The Daily Oklahoman from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma • 16

2B SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 2014 SPORTS THE OKLAHOMAN NEWS0K.COM OU DEPTH CHART K-State's road route for the title heads to TCU Sometimes, luck helps. Like when Kansas State won in Norman last month, and one of the nation's most reliable kickers missed two chip-shot field goals and had an extra point blocked. Sometimes, luck hurts. Like when Kansas State fields a great team and has to play on the road against the other four quality teams in the Big 12. The Wildcats won at OU, but they still have to play at West Virginia, at Baylor and, Saturday in Fort Worth, at TCU in the Big 12's so-far game of the year.

"We're clicking on all cylinders," flanker Tyler Lockett said. "But we understand we have a crazy road schedule coming up playing some great teams. Are we up to the challenge? I think we are." The TCU-KSU game matches teams with prolific offenses. In its first two years in the Big 12, the Frogs were among the league's worst offenses. But new assistant coaches Sonny Cumbie and Doug Meacham have transformed Trevone Boykin into the Big 12's most productive quarterback.

And while KSU always has been efficient on offense under Bill Snyder, the Wildcats are ridiculously so this year. "This last month is definitely going to be exciting," said K-State quarterback Jake Waters. "But we just have to focus on what we do and execute the way we know we can and see what happens." The Wildcats won in Norman, and even winning in Fort Worth doesn't guarantee anything. Not with trips to Morgantown and Waco awaiting. "We've done it in one of the hardest places to play already," Waters said.

"That give us confidence going forward that no matter the situation, we can make the big plays." OU's Charles Tapper leaves the field after getting ejected during last year's loss to Baylor in Waco, Texas. photo by bryan terry the oklahoman WHAT IT'S LIKE 9 Trevor Knight So. 6-1 201 OR 14 Cody Thomas RFr. 6-4 211 4 Justice Hansen Fr. 6-3 204 28 Alex Ross or So.

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Jordan Jr. 5-11 205 6 Andrew Frerking Sr. 6-4 200 36 Spencer Roth Sr. 6-5 220 worry about dominating the man in front of me." Tapper also learned another valuable lesson from the incident don't throw punches at the head of a guy wearing a football helmet. "That was probably the worst thing I could ever do," Tapper said.

"It wasn't the smartest. I came back to practice and my knuckles were all bruised up. That'll never happen again. Bad decision. Horrible decision." BY RYAN ABER NORMAN Oklahoma defensive end Charles Tapper wasn't around to see the end of last season's 41-12 Baylor rout of the Sooners.

Tapper lost his cool on the Bears' final extra point of the game in Waco, Texas. A Baylor lineman hit Tapper on the facemask, and Tapper responded with a punch. He was flagged for unnecessary roughness, ejected and suspended for the first half of the next game. Going into this year's game against the Bears, Tapper says he learned a lot from that experience. "You always learn from your bad mistakes," Tapper said.

"I know this game. I've gotta keep my composure but still come out with a lot of fire. I got my composure back. I know I'm gonna stay calm. "Those guys are probably gonna come out there and try some little tick-tack things to try to get under my skin, but I know I've gotta stay focused and Vincent Testaverde Texas Tech quarterback BIG 12 QUARTERBACK: Defense Vinny Testaverde carved up the Oklahoma defense in memorable showdowns with Miami in 1985 and 1986.

Next week, the Sooners could exact their revenge. Texas Tech might be starting true freshman Vincent Testaverde, the son of the 21-year NFL veteran. The younger Testaverde, a non-scholarship player from Tampa, took over last week after freshman Patrick Mahomes was injured. Mahomes had started in place of Davis Webb. Testaverde completed 15 of 26 passes for 116 yards in a 34-13 loss to Texas.

"I was proud of the way he handled himself" Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. "That's not easy to come into that situation." The younger Testaverde is not nearly as big as his dad. Vincent Testaverde is 6-foot-l, 187 pounds and played just two years of high school football. He hooked up with Tech because of his dad's relationship with Kingsbury; they were teammates on the 2005 New York Jets. BIG 12 UPSET: that up-tempo offense, you really don't have much time," said senior corner -back Julian Wilson.

"Just knowing our assignments and getting the call communicated to everybody that's the biggest thing. We don't want to beat ourselves. We need to make sure everybody's on the same page." Stoops also made a point to say that his unit is still relatively young and inexperienced, traits that might get the Sooners in trouble against Baylor. "The biggest thing is maturity," Stoops said. "We may seem like we're an old team, but we're not.

We're not a very old football team when you really look at us. There's not a lot of guys that have played a bunch of football. "There's alot of second-year players when you look at most of them. It's not a group that has a ton of maturity because they've played a lot of football." den and Griffin watched film of the OU win, and the former Baylor quarterback described how his team's tempo confused and wore down the Sooners. Mike Stoops returned to take over the OU defense after that season, and made "simplifying" things a cornerstone of his plan.

