NORMAN — OU coaches dropped a little nugget on the offense before the Utah State game Saturday. They would run the double reverse.
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Juaquin Iglesias' eyes lit up. He immediately went to receivers coach Kevin Sumlin.
"Whatever we do,” Iglesias said, "I want to be in when we run it.”
Request granted. Four plays into its not-so-epic struggle with Utah State, OU pulled out its latest in a series of tricky switcheroos. Quarterback Sam Bradford flipped the ball to a reversing Malcolm Kelly, who then flipped it to a reversing Iglesias, and here came a 35-yard touchdown run Saturday that did much more than ignite a 54-3 rout and another delirious crowd at Owen Field.
The double reverse sent spinning the heads of coordinators who soon have to defend this Oklahoma offense. Starting with Texas' Duane Akina, who had problems of his own Saturday in trying to corral the mighty Golden Knights of Central Florida.
For the third straight week, OU offensive chief Kevin Wilson came up with a new, tricky reverse. For the third straight week, quarterback Sam Bradford's passing percentage paralleled a crack NBA foul shooter. And for the third straight week, the Sooners deployed far more weapons than any defense could track.
"We're not concentrating on getting in the head of anybody,” said Bob Stoops. OK. But it's a great bonus.
Most football strategy embraces secrecy. Don't spring a prime play until you need it most. These Sooners do the opposite. They bury foes, present and future, in possibility. They make defenses halt, even for just a moment, thinking about where the next weapon might appear or where the ball might be going.
How do you guard these Sooners? They've got two home-run hitting tailbacks; Allen Patrick went 69 yards on Utah State, then DeMarco Murray went 92. They've got Kelly and Iglesias, who are becoming the best 1-2 receiving tandem of the Stoops era. They've got tight ends who catch the ball all over the field.
And they've got the can't-miss kid at quarterback. In three weeks, Bradford has gone from an absolute question mark to a quarterback so accurate, a simple incompletion now brings a gasp from the home crowd.
Bradford completed his first 11 passes Saturday, giving him 21 straight completions spread over two games, a very impressive streak until you realize he had 22 straight completions over the North Texas and Miami walkovers.
Bradford's 19-of-26 day seemed virtually bohemian compared to his 83.3 percent start, but chalk much of that up to OU stretching the field and throwing deeper. Yet one more layer of this Sooner offense foes will have to account for.
"They do have to prepare for it,” Wilson said of the myriad OU offense.
Here's why this OU offense has exploded, Wilson said. The offensive line is experienced. The Sooners can run all kinds of sets and formations without complicating their own minds, but all the while confusing defenses. They have produced an offense that would thrill an environmentalist: high-octane, yet clean.
The Sooners have avoided mistakes despite all kinds of runs and passes out of different formations, plus wrinkles like the reverses.
Against UNT, OU sent Murray to the slot, then ran him on a reverse: 44-yard touchdown. Against Miami, flanker Manuel Johnson came around on a reverse, then pulled up and threw deep to Kelly: 25-yard gain. Saturday, the double reverse: 35-yard score.
Kelly told Iglesias before the play, take it to the house. Iglesias figured, why not?
"When we run it in practice, it's always wide open,” Iglesias said.
Said Wilson, "I think it makes it fun. We try to keep showing stuff. It's an opportunity to get the ball to some different people.”
Fun is the right word. That's exactly what is happening with the OU offense. These guys are having a blast. Saturday, the Sooners had five plays of 27 yards or longer. Utah State was outmatched but appeared well-coached. Much better prepared than North Texas or Miami. And still, the Sooners scored at will. Those spinning heads on future foes are starting to hurt.
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Living in FL we don't get much news on the Sooners...so thank God for the intrenet and the Oklahoman web site! (can't wait for the Sooners to play Florida for the champianship!)
How can anyone stop these Sooners? The Big 12 is so bad that even if the Sooners go 13-0 they may get left out of the faux championship game. If two of the other 3 big time teams go undefeated, OU is out.
We have a nice trap game coming up in Tulsa. Didn't they just beat BYU? Also, a roady at Colorado. Don't raise the Nat'l Championship banner yet. Lots of football left. I like where we are and how we are playing now, but it's way too early.
I think right now this team is better than the 2003 or 2004 teams. We never saw the flaw in the 2003 team, which was it couldn't run the ball against good teams (we have 3 RBs right now that are better than any we had in 2003). The 2004 team became predictable and just ran into a team that played an absolutely perfect game in the OB. Hopes are high. Don't sweat the ranking until November. Things will take care of themselves as long as we take care of ourselves. LSU/Florida will play each other twice, so at least one will get a loss, if not both. As impressive as SC was last night, they still have to go to Eugene, Berkeley and Seattle, and host ASU and UCLA. Hard to imagine they win all of those, though if they do they are the best team. WV will lose a Big East game (USF might be the best team in that league).
Hopefully OU won't peak too soon. Texas is sleepwalking they'll be awake come October. Ou should win against Tex but.........
