John Rohde, sports columnist
Slippery when wet: Sooners' road to recovery begins with easy victory in steady rain
OU 64, Idaho State 0
By John Rohde
Comments 
49
Published: September 13, 2009
Modified: September 16, 2009 at 2:38 pm
NORMAN — On a soggy Saturday at sundown, a judgmental crowd of 84,749 showed up at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium to see if the Sooners still knew how to play football.
Idaho State’s Ben Laporta, center, is brought down by a group of OU defenders during a soggy game on Saturday in Norman. The Sooners routed the Bengals 64-0. Photo by Steve Sisney, The Oklahoman
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OU Analysis
Sep 13Jake Trotter and David Ubben break down the Sooners 1st win in 2009.
OU back on track
Sep 13Sooners return home with a victory over Idaho St 64-0 in Norman....
OU responded by posting a 64-0 victory over subdivision
Idaho State.
In addition to not scoring, the
Bengals also managed just six first downs, 44 total yards in 58 plays and crossed midfield once.
The most impressive number Idaho State posted was $500,000, which was its appearance guarantee for making the trip south from Pocatello.
If you’re looking for a measuring stick, last week against
Arizona State the Bengals had four first downs, 37 yards on 47 plays, but did manage to score on a 55-yard field goal in a 50-3 loss.
So, what did we possibly learn about the Sooners on a night like this?
We learned Owen Field drains very well.
We also learned they still know how to score and block and catch and run and usually remember the snap count.
With OU in front 41-0 at halftime and the rain intensifying, roughly two-thirds of the 63rd consecutive sellout crowd didn’t bother returning for the second half.
These defectors can be forgiven. There was nothing left to witness. The carnage was complete. Move along, please. Nothing to see here.
Last week, the Sooners were scarred physically and mentally by a 14-13 loss to
Brigham Young at
Cowboys Stadium.
This week began their road to recovery.
Odd as it sounds, OU
needed to play this game.
They needed some Big Sky mouthwash to cleanse the bitter aftertaste left by the Mountain West.
Having a bye week only would have added to the misery and uncertainty that suddenly had engulfed a team aiming for its fifth national title game in the last 10 seasons.
The No. 13-ranked Sooners needed to work on some things against the Bengals, and they did so despite playing in weather better suited for Sea World.
With a steady rain falling throughout and a serious mismatch in size and skill, it would have been easy for OU to simply bulldoze its way to victory.
The Sooners could have been the big bully on the beach and kicked sand in the weakling’s face. Instead, they actually picked up some sand and
threw it in the rain.
Redshirt freshman quarterback
Landry Jones looked very much at ease replacing
Heisman Trophy winner
Sam Bradford, completing 18 of 32 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns.
Other offensive players proved their worth after last week’s struggles.
Sophomore receiver
Ryan Broyles was sure-handed, scary good and finished with 227 all-purpose yards.
The Sooners used 10 different combinations with their offensive linemen, who showed some improvement in remembering the snap count — two false starts (
Jarvis Jones and
Trent Ratterree).
There were some fumbles and dropped passes, though understandable with such wet conditions.
Though the Bengals and Sooners are not in the same hemisphere on the football field, style points still mattered for OU given what transpired the previous week in
Arlington.
The Sooners were favored to win by half-a-hundred and could have won by twice that.
Asked who impressed him most from OU, Idaho State linebacker A.J. Storms chuckled and said, "Everybody. They’re all great players."
Up next is
Tulsa, which will be much tougher than the Bengals.
After a bye week comes a trip to
Miami, which figures to be much tougher than Tulsa.
Then the fun begins in the
Big 12.
For the Sooners, this season is one step at a time and one week at a time.
Twelve weeks remain in the regular season. If OU can win the rest of its games and is able to move up one spot each week in the polls, it would qualify for that fifth title game since 2000.
Saturday night was just one step out of 12. Nothing more, nothing less.
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We can exchange stories about how dumb okies are there, PLUS we won't have to worry about our posts being censored....
J.R., Metro - Sep 13, 2009 at 11:28 am
"Redshirt freshman quarterback Landry Jones looked very much at ease replacing Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, completing 18 of 32 passes for 286 yards and three touchdowns."
18-32 against Idaho State?
Give me a break.
1) 1st and goal from the 2 and can't stuff it in.
2) Too many balls hitting WR's in the hands and then the turf.
3) Landry forcing the ball instead of going thru his reads. Can't count the number of times the TE or WR was open in the middle of the field last night and Landry never saw it.
4) Dom Franks getting worked. Not sure what happened to him, but he's played terrible so far this year. If I'm Tulsa's OC, I go after him early and often.
Need to improve those in a hurry. Tulsa will definitely be a test.