The only thing this game lacked was good ol’ Bobby Bowden summing up the first half with one of his “wha happened out there?” sideline interviews.
What happened, Bobby, was that Florida State was mauled by a fast-paced Oklahoma offense and a spirited defense that one FSU player said “played with greater heart.”
Earlier in the week Coach Bob Stoops admitted in uncharacteristic fashion that he had held back some of the Sooner offense against Utah State the week before. He held nothing back against Florida State.
At one point the play calling was so unpredictable and diverse that you had the feeling big brother was just toying with little brother, Mark Stoops, the FSU defensive coordinator.
Most effectively, the no-huddle offense kept the Seminoles on their heels.
Can we now dispense with the Jones-is-not-the-answer at QB mantra that was being tossed about earlier in the week by the arm-chair coaches?
Jones’ 321 first half passing yards was second in school history to only Sam Bradford’s 350 yards thrown in 2007.
“This is what we expect of him,” said linebacker Travis Lewis. “He’s a great quarterback. Not a good one.
“A great one.”
Well, he looked like it against the Seminoles anyway.
One thing about Jones that appears to rile some football fans who want Tebow-like yelling from their quarterback leader is his quiet demeanor, which didn’t change in a big performance this week from what it was in a poorer performance last.
Interestingly, Jones told the ABC broadcast crew this week that his career goal is to be a pastor.
Oklahoma’s defense played like they had studied a lot of FSU film. The linebackers and secondary were constantly shifting and accurately anticipating FSU QB Christian Ponder’s decision on pass plays. This might explain why they stubbed their toe last week against Utah State. They had been watching Florida State film.
The Sooners’ defense was also very, very aggressive.
“We had a chip on our shoulder. We knew we could play better,” Ronnell Lewis said, referring to last week’s poor defensive showing against Utah State in comparison.
Freshman running back Brennan Clay was carted from the field after his second-half injury. The medical team worked with Clay for about 10 minutes before sending him by ambulance to the hospital. Following the game, Coach Stoops said:
“Everything so far has checked out well. When he left the field he was responsive. . . He was moving everything…When he left in the ambulance for further tests he had a big smile on his face and he was talking. They just want to make sure they’re not missing anything.”
UPDATE: Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops said on Sunday that Sooner running back Brennan Clay has been discharged from hospital care and is back in his campus residence. “We were happy to see big smiles from Brennan this morning,” Stoops said. “Everything has checked out well.” Stoops said it has not yet been determined how long Clay will be sidelined.
Wide receiver coach Jay Norvell has given up his press box seat and moved to the sidelines. This is to give him better contact with his young corps of pass catchers during games.
It obviously made a difference on Saturday. Twelve different receivers caught passes from Sooner quarterbacks.
Scenes from Oklahoma vs. Florida State
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