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NORMAN, Okla. — Early in the week, when Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops refused to discuss quarterback Sam Bradford’s rehabilitation, the Soonerland fanatics shot off in all directions like rider-less go-carts.
Aha, some figured, Bob is sandbagging us. Bradford has fully recovered from the AC joint sprain in his throwing shoulder. "He’s gonna play this week against Tulsa. Oh, happy day."Others took Stoops’ pronouncement — which is the same concerning every injury a player has had at OU since 1999 — and started to mix the Kool-Aid. "OMG, it’s worse than both Sam and Bob said. He’s out for the year!"Well, Bradford didn’t suit up for OU’s somewhat surprising 45-0 wipeout of Tulsa. And the educated guess is that there is no cover-up. Bradford will be back at some point, my feeling is no sooner than the Baylor game Oct. 10.But one of the overriding messages to be gleaned from Saturday’s victory is Sam need not hurry. He can take his time and get everything all healed up. He may need the wing to reclaim his job.Landry Jones, in his second start, one-upped Bradford, co-Heisman Trophy winner Jason White and his own quarterbacks coach, Josh Heupel, the 2000 Heisman runner-up.The mustachioed redshirt freshman threw for a Sooners-record six touchdowns Saturday against what was thought to be a pretty decent Tulsa defense. He now has nine touchdown passes. "I thought Landry was outstanding once again," Stoops said. "I didn’t know until we were coming off the field that he had set a school record."It is kind of ironic, with the great quarterbacks we’ve had [naming Bradford, White and Heupel] and all the other great guys we’ve had. I elbowed Sam in the locker room and he loved it, too."Let’s hope Stoops’ gesture was more nudge than shot.But Landry had to admit he was pretty pumped about the six-pack, too."It feels pretty good right now," he said, although he doubted that he would be bringing it up to either Bradford or Heupel."I don’t know if I’ll be doing that," Jones said. "They have a little more experience than I have, and I haven’t done anything yet. I am getting used to the speed of the game and how everyone looks out there."Everyone looked pretty good Saturday.Jones didn’t get his game pants dirty while throwing for 336 yards against a Tulsa defense that had 10 sacks in its two previous games.Receiver Ryan Broyles was again A-list with 11 catches for 128 yards, and he had three TDs for the second consecutive week.And Brandon Caleb may have eased the search for "another receiver." Decent against BYU and invisible against Idaho State, he emerged with career highs of five receptions for 104 yards and two touchdowns. His best play was a 63-yard catch in which he blew past the defense on a quick snap to take the ball at the 35, twice stiff-arming a safety on his way to the end zone."I just wanted to get out there and show the coaches that I can make plays," Caleb said. Consider it done.Shutting out Idaho State was one thing. Blanking a program that has led the nation in total offense the past two seasons is another."I thought the whole defense played well," said end Jeremy Beal, who caused a fumble and was responsible for three of OU’s six sacks."We were really prepared for a Tulsa team who has a really good offense. This gives us a lot of confidence. But we’re not going to get too big-headed. Tulsa is a very good team, but we have to stay hungry as a defense."The Sooners don’t play this week before the next biggest game of the season at unbeaten and oh-so-quick Miami. Stoops was asked the impact of a wipeout of a team that was an 18-point underdog."I think it does resonate with the players that we are getting better," he said. "We are making improvements. It encourages them to continue do that."But as I said in the locker room, we can’t wait until [Miami] game week. We need to take advantage of this week and make more improvements. And I think [this] encourages them to do that."Mike Jones, 817-390-7760
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