OU notebook: Blake Griffin will be on ESPN's GameDay

Former Sooners basketball star Blake Griffin will be the show's celebrity guest picker, OU said Wednesday. Griffin, who plays for the Los Angeles Clippers, perhaps has extra time on his hands because of the NBA lockout.

This week marks the fifth time “GameDay” has done its show from the site of the OU-Texas game. The Sooners are 2-2 in the previous games, winning in 2001 and 2002 and losing in 2008 and 2009.

No. 3 OU and No. 11 UT are both 4-0 entering the 2011 game.

The weekly show airs from 8-9 a.m. on ESPNU and 9-11 a.m. on ESPN. The main set will be located across from the Texas Hall of State inside the fair from 8-10:30 a.m., with the final half-hour from a set on the sidelines inside the Cotton Bowl.

Co-host Erin Andrews and analyst Kirk Herbstreit will appear on the show and also on the nationally televised broadcast on ABC, joining play-by-play announcer Brent Musburger.

Its OU's second “GameDay” experience this year. It won Sept. 17 at Florida State with the crew in Tallahassee.

DEFLECTED PASSES AT LINE AID OU DEFENSE

Sooners defensive ends coach Bobby Jack Wright says he's always put an emphasis on his linemen deflecting passes, but the 2011 crop might be especially good at it.

Frank Alexander and Ronnell Lewis both have three pass breakups, and R.J. Washington also has one.

Saturday's game against Ball State was a particularly positive night on the batted-balls front. Lewis had two, nearly intercepting one of the pass attempts himself. Washington and Alexander both had tips that led to two of Tony Jefferson's three interceptions.