 yards on seven kickoff returns this season. "I was running hard, trying not to let anybody catch me from behind. I was kind of winded, because I haven’t been playing in a while. I haven’t had many game snaps."

Scott had only 16 carries for 62 yards and only one catch for 14 yards in the first eight games. He might get that many touches today, although the Bengals signed Larry Johnson to back him up, and Johnson has a history of big games against Oakland.

"I don’t know how long Ced is going to be out, but until he’s back, I’m going to step up in that role and try to make the same plays that Ced makes," Scott said. "I want them to know I can carry the load, too."

Jolly’s time

As he points out, Packers defensive lineman Johnny Jolly had only two tackles in last week’s 17-7 victory over Dallas. But that wasn’t all he did. He also batted down two Tony Romo passes and helped hold the Cowboys to 61 rushing yards.

"I was hustling and trying to get to the ball," Jolly said in a telephone interview.

Dallas Cowboys will see if offensive juice will flow again after line break

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:41 CST

By CHAREAN WILLIAMS

IRVING — They aren’t noticed until they hold. Or false start.

Or they are injured.

The Dallas Cowboys offensive line will have to make-do without right tackle Marc Colombo for a while.

Since Leonard Davis signed as a free agent before the 2007 season, the Cowboys are 21-5 when they have their five offensive line starters. They are 7-8 when one of them is missing.

Colombo had started 57 consecutive games, but he broke his left fibula in last week’s loss to the Packers and needed surgery to repair ligament damage in his left ankle. He is out at least six weeks.

In his stead, third-year veteran Doug Free will make his first career start today against the Washington Redskins.

"The continuity of guys playing together all the time certainly helps," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "Once you lose a player, or lose a player for a while, it remains to be seen how well they’ll work. Again, if they’ve been working in there, if they’ve been playing in games, I think you have a lot better chance."

The Cowboys drafted Free in the fourth round in 2007 in hopes he might one day develop into a dependable starter. After being active for only four games in his first two seasons and having played in only three games in his three seasons, Free gets his chance to prove the Cowboys right.

"You’re either performing or you’re not," said Free, who sat in front of Colombo’s locker for interviews last week. "When you come in, you’ve got to step in, and you’ve got to do as good or better than the guy before you. That’s what’s expected of you."

The Cowboys haven’t always gotten what they’ve expected out of their draft picks. Owner Jerry Jones can recite the names, acknowledging they missed on Jacob Rogers (second round, 2004), Solomon Page (second round, 1999), Stephen Peterman (third round, 2004) and James Marten (third round, 2007). Peterman, though, has made a career in Detroit. He will see his streak of 36 consecutive starts for the Lions end today after undergoing season-ending surgery on his right ankle last week.

From 1998-2008, the Cowboys drafted 17 offensive linemen, including seven in rounds two and three. Four of the seven, including Peterman and former Cardinals center Al Johnson, developed into dependable starters in the NFL.

"That just accentuates that it sometimes takes years for an offensive lineman to develop," Jones said. "… You just don’t know. The tombstones are all over the NFL."

Jones calls the offensive line the least predictable position to draft, because a lineman’s success depends on how he develops physically over time as well as how he performs as part of the five-player unit.

"Once you understand that, it is best to operate under the belief that it doesn’t matter how you acquire them," Jones said. "The key is to do whatever you have to do to put a good unit together. If you look at how successful we’ve been in mixing and matching draft picks with free agents, if you look at what we’ve done and where we have invested in our offensive line, I think we’d get a very good report card with the challenge that it is in the NFL."

Since Jones bought the team in 1989, the Cowboys have never used a first-round pick on an offensive lineman. Yet, Dallas has two first-rounders among its starting five. Colombo was the 29th overall pick of the Bears in 2002 and signed with the Cowboys as a free agent in 2005, and Davis, the right guard, was taken second overall by the Cardinals in 2001.

