MIAMI - Oklahoma senior center Jon Cooper chuckles and agrees it's usually a good sign when the offensive linemen aren't in the spotlight. Cooper's content not to deal with "100 cameras" and is happy to take the occasional slap on the back or get a free dinner.
So when Texas held Oklahoma to 48 rushing yards on 26 attempts in the Sooners' 45-35 loss on Oct. 11 and the linemen took much of the heat for not opening up holes, it got ugly. The Oklahoma offensive line entered the season as one of the highest-rated lines in the country, and now for the first time in quite a while, they were dealing with criticisms.
"It wasn't very fun," Cooper said of what offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson was like that following week in practice. "He said a lot of words I can't repeat."
Instead, it was the fans and media who used words that were repeated.
"Those guys (on the offensive line) were fed up," junior running back Chris Brown said. "(Critics) were saying we can't run the ball. We wanted to make a statement."
That statement now has several exclamation points at the end. Ever since their loss to Texas, the Sooners' only misstep of the season, Oklahoma has had at least 187 rushing yards every game and has eclipsed the 200 yard mark regularly.
"You just have to make your mind up. We're going to run the football," senior right guard Brandon Walker said. "You have to have that attitude that we're going to run the football no matter how many people you have in the box."
Walker and Cooper said the line lacked physicality in the Texas game and, after having the run game shut down early, they couldn't get it going again, as the Sooners relied only on their passing game.
Sometimes, even the top students in their class need to fail a test to realize they need to work harder.
"It did kind of put our head on straight and gave us the reality that we're not unstoppable," Cooper said. "As an offensive line, we came together and said, if we're going to be here in Miami in January, we have to be able to run the football."
They have succeeded in that goal, as their top two running backs (Brown and DeMarco Murray, who will miss the game with a left hamstring injury) have eclipsed 1,000 yards each.
"We like to get physical," Walker said. "Pass blocking, sometimes you sit back there and get kind of soft. When we start running the ball, we get to go downhill. That's when the game starts getting fun."
Walker added that the Sooners better keep this going for one more game.
"This game will be won by their defensive front or our offensive front and their offensive front and our defensive front," Walker said. "That's what this game is going to come down to."
