Cavalier Corner Digital

✦ TOP STORYLINES: NOTRE DAME VS. OKLAHOMA Tech last season and now Kansas State in 2012. There's usually a first for everything, and this year the Irish will attempt to give Stoops his first two-loss campaign at home. OH, BROTHER One identity of Bob Stoops' Oklahoma teams usually has been stellar defensive play. Stoops was the defensive coordinator of Steve Spurrier's 1996 national champi- onship team at the University of Florida, and the background helped him land the Oklahoma job in 1999 despite lacking previous head coaching experience. Stoops' younger brother Mike served as the team's defensive coordinator in his first five seasons with the Sooners. During their second season together in 2000, Oklahoma won the national title by defeating Florida State 13-2 in the BCS title game while finishing in the top 10 in almost every defensive category. Mike Stoops landed the head coach- ing job at Arizona in 2004, but was fired during the 2011 season with a 41-50 ca- reer record. Meanwhile, the Oklahoma defense was struggling a second straight season, imploding in losses to Texas Tech (41-38), Baylor (45-38) and Oklahoma State (44-10). The time was ideal for a reunion be- tween the Stoops brothers. Mike was re- hired by Bob to co-coordinate the defense with Brent Venables — who then took the defensive coordinator position at Clemson. This year's Oklahoma defense has been gradually improving each week, and it dominated in the 63-21 wipeout of Texas Oct. 13, holding the Longhorns to 14 total yards of offense in the first quarter and two first downs in the first half before yielding a couple of late scores in the contest. Senior defensive tackle Jamarkus McFarland and the improving Oklahoma defense limited Texas to 14 total yards of offense in the first quarter and two first downs in the first half before yielding a couple of late scores in a 63-21 victory Oct. 13. PHOTO COURTESY OKLAHOMA The Sooners are yielding only 6.0 points in the first half and 8.3 points in the sec- ond stanza. If Notre Dame is to emerge victorious at Oklahoma, either the Irish defense or special teams (if not both) might need to score a touchdown — or set up short drives for the offense — to aid an attack that scored 20 or fewer points in five of its first seven games. DOUBLING UP AT QUARTERBACK Notre Dame has functioned inconsis- tently this season with either sophomore Everett Golson or junior Tommy Rees at quarterback, but was efficient enough to remain unbeaten through seven games. In Norman, Rees' experience might be called on again in a hostile atmosphere — although Golson comported himself well in his first true road test at Michigan State Sept. 15. If Rees doesn't have to make an ap- pearance in this outing, that would be a promising sign for Notre Dame. Oklahoma also has been functioning with two quarterbacks in separate roles. Fifth-year senior Landry Jones has passed for 14,023 yards and 105 touchdown tosses — one of seven players in NCAA ✦ PAGE 10 history to have 100 TD passes and 14,000 passing yards in his career. The base of Notre Dame's defensive scheme is to not expose its green second- ary too much by dropping more people into coverage. Against Landry, just drop- ping back into coverage might not be enough. "It doesn't mean we're going to blitz every guy when we get off the bus, but there's certainly going to be a way we're going to have to disrupt his timing a little bit," Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly said. "Hopefully we can do it by putting him in some predictable passing situations. "If he gets on a roll and sets his feet ev- ery play, you're in for a long day." Meanwhile, 6-6, 254-pound redshirt sophomore Blake Bell has taken on a Tim Tebow-like role as Oklahoma's short- yardage specialist in the red zone. Of "The Belldozer's" 31 carries in the first six games, eight resulted in touchdowns. Last year as a freshman, Bell scored 13 touchdowns in just seven games. Notre Dame is the only team in the Football Bowl Subdivision this season to not allow a rushing touchdown. Dating back to last season, it has gone an extraor- dinary 38 straight quarters without permit- ting a TD on the ground, but Kelly said it might take something special to keep that streak alive this weekend. Oklahoma is No. 1 in the nation in red zone scoring percentage (.970), tallying on 32 of its 33 attempts, with 25 of them touchdowns. "If it's first-and-goal from the 5, we're going to have a hard time keeping them out of the end zone," Kelly conceded. "I told our defensive coaches this: If Bell's on the field, we're going to have to do something really extraordinary, because he's a tough guy to stop." ✦

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