Oklahoma football: OU sets bar high after week one win over Louisiana Tech

By Christopher Long | Aug 31, 2014

Finally, the football season is upon us. More importantly, Oklahoma Sooners football, has finally returned. Since Oklahoma’s victory in the Sugar Bowl over Alabama, we all have been anxiously waiting for this day to come. It finally has, and Oklahoma showed us some things about how 2014 will possibly play out. This is hopefully the beginning of Oklahoma’s march to Dallas.

The first thing I noticed was Trevor Knight. What a difference a year, and a total demolishing of the Crimson Tide, can do for you. He looked poised, accurate, throwing the ball into almost impossible windows. His only touchdown pass, the fade route to Sterling Shepard, was a thing of beauty.

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He also has learned the value of a slide. Last year, Trevor Knight wouldn’t have made those decisions to slide like he did tonight on certain plays. And for a player who has a history of getting nicked up and missing time. This definitely will go along way in keeping him healthy all year.

Knight finished the night 19/34, 253 passing yards, and one touchdown pass. 56 percent of his passes were completed in the season debut. It certainly was a far cry from this time last season. A large majority of his passes hit their targets.

Unfortunately, the majority of the incomplete passes fell victim to drops from the young receiving corps later in the game. Knight did not come out of this contest mistake-free. He turned the ball over twice in the game. Once by fumble, and once by an interception.

Overall, it was a decent performance outside of the two turnovers. Knight only looks to improve as the rust is shook out of his shoulder pads. Though Knight wasn’t needed as much. The running game actually looked good.

Alex Ross, Keith Ford, and Samjie Perine all split the load. This group accumulated 164 yards on 33 attempts and five touchdowns. Adding to the fact, Alex Ross returned a kick-off 80 yards, netting him 147 all purpose yards.

This running back group was also targeted by Trevor Knight in the passing game. The group accounted for 6 receptions and 96 yards of the 253 yards in passing production. Collectively, Oklahoma amassed 436 yards. The wide receivers played decent. Though individual stats were down, plenty of receivers were involved. Knight targeted seven different player over the course of the game. Shepard and Ford led receivers in yardage and receptions.

Oklahoma, also, won the field position battle, thanks to the defense, which made the offense’s job easier. Speaking of the defense, though, Mike Stoops has one of the fastest looking groups of defenders that Oklahoma has seen in quite some time.

Oklahoma simply swarmed the Louisiana Tech offense, keeping them from doing anything until the very end of the first half of the game. This group was stifling. And packed a punch in rush defense holding Tech to only 54 yards rushing.

Worth noting, Zack Sanchez blocked a field goal, and the Sooners blocked an extra point attempt. On top of that, Oklahoma hit home with two sacks, and Sanchez snatched an interception.

It was a successful outing for the defense.The one blunder was Jordan Evans. He definitely made his presence felt on Owen Field. However, he made it felt a little too well, as he received a targeting penalty and was ejected from the game. With Oklahoma not having a lot of bodies in the linebacking corps, they can not afford mistakes that will sideline them.

This game was what you would expect it to be. A tune-up game. For a tune-up, though, Oklahoma was leaps and bounds ahead of where they were this time last year. The running back group, for as young and inexperienced as they are, showed a lot of promise. Replacing Brennan Clay, Damian Williams, and Roy Finch is not an easy task. Despite that, the running backs should still be a good group. Overall, Oklahoma will only improve as the season progresses.

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