Would Bradford have made a difference vs. Texas?
With a fractured offensive line that wasn’t great to begin with, and with undependable receivers, it’s difficult to know what kind of difference Sam Bradford would have made against Texas had he played the whole game.
Bradford played eight snaps. For what it’s worth, here are the eight plays:
1. Swing pass to DeMarco Murray for 13 yards; 2. Incomplete pass, thrown behind Brandon Caleb in the face of a heavy Texas blitz; 3. Incomplete pass intended for Murray; 4. Screen pass to Murray for 64 yards; 5. Chris Brown run for no gain; 6. Lofted pass in the end zone incomplete to Ryan Broyles; 7. Incomplete pass thrown out of the back of the end zone under Texas pressure; 8. Sack for a loss of 13 yards and an injury that likely ended Bradford’s OU career.
So you see, it wasn’t exactly a high-precision offense even with Bradford. The big play was huge, and that’s how OU was going to have to strike against the Longhorns with either quarterback. Would Bradford have produced more big plays? Almost certainly. Enough to win? Almost certainly.
This was not a game where it took much. A 16-13 final. A day the Sooners played as good of defense as they ever have in the Stoops years.
Here are a few examples of how Bradford makes a difference.
* One of the few times OU went deep — lack of time and lack of confidence — was in the third quarter, when Caleb got behind the Texas secondary but dropped Landry Jones’ long pass. Caleb should have caught it. However, the pass was not well thrown. It was a little short, Caleb had to slow down and the Texas DB recovered enough to at least impair Caleb’s vision. A better thrown ball would have continued the separation. Let it be noted that OU scored a touchdown on that drive anyway.
* OU’s fumble on the third play of the second quarter, which might have been the biggest play of the game. The Sooners led 6-0 and had dominated the game, already kicking two field goals and missing another. With first down at the Texas 24-yard line, in hurryup mode, Jones and Murray muffed a handoff, and UT recovered. The hurryup served OU well, but it has stiff consequences, and we saw that with the fumble. Timing can be disrupted. A touchdown (or even a field goal) there would have put even more pressure on Texas.
* Jones’ two interceptions in the fourth quarter. Not to say that Bradford is incapable of throwing a pick. He is and he has. But OU’s final two possessions ended with interceptions. The first was just awful, a scrambling Jones tried to throw the ball away, out of bounds. He threw it very high, but not high enough. Aaron Williams leaped and made the pickoff at the OU 20-yard line. On OU’s final drive, on 2nd-and-8 from the Sooner 45, Jones threw right into coverage, and Earl Thomas easily intercepted at the Texas 37. OU’s chances of producing fourth-quarter points were much higher with Bradford.
Those are just some examples of the difference between a rookie quarterback and a Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback who had 31 career starts under his belt.
Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel.
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Comments
With the shape of the offensive line and lack of running game and Sams lack of mobility he probably would have not made much of a difference. However, I think the game would have laid out the way it did, a classis OU-Texas game that despite turnovers by both teams was a great game to watch even if we were on the short end.
Anyone who doesn’t think that Bradford would have made a difference in the game is “football illiterate”. He is one of the very best college QBs to “ever” play the game, and that in just 2 years of playing. If Bradford were healthy this season (even without Gresham), OU would be 6-0, and in the top 3 in the nation. I would have loved to see the game with Bradford, Greasham, and Broyles healthy. Texas would have gotten drilled. The only reason Texas is undefeated is because of their “sick, gutless” out of conference schedule, and because Bradford was injured Sat.
Wow, Alan I think we’ve met! I had a man once that wanted to bet me that Sam Bradford was not just the best QB in NCAA, but the best in the nation. That guy was a “true” OU fan, albeit misinformed or just plain stupid. There really are several things wrong with your post about OU being 6 – 0 with Bradford but the most important one is Sam Bradford was not the crisp QB in the Texas game that he was last year. Until Tramel and yourself, I’m not sure a win last weekend would have been a cinch with Sam, although you would have had a better chance to win. But I think Miami would have beaten you with Bradford and BYU might have. So with Bradford OU might be 5-1 and you might be 3-3.
I would like to say I’m very sad that Sam Bradford is hurt. I talked to a couple kids that go to school with him and they all…I mean ALL say he’s an outstanding young man with a huge potential wheter it’s in football or just life. Best wishes to Sam, hopefully he will get healed up and take the NFL by storm. This could even be a huge boast to his NFL career because he won’t be picked #1, he’ll go later and maybe he’ll get a good team and get to mature in a back-up roll for a half season or two.
I will say that unlike the idiot I mentioned before, I think Sam’s good, but Peyton Manning and about 10 other NFL QBs aren’t worried about Sam stealing their jobs!!!
Bradford probably would have made some plays that Jones did not. But, let’s not forget that Bradford looked pretty pedestrian when he was in the game. If the Texas secondary actually tackles Murray, Bradford’s stat line looks less promising.
And Alan, please know what you’re talking about before calling UT’s OOC schedule gutless. Arkansas & Utah both cancelled/rescheduled on UT in the past 18 months. Let’s see, that’s a MWC school ranked in the top 25 (a la BYU) and a school that just took the #1 school to the wire on the road. The reason Texas is 6-0 is because they’ve won all their games.
I think the debate should not be whether Bradford is the Sam Bradford of last season, whether he as good, as crisp, as mobile, as accurate. For me, the question is: “Is Sam Bradford at least 4 points better than Landry Jones?” Is Sam Bradford good enough, even when struggling, to be half a touchdown better than Jones? And to me, the answer is clearly, yes. He may not be unstoppable; he may not be all his stuff; but I’d like to give a Heisman winner the benefit of the doubt that when push comes to shove, he can put up at least as many points, likely more, than a mediocre freshman.