OU isn't the best team out there it's still a toss up between the Sooners, Trojans, Tigers, Gators, Mountaineers(weak sched); Hell we didn't know what Florida was capable until they spanked Ohio State. I like this OU team overall but they'll need to pass a test. Most teams who blow people out during the regular season don't win the whole thing. We'll see where the Sooners are come December and see if they can sneak onto Burbon St after January 1st.
I see shades of the past 6 years (2004?). I want some proof, OU needs to beat a good and ranked opponent. Until then they are outside looking in. Texas (their play) is not helping OU either. Even when OU beats Texas, it's not going to help much, going to have to beat them by 70. It's a bad, bad Schedule for OU this year. Bad timing. Wish the media would chill a bit on all the hype (some of it sounds plum silly from OUR own newspaper), brings back bad memories. I'm proud of the job OU is doing but they must spank the rest of the opponents the remaining season to have any chance of playing in the National Title game.
This may well be Bob Stoops best overall team. If they don't stumble against Texas(and I've seen inferor Texas teams give great OU teams fits in the Cotton Bowl)or some other Big 12 team on the road,the only thing keeping these Sooners from the BCS championship might be the woeful showing of other conference teams against outside competition and the perceived effect on the Sooners' strength of schedule.
That would be a shame indeed.
I agree. I've been a fan for about 35 years and I've never seen a sooner team this balanced and explosive. Every position and area is a strength. Plus they're cohesive. Should be interesting.
Would either Tommy Brady or Tashard Choice have a place on this team if they had hung around? I've been watching OU since I was 5 years old, I am 54 now, and I don't remember an OU team with as many weapons or depth. This could really be a great year, but time will tell I suppose.
i will watch the ou game on channel 43 tonight,at 8:oclock.it will be boring,i know.i like to watch OU play when they have to fight for every yard. but i'll watch anyway
So far this Sooner team has shown up and played hard every game against overmatched opponents. Talk of BCS cahmionships and greatness should be held off until the Sooners are 8-0 convincingly.
We're good. Real good. But I agree, we need a true test. I don't think even Texas can give us that and outside of us, from what I've seen and percieve, Texas is the only other Big 12 team that can hold it's own with the top tier in other conferences around the nation. Florida looks scary, as does, LSU and USC. I would put us at #4.
Thank you fellow Sooners for displaying reasonable, cautious posts. You should read some of what is posted on other sites like ESPN and the like. It's embarassing to see the sorts of foolishness we sometimes put on display, as if the season was already played out ant we had won the championship against USC 77-0. I too believe this is a potentially great team that must be careful not to read it's own clippings. I don't believe Texas is quite as bad as they've showed so far.
Notes 09/16/2007 McCoy sits; OU works on d-line depth Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was limited to onlooker status Saturday with a broken bone in his right hand....
Game balls 09/16/2007 WR Juaquin Iglesias Malcolm Kelly may break the single-season record for TDs (he's eight away from tying Mark Clayton's mark of 15), but Iglesias continues...
OU by the numbers 09/16/2007 OU by the numbers 7 The number of receiving touchdowns Malcolm Kelly has this season on 14 receptions. He needs nine more touchdowns to pass Mark Clayton's...
Box score 09/16/2007 Utah State 0 3 0 0 — 3 Oklahoma 14 24 16 0 — 54 First Quarter OU — Juaquin Iglesias 35 run (Garret Hartley kick), 11:51. OU —...
Guy says he's long been aware of Murray 09/16/2007 Guy says he's long been aware of Murray College coaches throughout the country are well aware of Oklahoma redshirt freshman running back DeMarco Murray, and...
Patrick goes 69 yards...then gets outdone 09/16/2007 Patrick goes 69 yards...then gets outdone OU's Allen Patrick uncorked a 69-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. Then he got trumped. Redshirt freshman...
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3 questions: Lewis Baker 09/16/2007 You had the hit of the day on the Utah State kickoff return man early in the game. How did that hit feel? It felt good. I hit him right on the sweet spot,...
Offensive line key to long TD runs Their names... 09/16/2007 NORMAN — Twice, Oklahoma rushers scored untouched on long runs Saturday. Twice, OU's public address announcer told the crowd, "It was all done” by the...
Gimme the headset: Bring in the backups 09/16/2007 Gimme the headset: Bring in the backups This is the portion of the postgame report where we tell the coaches how they muffed a call. Uh, that doesn't...
Utah State a bargain OU paid only $500,000... 09/16/2007 NORMAN — Results this season have shown there are no guaranteed victories in college football. But Utah State was guaranteed $500,000 for its Saturday...
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Leave a comment. Log in below or sign up (it's free).Editor's note: It is not our intent to offer comments on crime or fatality stories.
OU isn't the best team out there it's still a toss up between the Sooners, Trojans, Tigers, Gators, Mountaineers(weak sched); Hell we didn't know what Florida was capable until they spanked Ohio State. I like this OU team overall but they'll need to pass a test. Most teams who blow people out during the regular season don't win the whole thing. We'll see where the Sooners are come December and see if they can sneak onto Burbon St after January 1st.
That would be a shame indeed.
I agree, OU looks awesome, but it's still early.