By John Shinn
Transcript Sports Writer
Oklahoma quarterbacks Paul Thompson and Rhett Bomar wanted to make Wednesday night’s scrimmage at Owen Field a final showcase of their skills.
It was the third of three outings OU scheduled for the preseason and the last chance to impress the coaching staff in a game-like setting before school begins and practices shorten.
Instead, the Sooner defense dominated the night.
The quarterbacks were sacked eight times and Bomar was saddled with two interceptions.
“The defense was very sound,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “They tackled well and there were very few, if any busted assignments. That is what it ought to be.”
The Sooner offense didn’t bring all their weapons to the show. All-American running back Adrian Peterson and fullback J.D. Runnels were held out. Back-up running back Kejuan Jones was also missing due to a foot injury.
The Sooners ran the ball 27 times for 103 yards, but 59 came on Donta Hickson’s run on the scrimmage’s sixth play.
For the second straight scrimmage, Thompson had the better numbers, throwing for 154 yards and completing 15-of-29 attempts. He also had the scrimmage’s only touchdown pass, a 3-yard completion to Quentin Chaney.
Bomar was 8-for-16 for 118 yards. However, he didn’t have a touchdown pass. His two interceptions also caught offensive coordinator Chuck Long’s eye.
“It gets down to taking care of the football,” Long said. “That’s the first thing that sticks out. It happens with any young inexperienced quarterback. They all go through that.”
The Sooners would like to name a starting quarterback soon. Still, Long said there’s a chance both could share snaps this season.
Bomar didn’t seem concerned Wednesday.
“When the times comes, they are going to name a starter,” he said. “I can’t worry about that. I just have to go out and play. It’s got to be coming pretty soon.”
Thompson didn’t seem too concerned either. He was looking forward to the offense moving on to some plays the defense hadn’t seen yet.
“The defense, those are great guys,” Thompson said. “They’ve been seeing our formations for a long time now and they’re great athletes. They were making great plays on us, but we have to be able to fight through that and move the ball.”
Linebacker Rufus Alexander led the defense with eight tackles and two sacks. Defensive end John Williams also had two sacks.
Stoops didn’t put much stock in either sides’ numbers.
“I think we are in good shape offensively,” he said. “Unlike many teams, we practice good-on-good everyday in practice. So, our players on defense are used to our formations and plays from practice. If you are worth anything you should be able to keep up.”
Long said that would temper his impression of the offense’s performance.
“We were throwing it all the time and they teed off pretty good,” Long said. “We needed that for protecting and we needed that for our offensive line and we needed that for our quarterbacks.”
Hickson rushed for 68 yards on seven carries. Jacob Gutierrez added 16 yards on nine. Bomar finished with 11 yards on eight carries and Thompson rushed for 8 on two.
Travis Wilson caught three passes for 47 yards and was the scrimmage’s leading receiver. Chaney caught four passes for 36. Freshman Juaquin Iglesias caught three for 33.
Jason Carter and Brian Jackson logged OU’s two interceptions. Cornerback D.J. Wolfe added three pass break-ups.
Defensive coordinator Brent Venables said the performance was encouraging, but also fairly typical.
“We’re going on three weeks now and we’re getting used to seeing all the formations, all the splits and all the motions,” he said. “Our guys, you can hear them calling out things the whole time. We’re not beating our chests around here at all. We’re not naive. There’s a lot of things we need to do better and can be better at.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
