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David Stanley Ford

QB situation no distraction for OU's Landry Jones

BY DAVID UBBEN, Staff Writer, dubben@opubco.com    Comments Comment on this article22
Published: October 6, 2009



NORMAN — If Landry Jones’ upper lip is any indication, Monday was the dawn of something new in Oklahoma football.


One has to wonder if the constant questions regarding Sam Bradford’s playing status is a distraction for the Sooners. Photo by Bryan Terry, The Oklahoman

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The most famous mustache in football was MIA, but while the look is new, the words coming from beneath it weren’t. The redshirt freshman quarterback was adamant that a second week of uncertainty under center wasn’t a distraction.

"If Sam comes back this week, that’ll be great,” Jones said. "If he doesn’t, I’ll be ready to go.”

He and his coach, Bob Stoops, said the attention paid to the quarterback situation wasn’t a distraction last week, either. But on Monday, Stoops said he wouldn’t make a decision on his starter until Thursday at the earliest, presumably in an attempt to dodge a daily barrage of Bradford questions.

He answered several during Monday’s Big 12 teleconference but grew frustrated at the repeated inquisition.

"Until you see them progress, you don’t know. Until you get out there and work it, you don’t know,” Stoops said. "Everybody keeps asking the same question, and the answer is impossible to give.”

Bradford and Jones split snaps with the first team last week, but Bradford didn’t suit up against Miami. For Stoops, managing two quarterbacks isn’t the problem. The problem is unappeasable critics.

"You’re always working two quarterbacks, and sometimes working a little bit of the third guy to get him some snaps,” Stoops said. "Everybody says he gets all the snaps, and then it’s, ‘Well, how come the second guy wasn’t ready to play?’ He didn’t get enough snaps if you ever have to go with him. So then when you split them up and you give the second guy some, ‘Well, you shouldn’t be giving them to him. The one ought to get them all.’ We handle it. They’ve got enough snaps.”

For now, Jones will continue playing the role of starting quarterback and leader.

"When I was the backup, it was Sam’s team,” Jones said. "When I knew he wasn’t going to play, I kind of stepped up and took it over as my team.”

Oklahoma fans might have spent last week glued to the television, constantly clicking their Web browser’s refresh button in hopes of hearing who would be leading their team into Land Shark Stadium against the Hurricanes.

Level-headed Jones said he stayed away from a seemingly unavoidable string of daily reports on his status as starter.

While his teammates might not have followed suit, he said the issue was no distraction, and his mental approach has been no different once Sam playing became a possibility.

"If I get to start this week, I’ll be excited,” Jones said. "Hopefully, I’ll take care of business.”

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David Stanley Ford





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Hey is Landry going to start against Baylor? I would rather start him than the Mizzou qb in my fantasty league. Anybody heard?
Terry, Norman - Oct 8, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Landry Jones is NOT the problem, what a great arm and kid. Wilson needs to build the offense around what HE does best. What he does best isn't running the frickin I formation and handing off into an 8 man front. Low risk crossing patterns and throwing to the backs out of the spread. Running out of a 3 or 4 wide formation. It wouldn't hurt to let Jones run a draw now and again either, other teams sure make a living off it on us. Wilson, during big game days, gets a small piece of brain lodged in his head, we need to remove it so he can function.
Bob, Edmond - Oct 8, 2009 at 9:04 am
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I don't think it so much as to what plays are being called or the number of pass vs run. To me it appears to be when these plays are called i.e. the sequence of a series and the follow up of the next series. Other than Ou I can't recall any other team being so predictable when it comes to how these plays are mixed up. It makes no sense to me or anyone else. Must be coaching.
Steve, Ketchum - Oct 8, 2009 at 7:34 am
Did anyone read my post prior to the Miami Game?
Shepard, Stonewall - Oct 7, 2009 at 9:49 pm
NOW that Ladry has shaved the Chevron....

