Anyone expecting major surprises from Oklahoma’s first scrimmage left Owen Field feeling like they had just received socks for Christmas Saturday night.
As expected, the defense dominated most of the night, while the offense’s most prominent weapons — running back Adrian Peterson and wide receiver Malcolm Kelly — were either used sparingly or not at all. Any new wrinkles the Sooners have been putting together in last week’s closed-door practices remain classified.
But the Sooners weren’t looking to reinvent the wheel Saturday night. Their goal was to prove they could get the wheels spinning again.
That’s why Sooner coach Bob Stoops gave the first dress rehearsal thumbs-up reviews.
He pointed out the lack of penalties, the offensive line’s play and a fumble-free evening as great positives OU can take into the coming week of practice.
“We knew what we were going to work on today and what else is to come,” Stoops said. “We’ll keep progressing that way.”
And Saturday’s scrimmage wasn’t set up to be confidence builder for the Sooner offense. Defense always seems to be a few steps ahead in the early stages of the season. That’s clearly the case in the Sooner camp.
No adjustments were made to help build some offensive confidence.
“I don’t think we need to go around scrimmaging where it’s like the Christians against the lions,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. “We go ones on ones and we need that.”
Quarterback Paul Thompson struggled early, but finished the night 15-for-26 with two touchdown passes against one interception.
He missed a few open receivers and was off-target on some deep routes. He didn’t dazzle the 12,000 in attendance with a Jason White-like performance.
Yet even Thompson admits he’s still wiping away the rust he accrued after spending the last six months transforming himself further into a wide receiver.
“The more reps I get the better,” he said. “We still have a lot of two-a-days left and I can get a lot better. The key thing right now is to get out there and go hard. If you’re going the wrong way, go the wrong way 100 percent and something good will happen.”
Quarterback coach Josh Heupel felt the same way. Thompson has become more comfortable with running the offense, but he still has a lot of learning to do.
“The past seven or eight days in camp, I've seen him continually progress,” Heupel said. “He's getting better and better and more comfortable with what we're doing offensively.”
That first game won’t arrive until Sept. 2 when Alabama-Birmingham comes to Owen Field. There’s still three full weeks of practices left to tinker.
Stoops said Saturday was just a small preview. There’s a lot left to be seen.
“There’s more to come,” Stoops said. “You can only work on so much in so many days. We’re trying to bring the offense along in different stages. We have more to come in what we’re going to do. There’s no sense broadcasting it and putting it out for everybody to see.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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Sooners good with scrimmage
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