OU's Keith Ford tries to get away from TU's Bradley White on Saturday. Ford had a career day, with 46 yards and seven carries. TOM GILBERT / Tulsa World
Oklahoma running back Keith Ford set a career high for yards (46) and carries (seven) during the Sooners' 51-20 victory over Tulsa on Saturday afternoon.
Ford, a true freshman, displayed speed and power. Included in his day was a 23-yard run that featured him breaking at least six would-be tackles.
"Keith Ford came in and was a wrecking ball," OU coach Bob Stoops said.
Ford's additional carries may have coincided with the one-game suspension of Damien Williams. But Sooners co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel said during his post-game press conference that Ford will continue to be used this fall.
"You guys questioned whether or not we should play Keith," Heupel said. "We've been watching him for four weeks of training camp. He's an explosive football player. He competes in a great way.
"Every single day he gets better. We've got a good stable of running backs, and we're going to need all of those guys to go through the season. He's a big part of that."
Hitting in stride: Quarterback Blake Bell's record-setting passing day came with strong help from his wide receivers. Bell hit 10 different players with passes, including eight receivers.
"Our receiver play was a lot stronger and better. They made competitive plays and got open. They tracked the ball down and did a lot of positive things. That's part of it," Stoops said. "They executed all of our screen game a lot better, and that's what we worked hard on. We worked hard on that and it showed up today.
"Those guys complimented him in a stronger and better way, sure."
Wide receiver Sterling Shepard caught eight passes for 123 yards (both career highs). Senior Jaz Reynolds added four receptions for 109 yards.
Quality company: Bell was 27-of-37 for 413 yards and had four passing touchdowns. It was the highest yardage total for a first-time starting quarterback in OU history.
Bell joins three other Sooners who have thrown for more than 400 yards in a game - Landry Jones, Sam Bradford and Josh Heupel.
It took Bradford 18 starts for a 400-yard passing game. Jones accomplished the feat in his 11th game. Heupel hit the mark in his second game. Bell did it in his debut.
Looking at the numbers: Through three games, Oklahoma's defense has positioned itself among the nation's best statistically.
The Sooners rank No. 4 in scoring defense (9 ppg), No. 8 in pass efficiency defense (88.54) and No. 14 in total defense (291.3 ypg). OU is also No. 13 in third-down-conversion percentage defense (27.3 percent).
From a passing offense perspective, the team moved up 34 spots to No. 76 following Bell's 413-yard performance.
Linebackers Corey Nelson (20 tackles) and Frank Shannon (19) lead the team in stops.
Week off: Oklahoma is entering the first of three off-weeks in 2013.
The Sooners will have the weekend off before traveling to Notre Dame on Sept. 28. The Fighting Irish will host Michigan State on Saturday before beginning preparations for OU.
Stoops said he likes the placement of the first off week.
"One of the major reasons we moved West Virginia up was to get another game in before having to travel to Notre Dame," Stoops said about the schedule. "To have two off weeks and just having two games wouldn't have been very good. I like how it's set up now."
OU will have an off week before playing a Thursday night game at Baylor on Nov. 7. The Sooners also will get an extra week to prepare for a Dec. 7 contest at Oklahoma State.
OU
The final two games are May 16 and 17 at ONEOK Field in Tulsa. Each of the Tulsa starts are at 7 p.m.
“We have always strived to feature marquee non-conference opponents on the Oklahoma schedule,” said OU athletics director Joe Castiglione said in a statement.
