There is nothing new about Bob Stoops matching coaching wits with old mentor and boss Bill Snyder. They've done plenty of that over the years in Big 12 cross-divisional play.
But that doesn't mean Stoops isn't a little surprised to see Snyder, 70, back on the Wildcats sideline. The longtime Kansas State coach retired four years ago to pursue opportunities outside coaching, but was lured out of retirement last winter.
Stoops, whose 22nd-ranked Sooners host the Wildcats on Saturday, admits it's a little unexpected to be going up against his old boss again, but he was stunned when Snyder was no longer there, too.
When asked to explain what he would like to see from his team, first-year Browns head coach Eric Mangini offered this: "Aggressive, intense, tough, physical, finishing ... consistency, execution (editor's note: I'm in favor of it!), communication ... good, solid, sound, fundamental, tough football. Physical football. Intense football. That's what I want every week."
He made these comments shortly after the Browns lost their sixth game in seven tries, this one a steady-as-she-goes 31-3 defeat to the Packers. Last month, after an 0-3 start, fans started an online petition begging owner Randy Lerner to sell the team. Nothing came of it, so the sights have been set a little lower: fire Mangini. This time the Akron Beacon Journal's Patrick McManamon is leading the charge.
Whether or not Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford returns to the Sooners this season, or if he has indeed played his last college game, seems to be anybody's guess.
DALLAS -- The play and the driving hit on a blitz from a Texas cornerback that left Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford squirming on the ground seemed eerily familiar Saturday afternoon at the Cotton Bowl.
Just a week after Bradford returned from a four-week rehab stint after suffering a third-degree AC joint sprain in his right throwing shoulder, he re-injured that same shoulder again early in the first quarter and did not return during the 20th-ranked Sooners' 16-13 loss to No.3 Texas in the annual Red River Rivalry.
DALLAS -- Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford's emotions were sprawled all over the place on the night of Sept. 5 as uncertainty about his injured shoulder weighed on him, when a text message of inspiration popped onto his cell phone.
"I'm praying for you and I hope you can get back as soon as possible."
It's not like Texas and Oklahoma ever needed a reason to make their annual Red River Rivalry game in Dallas any more intense.
The tradition of the two programs, the bordering states and the fight for superiority in fertile recruiting ground of Texas use to be enough. Who knew this early season game would take on so much more meaning when both teams joined the Big 12 in 1996?
This game has become about so much more than school pride and bragging rights, as one of these two teams has won the South each of the last 10 years, and it has sometimes set the stage for the national championship picture.
We all knew the Kansas Jayhawks offense had a chance to be lethal this season with quarterback Todd Reesing and wide receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier setting the pace.
Well, the trio took it to a ridiculous level Saturday as the receivers bested each other during the Jayhawks' 41-31 win over Iowa State. First Briscoe set the school record for career receptions, then Meier jumped ahead of him. Meier, a converted quarterback, has 167 career catches while Briscoe sits at 165 after making 12 catches for 186 yards and two touchdowns Saturday.
Sam Bradford at times looked a little rusty, and he and his receivers seemed out of synch, but the Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback returned after a nearly one-month layoff to lead the 19th-ranked Oklahoma Sooners to a 33-7 win over Baylor on Saturday in Norman, Okla.
Bradford, who had missed three games after spraining the AC joint in his (right) throwing shoulder in the first half of the season opener, passed for 389 yards and a touchdown in a relatively easy Big 12 opener. The real test comes next Saturday when the Sooners take on No. 2 Texas in the annual Red River Rivalry in Dallas.
"It's extremely gratifying just to get back out on the field," Bradford said. "Just to be out there with the guys that I have put in so much work with in the offseason and just the simple things like handoffs. Everything out there, it's just exciting to be back."
After two weeks of will he or won't he, Oklahoma announced Friday that Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford will return to the lineup for Saturday's Big 12 opener against Baylor.
Bradford, a junior, has missed the Sooners' (2-2) last three games and has been sidelined since the end of the first half of their season-opening loss to BYU (Sept. 5) with a sprained A-C Joint in his right throwing shoulder. There had been some speculation Bradford might return last week for the Miami game when he started throwing with the team for the first time, but it was determined the shoulder wasn't quite ready.
Miami coach Randy Shannon has said all week that it doesn't matter which Oklahoma quarterback starts against the Hurricanes on Saturday because they are both dropback passers. Of course, that was settled Thursday, when Sooners coach Bob Stoops announced Jones would make his third consecutive start in place of the recovering Bradford. Truthfully, that might be the least of UM's concerns.
The Hurricanes' showdown with No. 8 Oklahoma at Land Shark Stadium represents their fourth consecutive game against a ranked opponent. No team in ACC history has opened its season with four games against nationally ranked teams.
There is nothing new about Bob Stoops matching coaching wits with old mentor and boss Bill Snyder. They've done plenty of that over the years in Big 12 cross-divisional play.
When asked to explain what he would like to see from his team, first-year Browns head coach 
It's not like Texas and Oklahoma ever needed a reason to make their annual 
We all knew the Kansas Jayhawks offense had a chance to be lethal this season with quarterback 
Sam Bradford
After two weeks of will he or won't he, Oklahoma announced Friday that Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback 
MIAMI -- Heisman Trophy winner 
