The mysterious status of top-flight Arizona Wildcats wide receiver Juron Criner had long been speculated over, and now we finally have an official reason as to why he's out for tonight's game. Head coach Mike Stoops told ESPN's Jenn Brown that Criner had an appendectomy on Monday, which is the reason he's out for this week's game.
It begs the question. Why exactly did Mike Stoops not disclose that information at the media conference call? It could even be suggested that he covered it up, because Stoops said Criner did not have an appendectomy and was just sick (those were his apparent exact words, according to CBS's Bryan Fischer).
It's hard to figure out what agenda Stoops would have. I'd guess that Stoops would want to make Oklahoma State gameplan more for Criner, and then force them to scrap their original gameplan as close as possible to kickoff and make them come up with a new defensive strategy. Hard to see if any of this obfuscation will work, but in college football you'll take any advantage you can get.
Anyway, no Criner means Arizona will have to rely on their remaining recievers like Dan Buckner, David Douglas, David Roberts, and Richard Morrison to produce, which could cause Nick Foles all sorts of trouble.
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