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Ruffin McNeill has been here before

NORMAN — Ruffin McNeill has been through this before.

McNeill, named Oklahoma's interim defensive coordinator Monday after Mike Stoops was fired, faced a similar situation in 2007 at Texas Tech.

That year, after a 49-45 loss to Oklahoma State in late September in Stillwater, defensive coordinator Lyle Setencich resigned.

McNeill was Mike Leach's choice to take over the defense for the rest of the year.

“You can't change a lot of scheme midway through the season,” Bront Bird, who was a freshman linebacker on that 2007 Red Raiders team, said. “So what he really focused on were the fundamentals, the basics and really playing hard.