Bradford Will Not Start Against Miami

Injured quarterback Sam Bradford has been splitting first-team snaps with Landry Jones in anticipation for this week’s showdown with Miami. This from ESPN’s Joe Schad:

It seems as if Stoops won’t make the final decision on whether his Heisman Trophy winning quarterback will start until Thursday, or possibly Friday.

Per Bob Stoops, via the Norman Transcript:

Monday was a step, but the rest of the week will determine how fast he returns. Linemen said they were happy “just to hear his voice,” and small children sang songs of joy on the sideline as he threw. He’s popular, just so you know.

As for whether Bradford will play this Saturday against the Miami Hurricanes, Stoops remained mum, saying only that his star quarterback is “progressing,” but refusing to elaborate on his chances of playing this weekend.

Yeah, that’s not good:

James Andrews is the renowned surgeon known for pioneering arthroscopic surgery, specializing the “Tommy John” surgery for pitchers’ elbows in baseball, and is someone athletes generally see when something drastically wrong has happened to them.There’s very little information besides that, but Bradford consulting the same guy who worked on Drew Brees shattered shoulder in 2005 is not good news for an immediate and full return this season.

Sam Bradford resumed short throwing in practice. Don’t get too excited about it, per Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.

If you’re into reading tea leaves and other acts of fortune-telling, we think what Wilson said is that Bradford is still throwing gingerly, and is deciding how much pain he can play with while still remaining effective. Or he just said nothing at all in an effort to confuse reporters. Either one is entirely plausible, because that is one of the things coaches are paid to do: confuse reporters (which is not all that difficult.)

Video of Bradford’s injury has on emerged on the YouTube, and Yahoo! Sports’ Matt Hinton (nee Dr. Saturday) pairs it with some analysis:

Read the rest of his analysis here and panic! as he explains that BYU (along with Thursday’s big winners, Boise State) is now officially a “BCS buster”--meaning we will either have to endure a. an inferior team playing in the title game and getting slaughtered by a Florida-like team or, more likely, b. a bunch of fans bemoaning the status quo in college football and pointing to a team like BYU as an example of why college football is rigged.

ESPN’s Tim Griffin has quick takes from the game, and says that the chances of the Sooners winning a title -- conference or national -- look slim:

In the first MAJOR upset of the college football season, #20 BYU knocked out Heisman Trophy Winner Sam Bradford and knocked off the third-ranked Sooners in Dallas. After a late BYU touchdown drive capped by a 7-yard Max Hall touchdown pass, backup Landry Jones drove the Sooners 23 yards to give them a chance for a 54-yard field goal. Freshman kicker Tress Way was not quite up to task though and the attempt came up a few yards short.

Oklahoma now has what you might call an uphill battle to have any chance at the BCS Championship Game. BYU’s BCS hopes, on the other hand, are very much alive as they are sure to move way up in the rankings.

According to Joe Schad of ESPN, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford has a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder. What does that mean? It depends on the severity of the sprain, which could range anywhere from lingering pain in his shoulder for 3-6 weeks, or could require surgery.

In case you weren’t aware, tonight’s matchup takes place in the new Dallas Cowboys stadium. If nothing else, that means the kicking game should be exciting!

From the Oklahoman:

If Oklahoma punter Tress Way, or BYU’s punter, bounces the punt off the board Saturday, the play will be replayed, which will be the rule in the NFL this season.

Still, unlike the grumpy old men in the NFL, the players and coaches seem to be excited about the prospect of playing beneath Jerry’s behemoth video screen.

At No. 20, BYU is no slouch, but the Salt Lake Tribune’s Jay Drew thinks the 2009 Sooners might just be a competitive zenith for the Cougars:

Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops confirmed on Wednesday that Jermaine Gresham will miss Saturday’s opener against BYU with a knee injury.

The length of time Gresham is sidelined will depend on the extent of the tear and whether team doctors treat the injury with rest and rehabilitation or surgery. Injury expert Will Caroll of Baseball Prospectus told Texas blog Burnt Orange Nation that Gresham’s injury is fairly common and that the senior tight end could plausibly be back on the field as soon as two weeks from now.

KTUL News 8 in Tulsa is reporting that sources close to the team are downplaying the severity of the injury suffered by star tight end Jermaine Gresham:

Sooner fans are hoping the wave of online panic turns out to be as misplaced with Gresham as it was yesterday with Oklahoma State quarterback Zac Robinson.

Tulsa World hedges on the injury (they’re working on confirming it, natch) but does speculate on what a hypothetical Gresham-less Sooners team would look like, especially on the offensive line.

And don’t forget the effect this would have down OU’s offensive line. The Sooners were comfortable moving tight end Brody Eldridge to center, pending the play of the tight ends who remained. Would Gresham’s loss signal Eldridge’s return to tight end? Would that make Ben Habern the starting center?The Sooners replace four of five starters on the offensive line this year, so this would only deepen the potential confusion on the line in addition to taking away Bradford’s go-to receiver. From my perspective, it’s not the BYU game where any prolonged absence of Gresham from the lineup would show, but rather in the game against Miami in South Florida on October 3rd, where an improved Miami defensive line could wreak havoc on Bradford if the line isn’t solidified by then.