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Tale of the tape

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Tale Of The Tape: #7 Oklahoma At UTEP

#7 Oklahoma

UTEP

“Big Game” Bob Stoops has gotten some of his mojo back, winning his last three bowl games, one of them the 2010 Fiesta Bowl.	Coaching	Mike Price has been at UTEP since 2004, and the results have been mixed. After consecutive 8-4 seasons to start his tenure, Price hasn’t had a winning record since.
Landry Jones is a Heisman contender despite losing some of his favorite targets. He still has Kenny Stills, who caught eight touchdowns last season.	Offense	The injury-prone Nick Lamaison will have to stay healthy if the Miners’ offense is to succeed. Against a hungry Oklahoma defense, though, even that won’t be enough.
Mike Stoops, the head coach’s younger brother, is back as the defensive coordinator in Norman after a rocky eight-year tenure as Arizona’s head coach. That is good news for a unit that was torched against the elite Big 12 offenses last year.	Defense	The UTEP defense ranked 104th last season and a matchup with Oklahoma spells disaster.
The Sooners are solid in all phases of the kicking game, returning a placekicker who hit 21 of 24 field goals last year.	Special Teams	UTEP’s kicking game was suspect last year and will need to improve. The kicking battle is still up for grabs.

The winner is

#7 Oklahoma

4 out of 4

Good for UTEP for getting Oklahoma to come to town (and good for OU for agreeing), but the home fans won’t have much to cheer about. Jones should put up big numbers in a rout.

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