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NORMAN, Okla.— Oklahoma’s field-goal kicker, Jimmy Stevens, had a good-news, bad-news career day.
The good news is that he was 4--for-4 kicking 3-pointers from 21 to 35 yards in the Sooners’ 33-7 warm up-for-Texas win over Baylor in the Big 12 opener for both teams.The bad news is coach Bob Stoops had to call his number so many times to get threes instead of rolling sevens in the red zone.But that didn’t come into play against the Bears. It might next week in the Cotton Bowl against the Longhorns."The downside [of Stevens’ day] — if you want to go immediately go to the negative — [is that] we needed to score more touchdowns in the red zone," Stoops said."It gets down to execution and blocking. And we had a drop or so where we had opportunities to catch it."Receivers by consensus dropped 11 catchable passes on a cool, crisp fall afternoon.If not for the collective butterfingers, Sam Bradford’s return to action would have been spectacular. As it was, Bradford was pretty darned good.OU’s Heisman Trophy and Davey O’Brien Award-winning quarterback completed 27 of 49 passes for 389 yards. Included was a late, 3-yard, end-zone strike to Adron Tennell for his only scoring toss of the day. He should have had three more.Ah, but what the hey. Sam had a good time sweating out the heat of competition for the first time since the first half of the season-opening game. If he hadn’t said so, all you had to do was look at him. He was radiant. And without an ice pack."It’s extremely gratifying just to be back out there," Bradford said. "To get out on the field with guys I’ve spent so much time with in the off-season. The simple things. The handoffs, everything. It’s just so exciting."Something we were all curious to see [was] how I would react to 3 1/2 , four hours out there in my pads, not throwing all the time, sitting on the bench and coming back out there and making some throws. But I felt like my arm was feeling great."If there was one moment when Bradford absolutely, positively knew all was well with his right shoulder sprain, it came in the third quarter.Protection broke. Bradford slipped out right and found freshman Jaz Reynolds on a comeback throw for a 12-yard gain and a first down at the Baylor 15."Just to throw on the run all the way across the field gives me a lot of confidence," Bradford said. "I’m sure there are ... a couple of missed reads out there today, but I felt good just the way my arm responded. The way I was able to play four quarters and able to make some throws in the fourth quarter that had some heat on them."Stoops said he thought Bradford was "great."OU struggled to a 14-7 halftime lead, but caught its wind in the second half, dominating defensively and moving the ball.Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said because of Bradford’s "calmness, confidence and experience" that he worked the line of scrimmage faster than backup Landry Jones.Everyone was happy to have him back in the huddle.Sophomore receiver Dejuan Miller, who said he felt like he "took a huge step" with five catches for 67 yards, said Bradford’s return was inspirational."Landry did a great job," Miller said. "But when you’ve got a guy back there who will probably be the No.1 pick in the draft and he’s delivering accurate balls out there and you know it’s going to be right in your hands, all you have to do is make a play."Bradford alone won’t be enough to lift OU past the Longhorns next week.Mike Jones, 817-390-7760
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