The Cowboys used second-round picks to find two other starters: Left tackle Flozell Adams, a second-rounder in 1998, and center Andre Gurode, a second-rounder in 2002, have eight Pro Bowls selections between them.

Only left guard Kyle Kosier, a seventh-round pick of the 49ers in 2002 who signed with the Cowboys as a free agent in 2006, was not a high draft pick.

The Cowboys’ average draft round of 2.6 for their starting offensive line is tops in the league, tied with the Baltimore Ravens.

"It is a position of strength on our football team," Jones said. "When I’ve been concerned about depth, it’s because you have to see offensive linemen develop, and if they don’t get a chance to play, which is what you want, you don’t get to see that part of it. We’re going to get a chance now to see where our depth is."

vs. Redskins Noon today, KDFW/Ch. 4

Cowboys’ loss to Green Bay makes it feel like December already

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:31 CST

DAVID THOMAS

Putting on our Sunday best ...

The way the Dallas Cowboys of America looked against the Green Bay Packers, has December come early for the Cowboys? No, but with back-to-back home games coming up against the Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders, Christmas has.

I appear to be in the minority on this, but I thought the Cowboys’ offense was very balanced against the Packers. They had equal trouble running and throwing the ball.

I’m not sure I am ready for this on Thanksgiving Day: Hearing TCU fans root for Texas A&M.

Budget-limited Rangers general manager Jon Daniels was in the MLB Free Agents store the other day and a salesperson asked if he could be of assistance. "Yeah," Daniels answered, "I’m looking for the bargain bin."

MLB commissioner Bud Selig plans to tighten up the playoff schedule next year so that teams have fewer off days, and Ollie the Optimist asked me to help spread word to all Rangers fans making their plans for next October.

Congratulations to the United Football League’s Florida Tuskers, who at 5-0 became the first professional football team since the ’07 Patriots to go through an entire regular season undefeated.

I still have not decided which was worse: Bill Belichick’s failed attempt to go for it on fourth-and-2 at his own 29, or Belichick saying he did the right thing by going for it.

Belichick, the man labeled a genius, the mastermind behind three Super Bowl championship teams in four seasons, the architect of a 16-0 regular season, now is being compared to Barry Switzer.

I was an assistant coach on a youth football team that just finished its season 0-10 and was outscored 413-6, so think of that when considering this piece of coaching advice: If you are going to go for it on fourth-and-2 at your own 29 in order to protect a lead, make sure the lead you are protecting is more than a touchdown.

Interesting that Tennessee Titans owner Bud Adams was fined $250,000 for flipping off Buffalo Bills fans last weekend, and his Titans play in Houston on Monday night. After all, it was Houston fans who taught Adams that gesture when he moved the Oilers to Tennessee.

So, if you raise your index to say, "We’re No. 1," is raising your middle finger to your opponents’ fans basically saying, "You’re not No. 1?"

After NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asked players to report teammates who show signs of a concussion, Redskins fullback Mike Sellers said players would not do that because they’re not "snitches." Someone should check Sellers for a concussion.

I would say no game today has more on the line for the combatants than the Cleveland Browns-Detroit Lions matchup of 1-8 teams already looking ahead to next year’s draft. But considering the way those teams draft, I don’t think draft position is all that important.

Today’s Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway: 267 victory laps for Jimmie Johnson.

I know this isn’t sports, but Johnny Depp being named People’s Sexiest Man Alive sure doesn’t say much for the rest of us guys, does it?

Prediction: In the Big 12 Conference postseason awards, Kansas coach Mark Mangino will not win Mr. Congeniality.

The most surprising thing to come out of the BCS creating a Facebook page is that throughout the world, at last check, the BCS has 880 fans. Never would have guessed so high.

Follow sports humor columnist David Thomas on Twitter@FansInsider.

Jeret "Speedy" Peterson aims for first medal in third Olympics

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:31 CST

By CHAREAN WILLIAMS

Jeret "Speedy" Peterson loves adrenalin.

