The 2011 Bedlam game may well define the career of Landry Jones.
First, a disclaimer: Landry Jones is a fine young man and the Sooners have been fortunate to have him.
He will get a shot to play in the NFL and may well have a good career there. I would like to know him personally and would welcome him into my home or business. He’s a good guy.
But, Jones will always carry the label of unfulfilled promise as an Oklahoma quarterback.
It was Jones’ two fumbles that turned the Bedlam game and squelched the chance the Sooners had of standing in the way of Oklahoma State’s first Big 12 conference championship and first outright any-conference championship since my grandpa bought his first Edsel (actually, since they won the three-team 1948 Missouri Valley Conference).
OK, that’s probably not entirely fair.
An important factor in the 44-10 loss was the OU wide receivers’ drops of Jones’ first half passes that were relatively on target.
Still, there remains a sour taste on the palate of many Sooner fans when the name Landry Jones is uttered.
There remains a sour taste on the palate of many Sooner fans when the name Landry Jones is uttered.
Jones was the most highly recruited quarterback to come from a New Mexico high school. He had the cool and even demeanor you like from a quarterback. He wasn’t a Rhett Bomar hot head that drew attention to himself. He was coachable. He had a monster arm. He was good kid. A team player. A great recruit.
And at Oklahoma, he has been all those things. He yeomanly stepped into service as a redshirt freshman when Sam Bradford went down to injury, and under those circumstances did well. The Sooners were 3-1 against ranked teams when Jones was a starting redshirt freshman.
But Landry Jones has also been a quarterback who hasn’t consistently improved the last two seasons, at least not in ways that are easily identifiable and which translate into victories against equal or better opponents. His record at quarterback: Jones has now thrown for 11,515 yards. He’s thrown for 92 touchdown passes. Seven games for more than 400 yards. As a starter the Sooners are 29-8 and 11-3 against ranked teams.
He began the season as the quarterback of the odds-on favorite to play for the national championship. He ends the season remembered for his two fumbles in Bedlam, which led to two touchdowns that opened the flood gates of a Cowboys rout.
It was the worst whipping the Sooners have had in Bedlam since Oklahoma A&M won 47-0 in 1945 — before the troops came home and constructed the Sooner dynasty.
It seems like we’re seeing a lot of those “first time since” and “first ever” phrases associated with Oklahoma losses recently.
Jones career is also marked by previous losses to Texas Tech (twice), Baylor, Missouri, Texas A&M and Nebraska. Sure, the Oklahoma defense has been suspect the last two years, especially with inexperience in the secondary and less than OU-caliber linebackers. That made the quarterback play all the more important. And in some games he’s performed very well.
The 2010 Big 12 championship come-from-behind 23-20 win over Nebraska comes to mind.
But this year, the season-ending injuries to Dominique Whaley and Ryan Broyles put all the pressure on Landry Jones to step up in the last three games of the season.
And, he didn’t. Two of them were losses.
As much as we would like to herald the career of Landry Jones, we can’t.
He’s been a good quarterback on a team where “good” isn’t good enough.
The Sooners have to have great quarterbacks. In today’s parity of college football, you have to have a Jason White or a Sam Bradford to meet the expectations that Oklahoma has to win conference championships every year, and national championships at least every decade.
He’s been a good quarterback on a team where “good” isn’t good enough.
Having a great quarterback is especially important for an offense whose success depends upon the quarterback play. It is also so vital when the team lacks the defensive ability to shut down the high octane offenses of the Big 12 conference. And Oklahoma has been lacking in that category of late.
We’re not smart enough to know whether the shortcomings of Jones are because he maxed out his talent. Or, whether the Oklahoma coaching staff maxed out their ability to develop his talents. The football experts who sit around us in Section 11 can answer that. We just know the shortcomings exist.
Landry Jones is a junior who may, and should, declare for the NFL draft. Sure, Oklahoma’s chances of success would be better with a senior Jones at quarterback next year than with the upstart Blake Bell or Drew Allen. But, it’s probably time they get their chance to step up and find out whether they can meet the Sooner expectations.
Best wishes to Landry. Some day we might laugh about Bedlam 2011 and how the Pokey fans got their first Big 12 conference championship on a breezy Saturday night in Stillwater.
But we first have to let that sour taste wear off. — Mike
Follow
Well written and I agree. Hopefully the OU staff will develop a defense that can carry the day when the offense is struggling. Miss those great defenses. Boomer Sooner and lookout 2012.