I wish that you could edit or delete your own comments on here after posting like on espn.com. you make a mispelling or typo and it is forevers.
Barney, Mayberry - Oct 7, 2009 at 10:12 am
Not that Landry has shaved the Chevron, OU will be a whole new team.
The Offense should be able to protect Jones and keep him un-molested.
Hopefully he can now shine like a real p o r n star. Thanks goes to Whitney Hand for forcing these important personnel change on Landry's Lip.
Barney, Mayberry - Oct 7, 2009 at 10:01 am
The injuries are the result of bad coaching! Exposing Sam on several times from the left against BYU is an example of the coach not recognizing the LB delay blitz from the left side. That is one injury that could have been prevented. I'm losing faith in this whole coaching staff starting from the top! 0-5 in last five BCS, losing to Texas three out of four Red River shootout and an underachieving team full of talents is a result of poor coaching!
j3lly, Boon Dock - Oct 6, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Go back to the Bayou and eat some crawdads, dude and sniff Les Miles' crack. See ya.
Lloyd, Irving - Oct 6, 2009 at 6:16 pm
I like Landry Jones...he seems to be a common sense kind of guy like Sam, and looks to be pretty durable, even though a player can be hurt on any given play...
Jeff, Tulsa - Oct 6, 2009 at 4:55 pm
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It's tough to call decent plays when your most productive playmakers are all out for the year. I don't know how Sam is going to fare when he gets back with no Gresham or Broyles to throw to. There is going to be another inexperienced receiver on the outside to replace Broyles. I'd hate to be an OC under those conditions. They are going to have to rely more on the running game, that's for sure. And, with the young offensive line, who knows what's in store.
Lloyd, Irving - Oct 6, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I disagree Mike, OU had every opportunity even with the injuries to pull out a win at both BYU and Miami. Yes it would have been easier and probably more decisive, but there is no excuses why they couldn't have won. The problem is the play calling and Wilson not trusting his offense. Jones had the game in hand and was doing it right. They took the game away from him and started calling vanilla plays.
Jess, Warr Acres - Oct 6, 2009 at 3:57 pm
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Jason, that has got to be the biggest bunch of baloney I have ever heard. They are not built around one player. Broyles, Greshem, Bradford, Brown, Murray, McCoy, Reynolds. Now tell me they are built around one player! If Greshem were healthy, Bradford going down would have been easier. Bradford being healthy and Greshem's injury is not as big of an issue. The problem is the number of experienced guys getting injured has hurt them. If my Steelers team lost Big Ben, Hines Ward, and Polomalu it would be expected that they wouldn't be near as good as last year when they won the superbowl.
John, Brockway - Oct 6, 2009 at 2:10 pm
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Britton, that is the sooner's problem. They build their team around one player...look what happened this season.
Jason, Tulsa - Oct 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Curtis...every successful coach in the history of organized sports has a VASTLY superior record in home games than in road games. So a story on it would actually be as pointless and unrevealing as a story possibly could be. OU is ranked ahead of Wisconsin because all the voters understand that Wisconsin at full strength would get blown out by Miami or BYU, while an OU team decimated by injuries still played each to a one-point game. The bottom line is this: Take the starting QB and two leading receivers away from any team in the country (Texas & Florida included), give them OU's schedule, and they'd be 2-2 right now. Period.
Mike, Seguin - Oct 6, 2009 at 1:04 pm
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I am still confused about certain play calling. For example, in the 3Q with us on our 17 and it was 2nd and 4, our "o" set up in what appeared to be a wide right double back slant "Ricky quick flat 33 option go post". From my vantage point it appeared to me that the perfect play would have been a "diamond red option look back jiggle flip sideline toss on 2". Naturally, the play went as called and we made a 1stD but I wasn't pleased. I would like to see our "o" do more when given great chances to make 20 yards on a run from what my mind sees.
Dolph, Ft. Worth - Oct 6, 2009 at 12:26 pm
The 'experts' tell us that Gerald McCoy has all the tools to make it to the NFL and, perhaps he does....I can't remember his number being called one time last Saturday night...perhaps I may have missed it on my trips to the toilet. Its' been said many times that the loss of Gresham, Bradford and now Broyles, is hard to overcome...and it is. Sooner fans may have to settle for a 500 year or less.
Don, Calion - Oct 6, 2009 at 12:06 pm
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The problem is not who is under center, it's who is calling the plays. Time for a major shakeup in the coaching area. If Stoops cannot see that, maybe taking away his cushy $6 million a year might wake him up!!!
Alan, Dacula - Oct 6, 2009 at 11:53 am
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It's rediculous that Wisconsin is ranked behind noU. 5-0 and all noU has done is beat Idaho State and Tulsa. Can't get it done against anyone with a pulse. Look at stoops' road record. It puts a completely different perspective on his home record. That would be a good article.
curtis, cushing - Oct 6, 2009 at 11:00 am
Landry and the offense are not really the problem. You really don't need a high-scoring offense when you have a SEC-style defense that can shut down opposing offenses and manage to score a few TD's on INT's and fumble recoveries. OU defense has been terrible since the days Calmus and Lehman left the program.
RL - Oct 6, 2009 at 10:37 am
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Looks like they need to build a team around someone.
ED, MULESHOE - Oct 6, 2009 at 9:31 am
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I really like Landry. let's hope we can build a team around him.
Britton, Edmond - Oct 6, 2009 at 8:30 am

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