John Rohde made the statement a few weeks back that Bradford should call it a season and not come back…I was one of the very few that agreed with John. This has to hurt, or does it, Sams position in the 2010 draft; on the other hand it might give a team like the Cowboys a chance to get into the mix for Bradford’s services….wouldn’t that be a twist of fate…………….
He played the entire game last year with a star tight end, a solid group of receivers, two good backs and one of the best o-lines around and lost.
This time, he has one receiver, no tight end, a really bad o-line and consequently not much of a running game and he would have made a difference?
Sorry, Texas is the better team, they have been the past two season. Lets face reality.
Best of luck to Sam, great kid.
so basically, Sam could have won the game because he would not have made any mistakes at all… And I guess that certainty is based on last year, since this year’s results don’t mandate that.
In line with that, if he played like last year, Colt wouldn’t have made any mistakes either. Surprise! You just got horsewhipped! See how easy saying stuff like that is? Bottom line is we’ll never know. It’s just a shame that a fine young man got injured. Any conjectures about what a difference that would have made in the game results? well, all that’s just talk….
I think Sam would have made a difference because of his ability to check off to a second or third receiver when his primary target is unavailable. A skill that young Jones has yet to master, but will in time. I think the one thing that hurt O.U. the most against Texas wasn’t so much Jones or Bradford, but the complete ineptness of the running game. They made minimal yardage in the fast half, but lost yardage on about every play in the second half. This allowed Texsa to really clamp down on the short passing game and dare us to beat them long. It almost seems as if OU’s only running play is the stretch play to the right or left. This is a time consuming play that gives a quick attacking defense time to get penetration resulting in lost yardage. We needed to either run right at Texas, or use some misdirection plays (counter trey)to slow down their attacking style and fast pursuit. It just seems as if we have fewer less creative running plays than I had in junior high to try to generate some positive yardage. Calling the same predictable running plays over and over and expecting different results is a bit maddening.
OK Jon, so you want to give Texas credit for teams that they might have played; but they “did not” play. That’s a different twist.
I do know what I’m talking about regarding their “gutless” OOC schedule that they “did play”.
Louisiana-Monore
Wyoming
UTEP
Central Florida (nestled in Nov to give themselves a break in the midst of conf play).
I understand that teams “cancel”; it happens to everyone; but others seem to replace cancellations with more worthy opponents.
I have a good friend who is probably the biggest horn fan in the state of Texas, and he does call it an embarassing OOC schedule.
In response to bad bob, no one expects that Bradford would have played a perfect game. No one expects that he wouldn’t have made any mistakes. I think it is wise to believe that he would have made fewer mistakes than Jones, and probably would have made more big plays than Jones. And considering how close the game was, it would likely make the difference. I mean, we are not talking about a blowout, where when Bradford went out, they were already down three TD’s. It was a tight game, and the final score was a FG. I’d like to think Bradford was good for at least 1 TD more than Jones.
In response to Ken, I am going to try to be fair to the running game. The whole defense shifts and plays completely differently between when Sam Bradford is in versus Landry Jones. It is the same way in any sport. In basketball, different lineups constitute different defensive strategies. With Landry Jones in, the defense can play more zone coverage, they can be more aggressive with the running game. It would be the same way with any program with a rebuilding running game and hurt QB. It isn’t that they were inept. It is just hard to do anything against a defense that doesn’t respect the arm of the opposing QB.
Oh wait..
Would it have made a difference if Bradford had not been injured (again)?
Who knows? it’s past tense. What is the point of speculation?
Landry Jones is an excellent quarterback. THat’s for sure. I don’t blame him one bit. I think it’s someone elses beef. Maybe an assistant coach. Maybe some chubby guy sitting up in the skybox who has NO idea how to call plays or make the most of his underdeveloped backups???
WHo knows.
SPeculation is not a worthy science.
Nor is it one that we should so often revisit.
Things are what they are…. let’s not speculate about what could’ve been. Let’s find the problem and CORRECT it.
yannanananan mean?
I feel like Oklahoma would have scored 17 points or more with Bradford in the game. The muffled handoff to Murray from Jones probably wouldn’t have happened as well as the interceptions. Not to mention the other passes Bradford probably would have completed. People are forgetting how good he really is and what type of an impact a quarterback of his caliber has on a game. With a healthy Sam Bradford OU is undefeated and ranked #2 or #3.
Bradford is a big puss. McCoy had a horrible game but got knocked down almost twenty times…..great job defense! Bradford takes a hit and…………
Sooner Sad, you really wanna go there? Because I would take it outside with you right now if you wanna degrade such a good ambassador for college football.
I like McCoy a lot. So, I am not in the position where I like one and hate the other. But to say that Bradford cannot take a hit is ridiculous. It is one thing to not be able to take a hit because you are weak, as you have suggested about Sam Bradford. But, it is something entirely when you have a season-ending injury.
Some call it crazy; but I think it is especially brave for Bradford to play the way he did. He did not play like he was ever injured. He did not seem tentative. When Tebow came back, it took him three quarters to shake off the hesitation he was playing with. Bradford looked like he had never been hurt to begin with. He seemed as confident and poised as usual; it wasn’t until the sack that I was reminded of the injury, and obviously by then it was too late.
Shucks that was a gosh-darned excitin’ game. Whoeeeee, dang, dilly-do, pangalang!
Better luck next week fer shur!