WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 24, 2005
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3B
BIG 12 FOOTBALL
amand provinal mitia.
Preseason poll, QB loss doesn't faze Sooners
Oklahoma picked to finish second behind Texas
BY DANIEL BERK
dberk@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SWIPER WRITTER
SCHEDULE
Date Opponent Location Time
09/03/2005 TCU Norman 11 a.m.
09/10/2005 Tulsa Norman 11:30 a.m.
09/17/2005 UCLA at Pasadena, Calif. 2:30 p.m.
10/01/2005 Kansas State Norman TBA
10/08/2005 Texas at Dallas noon
10/15/2005 Kansas at Kansas City, Mo. TBA
10/22/2005 Baylor Norman TBA
10/29/2005 Nebraska at Lincoln, Neb. TBA
11/12/2005 Texas A&M Norman TBA
11/19/2005 Texas Tech at Lubbock, Texas TBA
11/26/2005 Oklahoma State Norman TBA
Source: www.soonersports.com
Editor's Note: This is the fifth of 11 articles previewing Kansas' competition in the Big 12 Conference. The articles will run every day from now until Sept. 1. Tomorrow the Kansan will look at Texas.
Adrian Peterson, then Oklahoma freshman running back, attempts to break free from Ronnie Amadi, then junior cornerback, in Norman, Okla., last October. The Jayhawks will battle Oklahoma this season Oct. 15 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.
This year the Sooners were picked second, behind the Texas Longhorns.
For the first time since 2000, perennial favorite Oklahoma wasn't picked to win the Big 12 conference in the media's annual preseason poll.
Kansan file photo
Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops isn't a fan of preseason polls and said he didn't think they meant a lot once the season started. Stoops also remembers that in 2000, when Oklahoma was picked second, the Sooners went on to win a national championship and haven't won one since.
"It doesn't really matter to me whether we are picked favorites or not," Stoops said. "I say it a lot, or every year, as long as they are going to let us play, it doesn't much matter. I feel great that we have an opportunity to be in there with anybody."
If Oklahoma contends for a national championship this season, it will need another standout season from sophomore running back Adrian Peterson.
Peterson finished second, the best finish ever by a freshman, in the Heisman Trophy balloting. He ran for 1,925 yards last season and had 15 touchdowns en route to becoming the first freshman in
Oklahoma history to be named All-American.
There is more pressure on Peterson this year, because starting quarterback Jason White was lost to graduation. Stoops said to be successful this year, Oklahoma will need a balanced offensive attack, as in years past.
"We are not going to sit there and run him 40 times a game," Stoops said. "We are going to do our best to have the kind of balance we have had."
Stoops hasn't decided who will
Stoops said he would like to involve Peterson more in the passing game because he only caught five passes last year for 12 yards.
be throwing the passes to Peterson, as he has yet to announce the starting quarterback.
Junior Paul Thompson, sophomore Tommy Grady and freshman Rhett Bomar are battling to win the starting job.
Stoops said he was pleased with all three candidates so far and liked the athletic ability that all three possess.
With an inexperienced quarterback, it will be important for other offensive players to assume a leadership role this year.
Travis Wilson, senior wide receiver, will be one of the players expected to lead the offense. Wilson had a breakout year last season and caught
50 passes for 660 yards and 11 touchdowns. Wilson said he would be a leader, but whoever emerges as the starting quarterback would know what he had to do.
"They know what needs to be done," Wilson said. "They will be able to handle it their own way. I throw in my two cents now and then and try to help our team out."
On defense, the Sooners will be led by Dusty Dvoracek, senior defensive tackle. Dvoracek started the first two games last season then was dismissed from
the team for the remainder of the season.
As a junior, Dvoracek was a consensus All-Big 12 first team selection and collected 16 tackles for a loss and had seven sacks.
Dvoracek will try to rejuvenate a unit that allowed 55 points in the national championship game last year. Dvoracek will be joined on defense by preseason Big 12 selections, Rufus Alexander, junior linebacker, and Larry Birdine, junior defensive lineman.
Stoops said he was confident
that the defense will not experience a hangover from the national championship game last year.
"We are not sitting around talking about that," Stoops said. "You know, each year is different. We have a different team."
Oklahoma will start its hunt for a national championship Sept. 3 with a home game against Texas Christian. The Sooners will battle the Longhorns in the Red River Shootout on Oct. 8. Oklahoma will close its season with a road game at Texas Tech.
— Edited by Katie Lohrenz
NFL
Kansas City Chiefs release veteran linebacker Maslowski
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Mike Maslowski, whose hard work took him from an obscure Division III team to a starting job as Kansas City's middle linebacker, was released yesterday because of continuing injury problems.
The Chiefs said they hoped the 6-foot-2, 243-pound Wisconsin native would one day resume his career.
Maslowski
Maslowski underwent an unusual operation last Sept. 29 to correct the alignment of his left
"We don't think this represents the conclusion to Mike's NFL career," said Chiefs president Carl Peterson.
"By releasing him at this time, we give him the opportunity to return to the Chiefs
in the future if he can get himself ready to play."
knee.
He missed all of last season as well as the latter part of 2003.
While he rehabbed, the Chiefs upgraded their linebacking corps considerably.
Kawika Mitchell, a second-year middle linebacker, has looked good in training camp and seems to have solidified
his hold on the job.
Maslowski played at tiny Wisconsin-La Crosse and was a division III All-American in 1996.
He joined the Chiefs as a free agent in 1999 and had 311 tackles in his career, including a franchise-record 162 during 2002.
"Mike Maslowski has been an extremely important player for this franchise since '99."
"By releasing him at this time, we give him the opportunity to return to the Chiefs in the future if he can get himself ready to play."
Peterson said. "He has grown with the Chiefs from his days as an NCAA Division III player, through NFL Europe, to
Carl Peterson Chiefs president
starting linebacker and the most prolific tackler in a single se as on for this team.
"I don't think it's a coincidence that our defense began to decline
when we lost Mike to injury in 2003."
With amazing endurance, Maslowski played in 50 pro-
cessional football games in 1999,seeing action in 11 with the Barcelona Dragons in Europe and then 19 preseason and regular-season games with the Chiefs.
He was a landslide winner of the Mack Lee Hill Award in 1999, given annually to the team's top first-year player.
The Chiefs had kept him on the physically unable to perform list hoping he would recover enough to come back.
"It's just a situation where he's run out of time on PUP active status," Peterson said. "He had some more surgery done on that knee. They took out a plate and screws. I saw it and it was pretty substantial. I don't know how he moved
around with that."
Maslowski has been active in the Kansas City community.
"Since he joined us in 1999, he's been an exemplary player on and off the field," Peterson said.
Kansas City also reached a one-year contract deal yesterday with free agent quarterback Jonathan Quinn, though no terms were released.
Quinn played in five games for the Chicago Bears last season and in a dozen NFL games during previous posts in Jacksonville and Kansas City.
During two seasons with the Chiefs, in 2002 and 2003, he was listed as the third quarterback.
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