"If it was in a can, I guarantee you I’d be drinking it right now," said Peterson, sipping on a Red Bull.

The freestyle aerials skier has a signature maneuver featuring three flips and five twists. He was the first to land the full triple full full in international competition, nicknaming the move the "Hurricane" after a coach asked him how it felt.

"It felt," Peterson told his coach, "like I was stuck in the middle of a hurricane."

That is how Peterson has lived his life, too — on the edge, even sometimes over the edge.

Peterson, as the defending World Cup champion, was the favorite to take gold at the Turin Games. After finishing a disappointing seventh in the 2006 Olympics, Peterson got into a drunken brawl outside an Italian bar. The USOC sent him home early for "irresponsible conduct."

"What I did was not right," said Peterson, who has had other brushes with the law. "... It was an unfortunate mistake. My mistakes, which I soon realized, were publicized in the media.

"... I do feel horribly about the incident, and it’s something that I have had to live with in my life, and I’ve had to learn from. I’m very excited to be able to say I did learn from that incident."

Peterson blames alcohol. He began drinking heavily, he said, after his roommate, Trey Fernald, shot and killed himself as Peterson walked through the door of their house June 25, 2005.

"It was like a switch going off, going from hanging out, partying with one of your buddies who’s your roommate one second to trying to put his eyeball back in his head the next," Peterson said. "It really, truly affected me. I will in no way use that as a crutch. I do take responsibility for my actions and what happened in Torino, but what it made me realize is that I have a lot of unresolved issues with what went on with Trey.

"Alcohol wasn’t working for me."

Peterson, 27, said he has been sober for "a couple of years." He now is the designated driver for his friends and his teammates when they go out partying.

"People feel that partying has to involve drinking, and it doesn’t," Peterson said. "I have a lot of fun going out and hanging out with people and being sober, and the best thing about it is I can drive everybody home and nobody really has to worry about a cab drive or getting in trouble with the law."

As well as repairing his image, Peterson hopes to win his first Olympic medal in Vancouver. He finished ninth in the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. In 2006, he was in third place after the first round, but after failing to land the "Hurricane" on his second jump, Peterson fell to seventh.

"I was young; I was cocky," Peterson said. "I thought I had won my gold medal before I ever jumped."

Peterson is hoping the third time is his first.

2010 Vancouver Olympics Feb. 12-28

Men’s freestyle skiing/aerials: Feb. 22 and 25 (medal event)

Online:www.vancouver2010.com

www.jeretpeterson.com

Fort Hood soldiers enjoy R&R at Army-UNT football game

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:26 CST

By JOHN AUSTIN

DENTON — Claudia Moore was drawing blood in Fort Hood’s Soldier Readiness Processing Center when the rampage began.

"I heard this popping. I’m like, 'What’s going on?’ " the 48-year-old civilian phlebotomist said, recalling the Nov. 5 shootings that left 13 dead and 30 wounded. "I heard people screaming. I didn’t get it until I saw a soldier low-crawling by me."

Moore, of Copperas Cove, got to enjoy a little R&R in Denton on Saturday when she joined 10 soldiers and civilian employees from Fort Hood at Army’s football game against the University of North Texas.

But the memories are still fresh enough to prompt Moore to call the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a name you won’t see in a family newspaper.

"I don’t think the shock has gone away," said Col. Diane Battaglia, Fort Hood command public affairs officer, "but the readiness is there."

Standing on the grass outside Fouts Field, at an enormous white tent that accommodated an estimated 1,100 West Point Society of North Texas members, Moore said that just a day before the shooting she drew blood from two of the soldiers who died.

She also said she witnessed the gunman shoot civilian police officer Kimberly Munley again after she was already wounded.

"When she got shot, she fell," Moore said. "He just looked at her and went, 'pop, pop.’ "

Spc. Michael Smith, 22, an Army medic, arrived at Fort Hood to temporarily relieve fellow soldiers after the shooting.

