Sooner scrimmage: Three storylines

Published: August 18, 2007

All week, coaches have said that quarterbacks Sam Bradford, Joey Halzle and Keith Nichol are working evenly during closed practices.

But will they continue to share snaps in the scrimmage?

This could be the time when coaches begin paring the three-way competition to two.

•Can the offense deliver more big plays?

Other than a 53-yard touchdown run by Jacob Gutierrez, a 20-yard scoring reception by Malcolm Kelly and a 19-yard catch near the sideline by Jauquin Iglesias the Sooners had no big gain from its 86 other plays in last Saturday's scrimmages.

Granted, OU's defense knew what the offense was trying to do, and for the most part, the offense took few chances.

But without Adrian Peterson, at some point the offense will have to find someone who can deliver big plays.

•Will the defense be more opportunistic?

Even though the defense dominated in OU's first scrimmage, perhaps one criticism is that the defense didn't create many turnovers.

In 19 possessions, only two ended in turnovers — Marcus Walker's interception of Sam Bradford and Curtis Lofton's recovery of DeMarco Murray's fumble.

In part, the lack of turnovers came from the offense's conservative attack. But even so, defensive coordinator Brent Venables would like to see his defense be more opportunistic this evening.

By Jake Trotter

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