Jones’ improvement kept Sooners from losing

At last year’s end I suggested Landry Jones should go pro because he couldn’t improve any more at the college level.

I was wrong. Had Jones not improved his mobility and ability to handle the pass rush during the off season the Sooners would have lost late Saturday night/Sunday morning in El Paso. Instead the Sooners won 24-7.

A good example of Jones’ improvement was the 68-yard pass play to Kenny Stills that got the Sooners on the board in the first half.

The O-line, which is obviously impacted by the loss of Ben Habern and Tyler Evans even more than we had thought, let a tenacious Miners pass rush chase Jones out of the pocket. Jones actually got flushed, instead of crushed, drifting to his left and looking to his right.

Jones saw Kenny Stills near the opposite sideline. By then Stills had run his route and was standing there like a spectator on the first row watching his quarterback squirm away from the Miner rush.

Then a Josh Heupel-esque moment happened. (Heupel the player, not Heupel the offensive coordinator, mind you.)

Then a Josh Heupel-esque moment happened. (Heupel the player, not Heupel the offensive coordinator, mind you.)

After some form of non-contact Vulcan mind-meld communication between the two, Stills took off downfield and Jones heaved a bomb at least 50 yards in the air across the field. Stills grabbed it in stride and streaked to the end zone. Tie ballgame, 7-7.

“I just saw Kenny running down the sideline over and kind of just put it out there and let his speed go get the ball,” Jones said.

The play demonstrated what an experienced quarterback and experienced wide receiver can do when they are on the same page. It also demonstrated how they will need to do that this year, because the Oklahoma offensive line is in trouble.

 
I can’t complain about the Oklahoma defense, although at times the quick-fototed UTEP running back Nathan Jeffrey, made their tackling look like that of the Alcott Middle School Wildcats (no disrespect to the 7th graders). Actually, DT David King was an absolute monster who almost single-handedly kept the Sooners in the game during the first half. The secondary coverage was tight, so tight sometimes the officials took offense to it (but we can live with that).

Even the running backs looked good. Dom Whaley appears to have recovered from his broken ankle quite nicely. And, this JUCO transfer Damien Williams is a stud. He may beat Whaley out of the starting tailback position before season’s end.

We’ll reserve comment on the kicking game (that gave up the only score to UTEP when Jeffrey returned a block punt) for another day. Also, Jones will need to fine tune the timing with receivers Trey Metoyer and Justin Brown who were ineffective until the second half against the Miners.

For now, the big concern is that the offensive line that played Saturday night is not the offensive line that protected Landry last year. Jones was sacked three times in El Paso. He was sacked only 10 times all of last season.

Depth of the Sooners offensive line is thin. But, regardless of that, the unit looked confused by the pass rush scheme dished up by UTEP Coach Mike Price. Credit Price, who is a much better football coach than his affable manner and party history lets on. But, also, the Oklahoma guards and tackles just had a bad game of pass protection.

Jones will have to scramble more. He will have to deliver passes much more quickly (which Oklahoma can certainly do in its hurry-up offense). And the O-line will have to get better.

Otherwise, the loss that the Sooners avoided this weekend in the west Texas town of El Paso will come later on September 22 in Norman, Oklahoma when another wily football coach named Bill Snyder brings his Wildcats to town.

 
PHOTO CREDIT: EL PASO TIMES

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