By JOHN E. HOOVER Sports Columnist on Sep 15, 2013, at 2:30 AM Updated on 9/16/13 at 2:04 AM
NORMAN - The Oklahoma quarterback situation was, in its best moments, a captious event made for debate and discussion.
But for all the haranguing between Sooner fans desperate for a new direction and those loyal to the patient, blue-collar nature of their short-yardage hero, the situation is now settled.
Blake Bell is OU's latest passing sensation.
Freshman Trevor Knight officially - somehow - beat out Bell for the job in August, but the competition, coaches proclaimed, would continue throughout the season.
But now, with Knight's uneven passing in his first two starts (and his knee injury last week) and Bell's sunny Saturday against Tulsa, the competition is over.
Bell, the erstwhile Belldozer who once endeared himself to Sooner Nation by lowering his shoulder and getting 3 yards where there was no space available, finally loosened up that shoulder and got 413 yards where there was nothing but space available.
No. 14 Oklahoma routed the Golden Hurricane 51-20, and Bell was magnificent, throwing four touchdowns and completing 27-of-37 passes.
"It was awesome," Bell said. "I had a great time, first of all, just getting out there and playing ball. There's nothing better."
"Blake Bell," coach Bob Stoops said, "the story of the game."
Barring an injury to Bell, Knight has become sports' newest Wally Pipp, the ancient Yankees first baseman who once took a day off and was replaced for all eternity by the incomparable Lou Gehrig.
The comparison works. Bell, a fourth-year junior from Wichita, played like an Iron Horse when he came on in the 'dozer package. But on Saturday, he had a more than bit of Babe Ruth, too: he hit a lot of long balls.
Incidentally, Bell will start in two weeks when the Sooners visit Notre Dame.
"That's pretty obvious, yeah," Stoops said. "So much for your controversy right now. Didn't last long."
What's just as obvious: Stoops and quarterbacks coach Josh Heupel picked the wrong quarterback to start the season.
But that's OK. Stoops' track record in picking quarterbacks - other than the way Bomar-Thompson was handled in 2005 and maybe a little too much favor toward Nate Hybl over Jason White at first - is pretty unassailable.
He gets a freebie.
In Knight, Stoops and Heupel seemed to be shooting for the stars in hopes that Knight could launch a new era of running QBs in Norman.
While what they really wanted, what the OU offense needed all along, was a big ol' dose of Blake Bell. The receiver corps seemed more comfortable catching the football. Heupel, the offensive coordinator, seemed more comfortable calling plays. A quarterback who can throw is just what this offense needed, and now the Sooners are a hopeful 3-0.
Actually, rein that in just a bit.
Bell was smart and efficient, poised and confident, accurate both short and long. But he was going up against a Tulsa secondary that has been stripped to the bone, and a TU pass rush that searches for an identity.
Bell did play great, and he gets all due credit. The guy set a school record for most passing yards in a starting debut.
But this was easy pickings, a college football mismatch.
OU's next game - in South Bend on Sept. 28 - will be much more demanding.
And Oklahoma fans cueing up behind Bell need only remember the last time a new QB faced Tulsa in his Division I-A opener at Owen Field: Landry Jones threw a school-record six touchdowns in a 45-0 victory in 2009.
Six weeks later, Jones threw a school-record five interceptions in a 10-3 loss at Nebraska, and Sooner Nation never fully trusted him again.
Bell is the better quarterback in Norman, but please, no talk of a Heisman Trophy or an unbeaten season just yet.
Stoops said OU coaches spent the week hoping to reemphasize "and trying to boost" the passing game after Knight completed only 40 percent of his passes and averaged just 102.5 yards per game through the air in the Sooners' first two games.
Bell, Stoops said, "obviously did that."
Bell's yardage total in his first career start "surpassed Sam," Stoops said, referring to Sam Bradford's 363 yards in the 2007 opener against North Texas that had been the high mark for Sooner QB debuts.
Bell said he didn't surprise himself Saturday, but topping one of Bradford's numbers did.
"I hear that, that's unbelievable," he said, "especially from a guy like Sam."
Neither Stoops nor Heupel acknowledged even mild surprise by Bell's sudden acumen.
"Both those guys (Bell and Knight) competed and played extremely well through camp," Heupel said. "We didn't play as efficient as we were capable of (in the first two games). ... Some of that's the quarterback, some of that's the 10 guys around him."
Wait, Bell wasn't good enough in training camp to beat out a 40-percent passer, but now there's nothing astonishing about walking out in his first start and taking Bradford down a peg?
Bell had played in 22 games and hadn't thrown a touchdown pass. Naturally, he had four on Saturday.
To anyone who saw Bell play in high school, to anyone who watched him in his daily two-hour workouts the summer before reporting to Norman, there is no surprise whatsoever that the kid is this good.
This is why Oklahoma recruited him. This, as Heupel said, is why everyone recruited him: to throw the football.
"The package he played in the past couple years limited you guys' exposure to what he was capable of," Heupel said. "And, hey, some of that was because Landry Jones was a pretty darn good quarterback."
"We always said he's a good thrower," Stoops said.
Read John E. Hoover's blog at
tulsaworld.com/gamepointblog
Original Print Headline: Sooner QB situation crystal clear after TU rout
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