"You can tell they’re still on edge," said Smith, who’s stationed at Fort Gordon in Georgia.

Sgt. 1st Class Alwood Mangum, 30, won’t argue with that.

"It’s almost like a personal Sept. 11 for me," he said. "It’s one of those things that should never have happened."

Mangum had just returned from lunch when he began hearing shots.

"We were the first people there. A lot of us were medics or nurses," he said. "We were able to give a lot of aid immediately — I gave at least four IVs. "It was kind of organized chaos. You don’t think it’s real at first, but then the adrenaline kicks in and you do what you have to do."

Mangum stopped to take in the scene: old soldiers, cheerleaders and West Point cadets in gray uniforms gathering; the sound of music and the smell of grilling meat filling the air.

"I think it’s going back to normal" at Fort Hood, he said, but "it’s a nice change to get out of the area."

Texas Tech’s Mike Leach dismisses job rumors

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:09 CST

LUBBOCK — Contrary to some swirling rumors, Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said he’s not available for another job now or any time in the foreseeable future.

Reports emerged Friday that Leach or some of his representatives had talked with representatives from Louisville about becoming the Cardinals’ coach next season. However, Leach denounced the rumors after Saturday’s 41-13 win over Oklahoma and made it perfectly clear he’s not leaving the Raiders.

"I heard secondhand about that stuff and I quit going crazy about it," Leach said. "But I have no intentions but to stay here at Tech."

After some contentious negotiations, Leach signed a three-year extension with the Raiders last winter and, including this season, is under contract for five years and $12.7 million.

"I never really had any intention of going anywhere," Leach said.

Leach earned his 83rd victory at Tech on Saturday, passing Spike Dykes to become the school’s winningest football coach. He also has the Raiders bowl-eligible for the 10th straight season heading into the regular-season finale Saturday against Baylor in Arlington.

"I’m just excited about what we’ve got going here at Tech," Leach said. "Within a couple of hours, all I’m going to be focused on is Baylor.

"But I never really had any intention of going anywhere."

— Dwain Price

TCU proves it belongs in Texas’ league

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:26 CST

GIL LeBRETON

LARAMIE, Wyo. — Don’t let the final score fool you. Or you with your Harris Poll vote.

Or you, say, back in Austin.

Fourth-ranked TCU finally played one of those teams Saturday that the Texas orangebloods have been saying the Horned Frogs never play — an opponent, Wyoming, worthy enough to be on the Longhorns schedule.

Back in the second week of September, when there wasn’t a 31-degree chill in the air and six inches of snow surrounding War Memorial Stadium, the mighty Longhorns defeated the Cowboys 41-10.

Thus, the Horned Frogs’ 45-10 victory here Saturday proves that on a neutral field — maybe even at that leaky eyesore, the Cotton Bowl, that the orangebloods like so much — TCU would be a four-point favorite to humble the Longhorns.

Nonsense? Maybe. But it makes about as much sense as some of the drivel that the Frogs have been hearing during their blue-collar march to an 11-0 season.

Namely, as first-place denizens of the Mountain West Conference, they have to hear the weekly whines about how unchallenging their 2009 schedule has been.

OK, let’s see:

Texas has played Louisiana-Monroe, UTEP, Central Florida, Baylor, Colorado and the offensively challenged Wyoming Cowboys.

TCU has played, among others, Wyoming, Virginia, Colorado State, SMU, Air Force and San Diego State.

One problem with comparing the alleged soft spots on the two schedules, however, is that three of TCU’s could end up in bowl games.

When Texas coach Mack Brown talks, therefore, as he did three weeks ago, about some ranked teams not having to stand up to the same scrutiny, he is absolutely correct — that is some cakewalk schedule that most of the Big 12 has faced this season.

Nonsense? Maybe. But at least now people are starting to buy into the notion that not every good team resides in a BCS-blessed conference.

