SATURDAY KNIGHT'S ALRIGHT
'What a rush'....
On the third play of the game, Trevor Knight demonstrated one of the key elements that will make this style of offense so different from last year's version. He ran for a first down.
For the last several years, the Sooner offense was geared to the talents of QB Landry Jones. Landry was blessed with an NFL caliber arm, evidenced by the fact that the Steelers selected him with their fourth round pick in this year's NFL draft. But when it came to running ability...Landry couldn't scatter horse manure if he had a rake tied to his ass.
When your quarterback has all the mobility of a telephone poll, the 'read option'...isn't one. In the name of full disclosure, I don't know exactly how many times Landry ran for a first down in his career, but I am willing to bet that it wasn't many more time than I have.
This stat sums it up pretty well...Saturday night Trevor Knight rushed for 103 yards. Landry Jones rushed for -375 yards in his career.
Was it over when the German's bombed Pearl Harbor?
Obviously, things didn't start well for the Sooner offense. At the end of the first quarter, Knight was 3 of 10 passing for 7 yards. In other words, if you bunched his three completions together it wouldn't have been enough to wake up the two guys holding onto the first down markers. The only thing that seemed in sync for the Sooners at this stage of the game was the chorus of groans emanating from the 85,000 heat stroke candidates that were sitting on their hands inside Memorial Stadium.
But if Trevor Knight needed therapy or a pick-me up tweet from Dr. Phil, it didn't show. I watched him on the sidelines in between offensive series and all I saw was confidence. Maybe it was denial, or maybe he is fearless, but either way, he didn't let the slow start bother him. As a result, things got better pretty quickly. Bottom line is, I was very impressed with the way the kid handled the slow start. He was nothing but positive energy.
'Come Together, Right Now, Over Me'...
After the aforementioned slow start, Knight and the Sooners started to click a little bit. There were still some poor throws and some open receivers missed, but the Sooners started doing what they were supposed to do...and that was to dominate an inferior opponent. With less than four minutes gone in the second quarter, Trevor Knight threw his first touchdown pass...a little lob job that Jalen Saunders ran in from 12 yards out.
The final stats read 11 of 28 passing for 86 yards and 3 touchdowns. He was also cited as having thrown an interception, but how the ref's came to that conclusion after watching the replay is almost comical. His 103 yards rushing on 13 carries marked the first time an OU QB had rushed for more than a hundred yards since Jason White pulled the feat in 2001.
The most important stat of course was on the scoreboard. Trevor Knight and the Sooners got the W and that obviously will always be the most important goal.
My original grade for QB Trevor Knight's debut was a C+. But that was when I was still trying to recover from dehydration, heat stroke, and whatever else I deserved to suffer from after standing around drinking in 105 degree heat all day. But now that it looks like I am going to live, B- seems more reasonable.
The schedule sets up pretty well for Knight and the Sooners over the next few weeks. West Virginia, this weekend's opponent, is a team that looks like it might be in for a long year. A talented Tulsa team is up next, but the game is in Norman and I can't see the Hurricanes pulling off the upset on the road.
Following Tulsa is the first of the three off-weeks that the Sooners somehow managed to collect on their schedule this year. I hate off-weeks, but if there was ever a good spot for one, this would be it. If the Sooners can take care of business with WVA and Tulsa, they will be 3-0 with two weeks to prepare for the trip to South Bend and the game against the hated B.B. Heads.
Boomer Sooner....Beat the Mountaineers!
Just the opinion of one mildly interested guy
The Overweight Armchair Sooner
Buddy Putty
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