Stan Geiger

It's on Sam

I pick on the OU Boomers from time to time. I guess that’s partly because I’m an OSU grad. Hey, duty calls.

As an offshoot of the above, I get tired of hearing about the great OU. I get the impression that OSU could beat Florida, but if, on the same Saturday, OU beat Gila Monster University of Southwest New Mexico by 70 points, OU would grab the headlines in the local media.

I pick on Bob Stoops a lot. That’s not because I have any particular problem with Bob. He seems like a fine fellow, and I think he’s an adequate football coach. It’s just that I think it’s ridiculous to pay a football coach the amounts he gets paid. He’s not the only one, of course. But he’s the head coach at OU. That kind of makes him the local poster child.

Still, I have sympathy for OU this year. OU is, I figure, the best 3-loss team in the nation. I feel most for the defense. For the first time in recent memory, OU actually has a defense that could win the team a national championship. It’s the offense that has come up short.

Part of OU’s lack of offensive prowess can be blamed on the injuries to Sam Bradford. Not all of it, but part of it.

Sam Bradford seems like a fine young man. Hearts have to go out to him. He’s had a rough year. On top of that, this year will likely cost him a few million bucks when it comes time to sign on the dotted line. Sam is done at OU, and I’m afraid he has himself to blame at this point. He made a costly mistake.

Sam was first injured in the BYU game. The hit came from the blind side. That’s not on Sam; that’s on his protectors. You just can’t let a rusher have a clean blind-side shot at the quarterback. Blind-side hits create losses, they create turnovers and they create injured quarterbacks. Hold the guy if need be. Hell, tackle the guy if you must. Take the penalty, just stop the guy.

While watching the Texas-Missouri game on Saturday, I heard one of the announcers reference Dan Fouts. Dan, the announcer said, used to tell his blockers he could make up for a ten-yard loss but he couldn’t make up for a broken collar bone.

Indeed.

Sam came back from the BYU hit. Then came a Texas blitz. But the Texas blitz didn’t come from the blind side. Sam could see this guy coming. He should have dumped the ball. If he had no open receiver, he should have thrown it at one’s feet. Or he should have thrown the ball into the seats. Bare minimum he should have grounded the ball and taken the penalty. That would’ve bested losing the rest of the season.

Learn the lesson, Sam. At the next level things get a lot tougher. Dump the ball; don’t take the hit; live to play another down.

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