Visiting media from Colorado were among those who watched TCU smother and hog-tie the Cowboys on Saturday. Afterward, one asked TCU coach Gary Patterson a simple, "How good is your team?"

"I don’t know, but ... ," Patterson began, trying at first to sidestep the question.

He described how tough it had been to get the Frogs refocused after last week’s emotional 55-28 win over Utah.

"But they came out and did what they needed to do," Patterson said. "I don’t know ... 45-10 ... about the same score that a Texas team beat Wyoming. I think you could say in comparison that it would be very close.

"I think we could play with a lot of people."

Don’t let Saturday’s score fool you, however.

The Horned Frogs rolled up 25 first downs while holding Wyoming to 5. (Back in September, the Longhorns out-first-downed the Cowboys 27-18).

Oklahoma gets hit every which way in loss at Texas Tech

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:31 CST

MIKE JONES

LUBBOCK — Initially, Oklahoma had planned a little fundraising auction of the futuristic, throwback Nike uniforms they wore Saturday on a one-time basis.

Those plans likely are off the table. What do you think you could get for a set after the Sooners’ absorbed an embarrassing 41-13 loss to Texas Tech while wearing them — a buck ninety-five?

Better to burn ’em after the Red Raiders scorched the Sooners on a crisp, sunny afternoon in which about 10,000 fans apparently found something better to do.

If they stayed away because they put too much stock in Tech’s struggle two weeks ago to defeat an unraveling team from Kansas or were expecting a repeat of the Sooners’ 65-21 victory last season, they obviously have not been paying attention to OU’s 6-5 season, which now officially has a burnt smell about it with the most regular-season losses in Bob Stoops’ 11 seasons.

"Very disappointing coming into a game like this, playing like we played against them last year, knowing they were on a mission and coming into their house — they just beat us," defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said. "[We] just got dominated.

"No excuse. No certain fit we didn’t make. No certain call we didn’t make. Just got beat. All that happened."

On an afternoon in which the Sooners lost center Ben Habern to a broken fibula and won’t know for a few days about two others — defensive tackle Adrian Taylor and linebacker Ryan Reynolds — the hardest thing to explain about the worst loss since falling 45-12 to Texas in 2005 was the way the defense suddenly went belly up.

"The first time all season the defense has looked that way," coach Bob Stoops said.

The Red Raiders rolled up 549 yards of total offense — almost 200 more than any team against OU this season. Tech hit the Sooners over the middle, hit ’em deep and shockingly gouged them up front for 187 yards rushing.

"When they run the football like that, they have you on your heels," Stoops explained. "And they’re not a team you can play on your heels."

Tech put the Sooners (6-5, 4-3 Big 12) on their backs early in the second half.

OU’s promising half-opening drive fizzled after Ryan Broyles’ two catches for 35 yards, when quarterback Landry Jones — with nowhere to throw — recovered his own fumble after being sacked for an 11-yard loss on third-and-6 at Tech’s 41.

OU failed to convert 10 of 13 third downs.

"We didn’t play well. I didn’t play well," Jones said in a right-on assessment.

But the killer came after the punt, when Tech mounted a 91-yard scoring march that took only six plays. The Raiders led 24-6. Good night, nurse.

"Doesn’t give you a lot of confidence after that," Stoops confessed.

"I don’t know if we came apart or not," defensive end Jeremy Beal said. "We just didn’t come prepared to play."

The puzzling thing is that despite Tech’s offensive success against almost any and all during Mike Leach’s tenure is that with few exceptions, Oklahoma has refused to follow the trend by locking up the Raiders more often than not in 12 of 16 games.

Defensive coordinator Brent Venables has masterminded most of those performances. His postgame explanation of what happened Saturday was punctuated by head-shaking perplexity.

"Didn’t play with the sense of purpose like we have all year," Venables said. "Didn’t coach or play like we have all year. Didn’t show the kind of fight and toughness that is the staple of who we are.