Oklahoma 31, Stanford 27: Thoughts and observations
Days before the Sun Bowl, a reporter asked Landry Jones if he was aware his team was recruiting the No. 1 juco QB in the country.
Jones half-smiled, and said, “All I’m focused on is Stanford.” But by the reaction in his face, you could tell Jones wasn’t crazy about the idea OU was pursuing Cameron Newton.
Two things happened in Thursday’s Sun Bowl. Newton signed with Auburn. Jones ended any talk that anyone but he will be OU’s starting QB in 2010.
Jones threw for three touchdowns and an OU-bowl record 418 yards, one shy of the Sun Bowl record set by Purdue’s Kyle Orton in 2001.
He made only one mistake all day: a first-quarter interception in which Jones looked past open tight end James Hanna and tried to force the ball to Ryan Broyles. Safety Bo McNally returned the interception 55 yards to set up Stanford’s first touchdown.
Other than that, Jones was close to flawless.
“Outstanding,” coach Bob Stoops said of Jones.
“That was the difference in the game,” Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said.
For OU to have any chance at a special season in 2010, Jones will have to be special. But that’s exactly what he was in the Sun Bowl. If Jones plays at that level consistently next season, the Sooners will be back in a BCS bowl.
“I’ve felt like we’ve been heading in the right direction,” Jones said. “Finishing this game off, finishing the season this way.
“It gives us a lot of momentum for 2010.”
Quick hits
* Unfortunate injury to OU DT Adrian Taylor. The players were obviously shook up by it, especially Gerald McCoy, who was bawling on the sidelines afterward. Several of the defenders said after the game they were playing for Taylor, who is one of the most popular players on the team. His surgery went as planned Friday back in OKC. Here’s hoping he can make a speedy recovery and be back for 2010.
* Great setting, great crowd. Sooner fans showed up and were a factor in the game. On Stanford’s final possession, I was on the sidelines. The OU fans were so loud it felt like Owen Field. Who knows if that rattled Stanford QB Tavita Pritchard. But it sure looked like it did.
* Clearly, the Cardinal suffered a drop-off from starter Andrew Luck to Pritchard, who was 8 of 19 for 117 yards with two picks. With Stanford unable to pose much of a threat through the air, OU was able to stack the box to stuff Toby Gerhart.
* Keep an eye on Luck over the next three years. Numerous Stanford insiders say the freshman is a big-time talent who will be making noise on national award lists the way Gerhart did this season.
* Ronnell Lewis, Demontre Hurst, David King, Jaz Reynolds, Jamarkus McFarland, Marcus Trice. Anyone fired up about this collection of freshmen impact players? Lewis, Hurst, King and McFarland were all on the field for Stanford’s last-ditch drive, which was four-and-out.
* If Trent Ratterree had three catches for 86 yards, what would have Jermaine Gresham done to the Cardinal?
* OU’s receiving problem may have finally found an answer. You have to feel good about about the trio of Ryan Broyles, Jaz Reynolds and Dejuan Miller next season. All three had stellar bowl performances.
* Those who thought OU’s place-kicking problems were resolved by Patrick O’Hara jumped the gun. O’Hara basically went 1 of 3, on short FGs. The stat book says 1 of 2 because O’Hara was bailed out. A teammate false started as O’Hara hooked a 23-yard chip shot off the right upright. Because of the penalty, O’Hara got a retry from 28-yards out and nailed it. Truth is, OU’s best place-kicker this year turned out to be Jimmy Stevens, who finished the year 11 of 13 on FGs. But coaches lost confidence in him after he missed a critical FG against Texas and failed to ever show anything from 40 out. Be interesting to see if Stevens is back next year. Either way, OU is back where it started before the season on place-kicking. A big question mark.
* DT DeMarcus Granger ended his career giving OU some much needed snaps. When Taylor went out, OU was basically down to McCoy and McFarland. Granger sucked it up and made a difference. A good way for him to go out.
They said it
QB Landry Jones: “It was a total business trip. We were coming down here to take care of business. The game plan, the way we prepared, it was really good this week.”
OU coach Bob Stoops: “They were ready to play to the end, no matter the situation. We got some tough breaks. That happens. But we rose to the occasion and still did what we needed to do.”
Stanford RB Toby Gerhart: “They’re a good defense. We had to chip away at them. I had one big one, but not enough.”
Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh: “We were really impressed with their secondary. Those guys were tremendous athletes. They did a good job hitting. I envision our secondary like that one day; that’s what we want.”
Stanford DE Thomas Kaisder: “(Landry Jones) was good. We knew going in that he was a good quarterback.”
Stoops on LB Ronnell Lewis: He’s a young guy, he’s just unusual how powerful he is and the way he can run. He’s got a chance to be a special player.”
OU DT Gerald McCoy: “I asked all the guys early in the week. I told them this was a great team we were playing and I would really love to win out for my last game. We played really hard and they gave all they had. I love my teammates.”
By the numbers
53,713: The Sun Bowl attendance. A Sun Bowl stadium and game record.
12: Sooner starters who missed a game this year. CB Brian Jackson, who was held out of the Sun Bowl with a concussion, was the latest injury casualty.
7: OU or Sun Bowl records Ryan Broyles set or tied. Broyles had 13 catches for 156 yards and 3 TDs.
-JT
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
I agree Landry had a good game except for the pick. I think he was really helped out by the WRs and the game plan though getting a lot of YAC. I thought Stanford did a very poor job of trying to confuse Landry and kinda made it easy for him.