Texas and Big 12 Football Capsules: High-tech eyes of Texas security are watching

AUSTIN — Scanning the two wall-mounted monitors filled with dozens of live camera shots, University of Texas police officer W.R. Pieper spies something he doesn’t like: an unattended bag in the middle of a growing crowd.

He quickly dispatches uniformed officers who climb stairs and bleachers, only to discover it’s nothing but a harmless, oversized purse that belongs to a woman taking pictures with her family one row away.

No harm done, but it was a clear example of how the high-tech eyes of Texas are always watching the huge crowd at Longhorns football games.

"Big Brother is watching," Pieper said.

Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium has been outfitted with 43 surveillance cameras to keep an eye on the 101,000 who fill the seats and hallways and spill into the perimeter on game days.

The cameras can focus close enough to see facial expressions or catch someone sticking a bottle of alcohol under the bleachers.

"They can zoom in on people drinking and boom, we’ve got officers there," campus police chief Robert Dahlstrom said. "An officer will reach down, wave the bottle for the camera and off they go."

Texas used to have just four cameras watching. The security upgrade cost about $400,000 and was done as part of a $175 million stadium expansion and renovation in recent years. The new cameras were put in before this season.

University officials had been wanting to make major upgrades ever since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington in 2001.

"That changed everything," athletic director DeLoss Dodds said. "It’s just something you have to do today."

Earlier this football season, federal officials issued warnings saying terrorists would like to attack stadiums. Michigan banned bags and purses, other than those needed for medical reasons with supporting documentation, and other schools also beefed up security.

At Texas, university police allowed The Associated Press access to their game-day security control room about 90 minutes before the Longhorns’ game against Colorado on Oct. 10.

From his spot in front of the monitors, Pieper can see just about everything that moves in and around the stadium.

Two children carefully negotiate stairs while carrying drinks to their seats. A family of five poses for pictures. Their problem was they left the purse about 10 feet away.

When he called for the officers to check it out, Pieper trained several cameras on the bag to get as many angles as possible, still leaving dozens to keep scanning the rest of the stadium.

Game day is a much more controlled environment than it used to be. Long gone are the days of taking tickets until halftime, then letting everyone come and go as they please. Bomb-sniffing dogs sweep through before the gates are open.

The university also has partnered with AT&T for a special text messaging system that allows fans to report emergencies, drinking or fights, or any unruly behavior.

"Usually the crowd itself will tell us about a problem," Dahlstrom said.

Police eject about 40 people per game and average two or three arrests. When Texas played Texas Tech at night on Sept. 19 and won 34-24, the number of arrests spiked to about 12.

"Most are alcohol related," Dahlstrom said. "People get drunk or are belligerent."

Big 12

Inconsistent line to be tested for No. 20 Sooners

NORMAN, Okla. — At the start of training camp, Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson proclaimed that his front line was as talented as any in the country.

For a group that had lost four starters from a season ago, it was a bold statement of support for mostly unproven players charged with protecting Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford and opening holes in the running game.

It was also in stark contrast to coach Bob Stoops’ comments in the spring that the offensive line was the "weak link" of the team.

Two-thirds of the way through the season, the line is still a work in progress for the No. 20 Sooners (5-3, 3-1) as they prepare to face Big 12 preseason defensive player of the year Ndamukong Suh and Nebraska (5-3, 2-2) on Saturday night.

Wilson this week defended his earlier comments.

"Have you guys never played cards?" he asked. "Don’t you watch that Texas hold ‘em deal? Sometimes you’re bluffing a little bit. Sometimes you don’t.

"The only problem I have is that those guys are more talented than they have played, and they’re gaining on it. The talent level does not match their performance because I see their talents and potential, but potential’s a dirty word because that means you haven’t done it yet."

The group has been constantly shuffled this season, with six different starting combinations through eight games. The combination of Trent Williams, converted tight end Brody Eldridge, Ben Habern, Stephen Good and Cory Brandon has started the last two games while left guard Brian Simmons continues to recover from a right knee injury.

That continuity is not necessarily a sign that the problems are solved.

"If those guys for one second think they’ve got it figured out, then they’re a long way off and we are definitely doomed," Wilson said. "I hope they’ll have enough confidence in themselves and play like they’ve been playing and don’t make the opponents, as tremendous as their defensive players might be, don’t make it bigger than it is."

While Suh has gained a reputation as a top NFL prospect, his teammates have been productive, too. Fellow defensive tackle Jared Crick set a school record with five sacks in last week’s 20-10 win at Baylor.

"They have two of the top guys in the nation — big, strong, physical guys — and we’re looking forward to the challenge," said Good, who has started the last two games at right guard.

The problems for the line have been brewing for some time. Tackle Britt Mitchell left the program prior to last season and Jason Hannan, the team’s backup center last year, and guard Kody Cooke followed suit this offseason. Stoops then kicked tackle Alex Williams off the team.

That drained the depth for a line set to lose five players with starting experience, including three who are currently on NFL rosters.

"There’s a little bit of everything," Stoops said. "We got caught thin with a big graduating class. It’s not often you have five guys that leave all at once. I think it’s fair to say, sure, we’ve had guys leave. We’ve had to remove guys because they don’t go to class, they don’t do what the team requires them to do. And then development, a lot of it’s on these guys. Certain guys have a better work ethic than others."

The departures mirror a trend from before the 2005 season, when Oklahoma also suffered three early losses. That year, linemen Akim Millingon and Brandon Keith left the team just before the season.

Wilson blamed the exodus on an offseason conditioning program that can be difficult for players to endure if it doesn’t result in playing time. He says the Sooners are trying to combat that by getting younger players into the game sooner, when possible.