Over the past couple seasons, Stoops has made some radical changes to the Sooners' defensive scheme, installing a three-man front and using more pressure to force opposing quarterbacks into mistakes. That has worked some this year, but it's also resulted in Oklahoma giving up big plays. In five Big games this year, the Sooners have allowed 17 plays of 25 yards or more. Baylor's offense, in the same number of conference games this season, has gained 25 or more yards on a single play 23 times. "With Baylor, they get FROM PAGE IB of the game and communicate and play the way they're capable of playing." Oklahoma has never lost to Baylor in Norman heck, the Bears haven't won a road game against a ranked team since 1991 but the Sooners know from experience that communication issues can become exacerbated against an offense like Baylor's and result in historic outcomes.

Three years ago, Baylor quarterback Robert Griffin III torched the Sooner defense in Waco, leading to the Bears' first-ever win in the series. Several months later, as Griffin was preparing for the NFL Draft, he appeared on ESPN's "Jon Gruden's QB Camp." Gru- Tramel When Kansas' offense takes the field Saturday against Iowa State, it will be counter class. The resistible force against the movable object. KU has a horrid offensive efficiency something less than a point per possession. Meanwhile, Iowa State's defense isn't any better.

The Cyclones are giving up more than three points per possession. ISU's offense and KU's defense have some degree of normalcy. Cyclone quarterback Sam B. Richardson has had his moments ISU scored 45 points on Texas and scared the daylights out of Kansas State and the Jayhawks have played decent defense, especially under interim head coach Clint Bowen. But whew.

That Kansas offense and Iowa State defense are historically bad. The Jayhawks are worse than last year, when they finished last in offense, and Iowa State is not only worse on defense than any Big 12 team from a year ago, they are way worse. KU finished with a defensive efficiency rating of .366 last season. The lower the better. Iowa State is at .435.

Anything can happen with that level of play. So let's go with anything. Iowa State is a 3V2-point favorite, but take Kansas in the upset. BIG 12 LIST: mJS 1 why. Knight is a better thrower than runner.

Knight's accuracy has been a major concern 55 percent through six games this season but the last two games he's completed 71.6 percent and thrown for six touchdowns. The Knight concern has shifted to decision -making. He's thrown three interceptions total the last two games, all on throws that shouldn't have been launched. That must change. But Knight clearly is getting better with his arm.

And how did we abandon the Alabama model so quickly? Knight in the Sugar Bowl ran virtually none, yet took down the Crimson Tide with a passing game for the ages 32 of 44, 348 yards, four touchdowns. OU has to have good quarter -backing to win. OU has to have great quarterbacking to win big. That's life in the Big u. But for Trevor Knight, great quarterbacking is reached via air mail, not the Pony Express.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at He can be heard Monday through Friday from p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including You can also view his personality page at newsok.comberrytramel. FROM PAGE IB Just don't proclaim Knight a running quarterback. Manziel was a running quarterback. "He turned a 20-yarder into a 50-yarder, and avoided hits because of it," Stoops said.

"That's something that isn't innate to Trevor. "But I do believe, in his defense, the more he's able to be in those situations, I think he'll become more adept at it. I do believe that. But will he ever be the true guy that's going to no, he's not going to make a bunch of people miss him." Therein lies the secret of why the Sooners have gone whole games with very little commitment to running Knight. If the defense is going to give it to you and Iowa State gave with uncommon generosity then you take it.

Otherwise, running Knight is a minor twist at best. That's why OU's short-yardage game has been sporadic. Knight isn't effective running in traffic, even when little is needed for a first down. Remember the third-and-2 OU's Trevor Knight celebrates a touchdown during last week's win over Iowa State. PHOTO BY BRYAN TERRY, THE OKLAHOMAN Kansas State at TCU, 6:30 p.m., Fox: The Color Purple Bowl.

Maybe Alice Walker and Steven Spielberg will toss the coin for what's a de facto Big 12 championship game. 2. Baylor at Oklahoma, 11 a.m., Fox Sports 1: The Bears never have won in Norman. Of course, they'd never beaten the Big Red anywhere until Robert Griffin came along. 3.

West Virginia at Texas, 2:30 p.m., Fox Sports I The last time the Mountaineers went to Austin, they escaped 48-45. 4. Iowa State at Kansas, 2:30 p.m., Fox Sports Net: The Baylor-Kansas game of this era. at TCU, with the game on the line? Knight swept left and went down easily. But that doesn't mean the OU offense is wounded.

Recall the preseason, when Knight kept telling us he wanted to be known as a thrower, not a runner? Now we know.