.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
.vresize.36.36.medium.0.png){kind=small}
A rare week off so early in the season is giving No. 1 Oklahoma extra time to identify all the ways Florida State has improved since getting blown out by the Sooners a year ago.
Coach Bob Stoops said Tuesday that the fifth-ranked Seminoles (1-0) are far better now than when they lost 47-17 in Norman last season.
''We're very aware of what a different team they are than a year ago'' Stoops said at his weekly news conference. ''Our players are excited about the challenge of it.''
That excitement has to be focused on practice for an extra week, though, since the Sooners (1-0) won't play again until they visit Tallahassee on Sept. 17. It's the first time since 1997 that Oklahoma has had an off week immediately after its opener.
''We got the first game under our belt, kind of in game day mode and really just anxious to play,'' cornerback Demontre Hurst said. ''But we've got this bye week, so we've got to take it slow.''
Stoops plans to give his players a three-day weekend while the Seminoles are hosting Charleston Southern on Saturday night. Defensive back Tony Jefferson said the view on whether an off week is beneficial was ''50-50'' because there's extra time to prepare, but some players like to stay in game mode.
''You've got to pretend like there's a game this Saturday, take it as if we're going to be playing this week,'' Jefferson said. ''Get in some more film, just like you do in the regular game week. No days off.''
The Sooners certainly aren't using the time to ease off because last year's game against Florida State was a rout. At that point, the Seminoles were still adapting to having Jimbo Fisher in charge instead of longtime coach Bobby Bowden and Mark Stoops, Bob's brother, was in his second game as the defensive coordinator.
Florida State went on to win its division and finish 10-4.
''As the season went on, you could tell they got more and more comfortable in their offense, their defense, everything they were doing and playing together as a team and then capped it off with a great win, of course, in the bowl game over the SEC East champion in South Carolina,'' Bob Stoops said.
Oklahoma will practice through Thursday and then won't return until Monday.
''I feel like that's going to help us out a lot because I feel like we're not going to be as banged up and tired as we would have been,'' defensive end Frank Alexander said. ''That can be a positive if we do the right things.''
Under Stoops, the Sooners are 13-3 when they have two weeks to prepare for a game. The losses came in the 2003 Big 12 title game, in 2006 against Texas and in 2009 at Miami.
Oklahoma throttled Iowa State 52-0 after its off week last season.
''The main thing for us is basically just focusing on this week, trying to get better, learn from the mistakes from the last game and just pick up the intensity as we go on through the season,'' Hurst said.
''We know Tallahassee's going to be loud, they're going to be coming after us, we're going to get their best shot and we have to give them our best.''
Notes: LB Travis Lewis, a defensive captain who's out with a broken left big toe, has had his cast removed and is now wearing a protective boot. But Stoops said the chances of him playing next week, even if he's cleared, would not be good. ''It would be really difficult to do after being out that long,'' he said. ''I don't expect that to happen.'' ... OT Jarvis Jones did individual workouts in a helmet and shoulder pads Monday but also isn't expected to play next week. ... Stoops said he won't go see his brother, Mike, coach Arizona at Oklahoma State this week: ''I go to Stillwater when I have to.''