"We’re trying to show them if you play, it’s fun and all this lifting and all this stuff is great because the guys that play don’t mind the lifting and running," said Wilson, who also opened the door for walk-ons committed to work hard. "It’s the guys that aren’t getting rewarded because they’re not getting on the field."

He suggested that the failures of the Sooners’ coaching staff have come in evaluating players’ work ethic, not their talent.

"I’m still intrigued by our group because their talent level is still better than they’ve played, and they still have a great opportunity this week against an extremely talented and a proven defensive line, because this group is proven. They play like a great team," Wilson said. "We have a chance to make a statement and see if we’re gaining on that and getting closer to being a decent offensive line."

All-America WR Dez Bryant loses appeal

OKLAHOMA CITY — The NCAA rejected a final appeal to reinstate Dez Bryant and Oklahoma State has probably seen the last of its All-American receiver.

An attorney for Bryant said Thursday that the one-year penalty handed down by the NCAA amounted to a "death penalty" for his client’s college career, considering that he’s likely to enter next year’s NFL draft.

"I don’t know that there’s much about this type of decision that would help improve a person," Willie Baker, Bryant’s attorney, told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "I think there are other ways that the NCAA might try to develop — a different way of administering, if you want to call it punishment or whatever, but in the end it ought to be something that would be helpful to the student."

Baker said he didn’t know for certain whether Bryant would enter the draft, but said the NCAA gave him no incentive to stay in school by declaring him ineligible through September 2010.

"He has not told me what he will do, but if I had to guess, I would say that he would decide to not continue with school and just continue to prepare himself for the draft," Baker said.

The NCAA rejected Oklahoma State’s appeal to reinstate Bryant on Thursday, bringing an end to the process that began in late September when Bryant sat out the first of five games while the NCAA investigated his offseason meeting with former NFL player Deion Sanders at a Texas athletic center. Since initially lying to an NCAA investigator about the meeting, Bryant has admitted he jogged with Sanders and went to his home. He also issued apologies both publicly and in a letter to the NCAA.

Baker said the season-long suspension was a result of the lie alone and that Bryant wasn’t found guilty of breaking any other NCAA rules.

"It’s about lying about things that were nonevents and certainly were not violations," Baker said. "That comes from a situation where Dez was scared."

Baker said Bryant was called before the NCAA and told he could hire an attorney but was provided with no details up front about what rules he was suspected of breaking. He said it was only natural that Bryant, who told the NCAA in his reinstatement request that he "panicked," would be nervous.

The NCAA decided last week that Bryant should be suspended until next September, and OSU appealed to the NCAA’s Student-Athlete Reinstatement Committee. That panel announced Thursday that it had rejected the appeal in a two-paragraph statement that included no explanation.

NCAA spokeswoman Stacey Osburn said in an e-mail that members of the committee were not permitted to speak to reporters and that the agency’s national office had no comment beyond the statement. A call to Big Ten associate commissioner Carol Iwaoka, the chair of the reinstatement committee, was referred to Osburn.

Baker suggested that the NCAA could develop ways to rehabilitate student-athletes who break the rules, as courts do in ordering substance-abuse and anger-management programs as an alternative to jail. Instead, he said, the NCAA used "the most severe form of punishment that you can dole out to a student-athlete."

"It’s like a death penalty, frankly, in a sense," Baker said.

Bryant caught 87 passes for 1,480 yards and 19 touchdowns last season while also scoring twice on punt returns. He was the only one of three finalists for the Biletnikoff Award left in school this year.

In a letter to the NCAA that accompanied his request for reinstatement, Bryant had asked to be allowed to play again this season for the 18th-ranked Cowboys (6-2, 3-1 Big 12) and that his "punishment is not so bad that I do not get to play football again at OSU."

"We’re obviously disappointed for Dez. As a team, we’ll move forward from here," Cowboys coach Mike Gundy said in a statement.

Gundy had allowed Bryant to skip some team activities, including practice, because it was difficult emotionally to be around the team while ineligible.

"He’s been in and out and around and in touch," offensive coordinator Gunter Brewer said this week. "It’s just been a struggle mentally and it’s just been a tough time for everybody."

Brewer said Bryant had been "really trying to get with his family and make some decisions for him for the long haul."

The Cowboys lost to Texas 41-14 last Saturday to fall out of a tie for the Big 12 South lead.

"It’s a dream of his to play in games like that against Texas. It was very hard," Brewer said. "That’s been his life, playing ball. ... It’s been taken away and that’s just something we’re all dealing with."

-- Jeff Latzke

Upset CU fan urges others to wear blue Saturday

BOULDER, Colo. — It’s been years since the Colorado football team wore sky blue instead of black and gold. When they did, they won just 10 out of 44 games from 1981 to 1984.

Now University of Colorado senior Taylor Rhode wants to bring the color back Saturday, when Colorado hosts Texas A&M, as a sign of fans’ frustration with the Buffaloes’ 2-6 record.

Rhode is recruiting people through Facebook to wear powder blue to the game to show university officials that they think the current regime stands with the "worst of the worst."

Rhode says it’s a way for fans to go to the game and support the players while showing that they want a change in the people controlling the team. But some fans say they don’t want to risk offending players.

Pelini: Nebraska nearly ready for Oklahoma

LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska wrapped up preparations for No. 20 Oklahoma with a two-hour workout inside Memorial Stadium.

Following practice Thursday, Coach Bo Pelini said it was a good week, but there are still some things that need to get worked out before Saturday.

He says senior wide receiver Chris Brooks and sophomore cornerback Alfonzo Dennard are healthy and ready to go.

As for the quarterback position, Pelini is not keen on the idea of alternating quarterbacks during a game, but he would not hesitate to play two quarterbacks in a game.

The Sooners and Cornhuskers kick off at 7 p.m., on Saturday. The game will be televised by ABC.