• This time, Thompson’s a prime mover
The first week of the season, following Oklahoma’s 24-17 victory over Alabama-Birmingham, Sooner coach Bob Stoops had nothing but good things to say about Paul Thompson’s job at quarterback.
He had many of the same good things to say again Saturday following the Sooners’ 37-20 victory over Washington.
“I thought he managed the game in a great way,” Stoops said.
Only this time around, Stoops had many more reasons to hand out the praise.
Much more than handling the reins of the game well, Thompson was a prime mover of the Sooner offense. Though Adrian Peterson ran for 165 yards and two touchdowns, the Sooners were not at their best when force-feeding the All-American running back as they did in the second half against UAB.
Instead, against Washington, the Sooners picked up second-half steam with Thompson’s throwing balancing Peterson’s running, the results of which were a 13-13 halftime tie becoming a 37-13 Sooner bulge with 2:48 to play.
Thompson finished with a pair of touchdown passes against one interception, though he was hit as he delivered the toss the Huskies’ Scott White picked off in the first quarter, completing 21 of 33 for 272 yards.
Some of those completions included a 42-yarder and 35-yarder to Malcolm Kelly, the latter counting as OU’s first touchdown of the second-half. Another went 36 yards to Joe Jon Finley and yet another went 25, but very nearly 86, to Fred Strong.
Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said the long ball was part of the Sooner gameplan, and not just once or twice. Still, the second part of any such strategy requires the execution of the quarterback and Thompson was up to the job.
“We had a plan for some shots,” Thompson said, “and they really worked out.”
The precursor to OU’s second-half success came near the end of the first half when the Sooners went into their two-minute offense after taking over at their own 25 with 3:20 left in the second quarter.
The drive failed to produce a touchdown, but still yielded a Garrett Hartley field goal, as Thompson moved the Sooners 55 yards in 12 plays. He completed five consecutive passes and scrambled for 12 yards to move the Sooners to the Washington 20 before three incompletions forced Hartley to the field.
It wasn’t perfect, but it had Thompson feeling good about the rest of the game.
“I like our little two-minute offense,” he said. “Every time we’ve gotten in it, going all the way back to two-a-days, it’s always seemed to work out.”
Wilson left the stadium feeling very good about his quarterback, and yet better about what might be on the way.
“Paul’s doing an outstanding job,” he said. “And, at the same time, I don’t think he’s close to how (well) he can play.”
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