Oklahoma: Cleaning Up the Record

As an announcer, I hate screwing up facts on a broadcast. So I'm going to use this space to make some corrections to mistakes I made during Saturday night's broadcast from Oklahoma.

First of all, I need to apologize to freshman long snapper Clint Brock, who was suffering from a minor injury and did not play Saturday night. The Bengals had some bad snaps from back-up snapper Daniel Urias, and I didn't notice that it was not Brock on the field. That's a big mistake on my part, and I apologize for not confirming who the long-snapper was. And I'm not being critical of Urias -- he stepped up in the spring and took over the long-snapping job because the Bengals basically didn't have anybody else available. Then, to ask him to take the job back over under lousy conditions (it rained all day and night in Norman) without much preparation, well, it was a tough job.

Secondly, I don't know where my math went wrong (but somewhere there are a couple of nuns who used to teach at SS Peter & Paul elementary who are nodding at each other knowingly), but I proclaimed on the air that JD Ponciano broke the ISU record for most kick-off return yards during the game with the Sooners. Actually, he still needs 66 more yards (is that right, Frank? -- please check my subtraction!), and hopefully those will come against Weber State Saturday night in Ogden. No matter, "Ponce" did a great job Saturday night, picking up 104 all-purpose yards and doing such a good job in the return game that the Sooners stopped kicking to him. That's a big compliment.

Finally, I offer my last word on the issue of scheduling. As I noted last week, the worst part about playing Arizona State and Oklahoma back-to-back is that it makes it nearly impossible to run a good deal of your offense, and it makes it very difficult to tell where you stand on that side of the football. Nothing that happened Saturday night would change that perspective. But I would point out that the Bengal players seemed to really enjoy the "Oklahoma experience" (see the photo above of them taking pictures prior to their walk-through on Friday), and I find a lot of the message board chatter about "prostituting the players" to be ridiculous. The Bengals played a very physical brand of football against both ASU and the Sooners, and from that perspective, I thought they competed well. The edge in speed and quickness was the real difference I saw in both games, but none of the Bengal players I talked with during the trip felt embarrassed or used.

Join Jerry and I on the coach's show tonight (Monday night at 6 p.m. on KSEI, AM-930) to get an update on Isaiah Burel's condition, what happens to the quarterback situation with Russell Hill's injury, and how the Bengals plan to stop their tormentor, Trevyn Smith on Saturday.

--Brad B.

And thanks for being a Bengal fan -- it ain't always easy, but it's always fun.

Quick Notes from the Coaches Show

Here are some tidbits from tonight's coaches' show with Bengal football Coach John Zamberlin:

Defensive back Kenny Viser (left), who transferred to ISU in the spring from Nevada, is academicaly ineligible. Defensive back Kelvin Miller and linebacker Jeremy Gibson are appealing grades and may not be eligible. Bengal fans have noted all three of these players have been seeing only sporadic reps during fall camp -- that's because the coaching staff couldn't count on having them available.

Zamberlin said he expects the following freshmen to have a chance to play this year: slot receiver Andrew Benavides, offensive lineman Mark Clampitt, defensive linemen Minh Williams and Isaiah Walker, defensive back Cameron Gupton, and running back/safety Darrius Coleman. He expects running back Skyler Morgan to redshirt unless he's needed in an emergency.

Safety Amir Owens is trying to come back from off-season knee surgery, and Zamberlin is uncertain if he'll travel to Arizona State for the Bengal opener Saturday night. Running back Jordan Scott has been hobbled by a bruised heel and is also questionable for ASU. Tight end Tyler Hjelseth has been idled by a torn quad muscle and probably won't play for awhile.

The coach told how he "recruited" new long-snapper Clint Brock to the squad. The coaches were approached by Brock's girlfriend, a member of the ISU volleyball squad. Brock happened to be visiting her on campus at the time. The coaches looked at film and watched him snap, liked what they saw, and two days later he became a Bengal. Zamberlin is very high on Brock's snapping abilities, and he'll be the long-snapper on Saturday night. He can also play tight end, but he'll be focusing on firing a football between his legs for now.

The Missing Link

The Arizona Republic points out that former Bengal quarterback Dirk Koetter is the "missing link" to this week's ASU-Idaho State game. The deal for the game was signed when Koetter was still ASU's head coach. Koetter, of course, is now the offensive coordinator for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

--Brad B.

And thanks for being a Bengal fan -- it ain't always easy, but it's always fun.