SOONER FOOTBALL POST ALERT: For those of you who don't live and die by Sooner football as I do, all I can say is: move along...there's nothing to see here.
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OU recovered nicely today from last Saturday's embarrassment against TCU by putting a pretty good licking on Tulsa. It wasn't the kind of licking we've seen the last few years, in which OU had outscored Tulsa 96-0, but rather a more subdued but frankly more encouraging licking. Several obvious things emerged from today's game:
First, OU is sticking with Rhett Bomar as the starting quaterback. To be honest, I like this idea. Last week they went with Paul Thompson, a good quarterback but a terribly inconsistent one. He ended up turning the ball over three times and he never got the wheels of the Sooner offense rolling very well. Thompson is a junior now, having taken a redshirt last year; his previous action had been quite a bit of mop-up work in 2003, after Jason White was pulled early in the second half of many games that season. I've seen his work many times, watching the 2003 games on DVD as I do, and I expected him to perform much, much better. He didn't have nearly the kind of talent to work with, as he worked with the second team against the opponents' first teams, and he stilled managed to score a few touchdowns, complete some passes, and do generally good things. But last week, he looked like he had just learned how to play quarterback over the summer. He didn't make good decisions, his arm looked like he hadn't used it in a year, and he didn't use his best asset, his feet, hardly at all. He looked as much like a freshman as Rhett Bomar did. The Sooner coaching staff probably noticed this, as well, and I can already hear their thought process: "Well, if we have two guys playing like freshman, we may as well take the FRESHMAN who plays like a freshman than the JUNIOR who plays like a freshman."
Really, think about it: Bomar is the future of the quarterback position at OU. Bob Stoops is a very farsighted individual. He's already thinking a few years ahead. He has two options: a good, normally solid junior, and a phenom redshirt freshman. Both are playing at pretty much the same level so far. So, if all things are equal, go with the one who'll give you more in the long run. In two years, Paul Thompson is outta here. He might become really good next year, but Bomar might, as well. The difference is, Bomar has two more good years after that. Since Bomar is going to be playing the QB position in 2007 and 2008, anyway, keep playing Bomar now, so he gains experience, and we have a potential Heisman Trophy candidate who could lead us to a couple of national championships. This year is already going to be a rocky one; may as well look to the future.
Bomar played well today, all things considered. Sure, he threw two interceptions, but neither was the result of bad decisions on his part; for the first, his receiver fell down, and for the second, he was hit as he threw. His other troubles came primarily from lack of adequate protection, from what I saw.
Second, the defense looks pretty good. They had two hot-handed quarterbacks to deal with the last couple of weeks, both of whom managed to make some incredible plays merely through extreme force of will. The coverage in most cases was good, tackling has been good. The only negative is pressure. The D-line has to get better pressure. It was better today, but still not what it will need to be against UCLA next week or Texas in a few weeks or A&M or Texas Tech later on. That one issue aside, the defense will hold up very well, if not as superbly as in the past few seasons. And they'll get better as they play more and more. The two defensive stars so far are linebacker Rufus Alexander and, interestingly enough, tailback-turned-cornerback D.J. Wolfe.
Third, Adrian Peterson showed again why he's such an amazing running back. The blocking in front of him improved only slightly, but he was simply incredible today. That final 41-yard dash, in which he semi-trucked one defender, spun away and back-pedaled from the grasp of another, and stiff-armed the last one at the 5-yard line before high-stepping into the endzone, was one of the best runs I've ever seen any running back make in my entire life of watching OU football. He got one block to get to the line of scrimmage, and everything else was all on his own. He WILL win a Heisman Trophy before he leaves OU, or there is simply no justice in the world.
Fourth, let's get back to the blocking on offense, more specifically the offensive line. While the play of the O-line was much better today, at least back to average, they still are very young and have a LOOOOOONG way to go. I don't see the primary problem with at the quarterback position being the quarterback; I see it as having the O-line protect the quarterback enough to get the job done. Yes, they're young, and they'll have to grow up really fast for this season to be decent.
Fifth, the play-calling improved, but it has still been very plain-vanilla. OU abandoned the pass in the second half. This was even more surprising considering that OU had the run game going so well; you'd think that with AD running all over the Tulsa defense in the second half, they would've at least called a couple of play action passes or something. Such calls would've given Bomar some confidence in his first start, especially after the poor first half.
Finally, what a team we'll have in a year or two!! Pretty much every position on this team is staffed by freshman and sophomores at least part time. Next year, nearly every position will be staffed by players with starting experience, and the following two years will pretty much be the same. So, my final words would be, take heart, fellow Sooners; we're officially rebuilding this year, but we will be legitimate national title contenders again, and very, very soon.
Thanks for reading along.
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