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Big 12 football notebook
Sooners White, Peterson have high Heisman hopes
By Randy Riggs
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
What's made Oklahoma's Jason White a candidate for his second Heisman Trophy and Adrian Peterson a candidate for his first?
For White, it's a savvy cultivated over six years in the program. The senior quarterback can throw the football wherever he wants, but this season has cultivated an even better sense of not trying to force it into places it shouldn't be.
For Peterson, it's amazing athleticism. The freshman running back can outrun defenders as well as run over them. He has amazing balance and exceptional vision.
For both of them, it's also Jammal Brown, Vince Carter, Wes Sims, Davin Joseph and Chris Bush.
The Sooners' interior offensive linemen have done the best job of protecting a quarterback and opening holes for a running back that Bob Stoops says he has seen. The OU coach said the job his linemen did last week in the 30-3 victory over Nebraska was the best single-game performance in his tenure as coach.
"They were amazing," Stoops said.
Led by right tackle Brown, a two-time All-Big 12 pick and All-American candidate, the Sooners' interior is laden with veterans. Brown, Carter and Sims are seniors; Joseph and Bush are juniors.
Among them, they've accumulated 13 varsity letters, excluding this season. And in the offensive line, experience goes a long way.
"A veteran group like that, there's not much you can throw at them that they haven't seen and probably dealt with," said Baylor Coach Guy Morriss, an old linemen himself. "That makes a huge difference. They have no reason to panic or get too carried away.
"They just quietly have confidence in each other," Morriss added. "They go to the sideline, they make their adjustments and they come back out and just kick your butt."
Morriss' Bears are the ones whose posteriors are at risk Saturday when the second-ranked Sooners try to complete an undefeated regular season. Ironically, it was Baylor who might have unintentionally triggered the unhappy end to OU's 2003 season.
The Sooners rolled to a 41-3 victory in Norman. But they had difficulty containing a Baylor blitz package that sacked White five times for 44 yards in losses.
Don't think that went unnoticed by the teams Oklahoma would meet later.
Of the 28 sacks OU allowed last season, 16 came in the last four games beginning with Baylor. The Sooners lost the last two, surrendering three sacks against Kansas State in the Big 12 championship and five sacks to Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl's battle for the national title.
"We had nothing to lose and so we were going to try to go after them a little bit and test their protection and see if they could handle some of our blitzes," Morriss recalled of last year's game. "I think that's the first time maybe anybody had tried that approach with them. Before that, I don't think anybody had really tested their protection schemes."
The Sooners O-line has passed every test this year. White has been sacked only seven times. Part of it can be attributed to White's increased mobility this season, as well as Peterson's running threat that keeps defenses honest.
But much of it is the play of the line.
"They look to me like they're much better," said Morriss, which is bad news for the Bears.
Peterson now eligible for Walker Award
Several weeks ago, an official for the Doak Walker Award was talking about Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson and lamenting the award's policy that freshmen are ineligible to win the award as the nation's top running back.
"Believe me," the official said, "if we could (make Peterson eligible), we would."
Well, they have.
The SMU Athletic Forum, which oversees the award, voted Monday to make freshmen eligible. So Peterson joins Texas' Cedric Benson as one of eight semifinalists. The winner will be announced Dec. 9.
"We think we have to change with the times," said Chris Rentzel, chairman of the Forum board.
Other semifinalists include Reggie Bush (USC), J.J. Arrington (California), Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams (both Auburn), Ryan Moats (Louisiana Tech) and DeAngelo Williams (Memphis).
Super frosh II
Speaking of freshmen running backs, the NCAA rushing leader is North Texas freshman Jamario Thomas, whose 1,708 ground yards have come in only seven games since he didn't see much duty until Patrick Cobbs was hurt.
Thomas' coming-out party came on Sept. 18 at Colorado when he torched the unsuspecting Buffaloes for 247 yards on 32 carries. The product of Longview's Springhill High has topped the 200-yard plateau in his last five games, which qualifies as good news to Gary Barnett.
"I'm glad to see everybody else is struggling with him like we did," the Colorado coach said. "I thought we were just playing bad defense, which we probably were. Everybody else must be playing pretty bad, too, then."
Barnett still has vivid memories of Thomas' debut in Colorado's 52-21 victory.
"We did give him two easy runs but he had one that was really difficult to make that he did a great job on," Barnett said. "He's pretty good. He's got great vision and a good burst. He's a heck of a player."
But is Thomas a big-time, major-college talent?
"He was against us," Barnett said.
