To determine if Landry Jones' return is a success, check the standings

Some say he didn't.

But here's the truth — we don't have enough evidence to reach either verdict about the Sooner quarterback. That's because the question of whether Jones' decision was right will be judged more than anything else by the number in the win column.

So says a guy who would know — Andrew Luck.

His story is well known, of course. He returned to Stanford last season even when everyone said he would've been the first player taken in the NFL Draft. He led the Cardinal to 11 wins in the regular season and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl against Oklahoma State.

Because of that bowl matchup, I had a chance to catch up with Luck and asked him what he was most glad to have come back for. Living the college life? Improving his skills? Spending time with teammates?

Those things were nice, he said, but winning was paramount.

“If we had a terrible season,” he said, “it would be pretty rough.”

With the season opener only days away, it's time for the Sooners to start making Jones' decision pay off.

And frankly, that starts with Jones himself.

He was really good last season. Really, really good. He threw for more than 4,400 yards and completed better than 63 percent of his pass attempts. Considering he lost his top rushing and receiving threats to injury — Dom Whaley went down first, followed a week later by Ryan Broyles — Jones did an extremely admirable job holding things together as well as he did.

But he wasn't perfect.

He got happy feet sometimes in the pocket. He struggled to hit receivers sometimes when he was flushed out. And he had trouble capping drives when the Sooners got into the red zone, leading to the evolution of the Belldozer.