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September 18, 2005

Bomar is hot and cold

John Shinn

• Bomar showed talent, inexperience against UCLA

PASADENA, Calif. — Oklahoma quarterback Rhett Bomar showed why he was the No. 1 prep quarterback in the country in 2003 Saturday. He also showed why coaches loathe starting freshman quarterbacks.

He had another up-and-down performance in the Sooners’ 41-24 loss to UCLA at the Rose Bowl.

Bomar, who was making his second-career start, threw for 241 yards and completed 20-of-29 attempts. It was easily OU’s best effort offensively, considering the Sooners had success through the air for the first time.

The passing game’s emergence gave the Sooners a small silver lining to take back to Norman.

“It was an encouraging part of the game to be able to throw it like we did,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “I felt like Rhett started to get some rhythm and confidence in what he was doing. Our receivers made some nice plays and, in that part of it, I feel like we’re getting somewhere and making some progress.”

Bomar spread the ball around to six different receivers and was able to make the Sooner wideouts effective weapons for the first time this season. Travis Wilson caught seven passes for 103 yards and tight end Joe Jon Finley snared three for 41.

OU was also able to incorporate him into the running game. Bomar carried the ball 15 times for 28 yards and even had a 16-yard touchdown run late in the game.

His rushing total might not have looked like much, but it was sliced by three UCLA sacks totaling 24 yards in losses.

Offensive coordinator Chuck Long left the Rose Bowl with more confidence in Bomar’s ability to run the Sooners’ offense.

“I thought we grew today,” Long said. “I thought Rhett played his butt off. He really played well for his second start of the year.”

However, for all the good, there was still enough bad that kept the Sooners from getting where they need to be.

The Sooners fumbled the ball six times, and five were credited to Bomar. Two were hard to fault, coming on a blind-side hit and an option to Adrian Peterson that looked good enough to handle.

The other three were on the quarterback-center exchange. It’s a problem that plagued the Sooners last week against Tulsa.

“It’s always frustrating when we have turnovers that hurt us,” Bomar said. “During a game, you have to move on to the next play. That’s how we look at it now. We have to move on.”

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