Sooners White, Peterson have high Heisman hopes
Wednesday, November 17, 2004
What's made Oklahoma's Jason White a candidate for his second Heisman Trophy and Adrian Peterson a candidate for his first?
For White, it's a savvy cultivated over six years in the program. The senior quarterback can throw the football wherever he wants, but this season has cultivated an even better sense of not trying to force it into places it shouldn't be.
For Peterson, it's amazing athleticism. The freshman running back can outrun defenders as well as run over them. He has amazing balance and exceptional vision.
For both of them, it's also Jammal Brown, Vince Carter, Wes Sims, Davin Joseph and Chris Bush.
The Sooners' interior offensive linemen have done the best job of protecting a quarterback and opening holes for a running back that Bob Stoops says he has seen. The OU coach said the job his linemen did last week in the 30-3 victory over Nebraska was the best single-game performance in his tenure as coach.
"They were amazing," Stoops said.
Led by right tackle Brown, a two-time All-Big 12 pick and All-American candidate, the Sooners' interior is laden with veterans. Brown, Carter and Sims are seniors; Joseph and Bush are juniors.
Among them, they've accumulated 13 varsity letters, excluding this season. And in the offensive line, experience goes a long way.
"A veteran group like that, there's not much you can throw at them that they haven't seen and probably dealt with," said Baylor Coach Guy Morriss, an old linemen himself. "That makes a huge difference. They have no reason to panic or get too carried away.
"They just quietly have confidence in each other," Morriss added. "They go to the sideline, they make their adjustments and they come back out and just kick your butt."
Morriss' Bears are the ones whose posteriors are at risk Saturday when the second-ranked Sooners try to complete an undefeated regular season. Ironically, it was Baylor who might have unintentionally triggered the unhappy end to OU's 2003 season.
The Sooners rolled to a 41-3 victory in Norman. But they had difficulty containing a Baylor blitz package that sacked White five times for 44 yards in losses.
Don't think that went unnoticed by the teams Oklahoma would meet later.
Of the 28 sacks OU allowed last season, 16 came in the last four games beginning with Baylor. The Sooners lost the last two, surrendering three sacks against Kansas State in the Big 12 championship and five sacks to Louisiana State in the Sugar Bowl's battle for the national title.
"We had nothing to lose and so we were going to try to go after them a little bit and test their protection and see if they could handle some of our blitzes," Morriss recalled of last year's game. "I think that's the first time maybe anybody had tried that approach with them. Before that, I don't think anybody had really tested their protection schemes."
The Sooners O-line has passed every test this year. White has been sacked only seven times. Part of it can be attributed to White's increased mobility this season, as well as Peterson's running threat that keeps defenses honest.
But much of it is the play of the line.
"They look to me like they're much better," said Morriss, which is bad news for the Bears.
Peterson now eligible for Walker Award
Several weeks ago, an official for the Doak Walker Award was talking about Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson and lamenting the award's policy that freshmen are ineligible to win the award as the nation's top running back.
"Believe me," the official said, "if we could (make Peterson eligible), we would."
Well, they have.
The SMU Athletic Forum, which oversees the award, voted Monday to make freshmen eligible. So Peterson joins Texas' Cedric Benson as one of eight semifinalists. The winner will be announced Dec. 9.
"We think we have to change with the times," said Chris Rentzel, chairman of the Forum board.
Other semifinalists include Reggie Bush (USC), J.J. Arrington (California), Ronnie Brown and Carnell Williams (both Auburn), Ryan Moats (Louisiana Tech) and DeAngelo Williams (Memphis).
Super frosh II
Speaking of freshmen running backs, the NCAA rushing leader is North Texas freshman Jamario Thomas, whose 1,708 ground yards have come in only seven games since he didn't see much duty until Patrick Cobbs was hurt.
Thomas' coming-out party came on Sept. 18 at Colorado when he torched the unsuspecting Buffaloes for 247 yards on 32 carries. The product of Longview's Springhill High has topped the 200-yard plateau in his last five games, which qualifies as good news to Gary Barnett.
"I'm glad to see everybody else is struggling with him like we did," the Colorado coach said. "I thought we were just playing bad defense, which we probably were. Everybody else must be playing pretty bad, too, then."
Barnett still has vivid memories of Thomas' debut in Colorado's 52-21 victory.
"We did give him two easy runs but he had one that was really difficult to make that he did a great job on," Barnett said. "He's pretty good. He's got great vision and a good burst. He's a heck of a player."
But is Thomas a big-time, major-college talent?
"He was against us," Barnett said.