Bob Stoops and his Oklahoma Sooners took care of business Saturday night. Against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs, Oklahoma ran away with a 48-16 victory. The Sooners looked dominant in pretty much every category against a team that was clearly outmatched from the beginning.
It’s tough to grade a team with championship hopes in a game like this, but there were a few things we were able to take from last night’s blowout win. This is how Oklahoma graded out.
The Offense
Trevor Knight, Quarterback: B
Aug 30, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Trevor Knight (9) laughs during the game against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
Oklahoma fans were eager to see if the Trevor Knight they saw in the Sugar Bowl would carry over that momentum to this season. For the most part Knight gave the Sooner faithful reason to be optimistic.
Knight was solid for the most part while running an offense that clearly wasn’t willing to open up the playbook too much. He finished 19 of 34 for 253 yards with a touchdown and one interception. He also ran for 17 yards and looked as if he could have picked up a few more yards on the ground, but instead played it smart by sliding and avoiding too much contact.
The sophomore quarterback had a few errant passes, but for the most part he looked to be accurate. In the second half he seemed determined to get some of his young receivers into the act, which resulted in some dropped passes and stalled drives.
Running Backs: A
The Sooners didn’t have much experience at the running back position coming into this game. That didn’t seem to matter.
Oklahoma ran for a total of 183 yards. 162 of those yards came from the running back combination of Samaje Perine (77 yards), Keith Ford (51 yards) and Alex Ross (36 yards).
These guys proved they were a threat in the passing game as well. Ford caught four passes for 65 yards and collected 31 yards on two catches.
All three backs looked to be up to the challenge and seemed to have good vision and a nice mix of power and speed. None of them looked to take control of the starting spot, but that was not due to a lack of production. Oklahoma would probably do just fine with any of the three starting.
It was also nice to see Ford hold onto the ball, which was an issue for him a season ago.
Wide Receivers: B
The only thing keeping the receivers from getting an A would be the performance of some of the younger guys like Jordan Smallwood and Michiah Quick late in the game.
Sterling Shepard, Durron Neal and K.J. Young were all impressive. Shepard has the lone touchdown reception via a spectacular fade from Knight.
Quick and Smallwood both showed their inexperience with some drops. They also seemed to have a hard time getting on the same page with their QB.