Red River Alert: Down goes Bradford (again)

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Sat Oct 17 01:50pm EDT

Red River Alert: Down goes Bradford (again)

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If there was any question of how long Sam Bradford's injured shoulder would hold up against full contact after a month-long, three-and-a-half-game absence, we have our answer: One more bad landing.

One play after Oklahoma's Auston English blindsided Texas quarterback Colt McCoy to cause the game's first turnover, the reigning Heisman winner was rocked by blitzing Longhorn Aaron Williams and immediately reached for the same beleaguered throwing shoulder that occupied so much attention through the first half of the Sooners' disappointing season. Bradford was briefly throwing on the sideline after the injury, but as of the start of the second quarter, he's replaced his helmet with a permanent grimace and apparently yielded to mustachioed backup Landry Jones for the rest of the day; the way Oklahoma's defense is hounding McCoy in the first half, the difference will be academic. We'll see.

Updates to follow as necessary, but the subtext is obvious, and ominous: Bradford literally cannot afford this. He passed up certain millions in the NFL to return to Oklahoma for another shot at a national championship. With two injuries to the same shoulder in a little more than a month, his draft stock may be shot. So the lingering question until a firm diagnosis is this: Have we seen the last of Bradford in a Sooner uniform?

[UPDATE, 2:06 p.m. ET] OU coach Bob Stoops confirmed to ABC on his way into the locker room that Bradford won't be back for the second half, and described the injury as "similar to the last one," which could mean another month -- i.e. virtually the entire regular season -- on the shelf if the diagnosis is in fact the same.

[UPDATE, 5:25 p.m. ET] There's little info on Bradford's status for the rest of the year, but his absence was palapable is the Sooners' persistent offensive struggles in the eventual, 16-13 loss. Read the Doc's full game reaction here.

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