Sooners Complete Second Scrimmage

Oklahoma's football team finished its second major scrimmage of the 2003 preseason Saturday at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. A crowd estimated at 17,000 gathered for the event.

OU head coach Bob Stoops, referencing the Associated Press that came out earlier in the day with his team in the top spot, was somewhat critical of the team's performance.

"If this had been broadcast anywhere maybe we would drop in the polls," he said. "We need to get a lot better. There were some decent plays. We can't have turnovers and the offense needs to start sooner. They got going too late. We had a few busted assignments on defense that gave up some big plays.

"We'll get back here Monday and correct these mistakes and get a little bit better."

[ August 16 Scrimmage Photos ]

The Sooners scored six touchdowns, including one by the defense, which marked the first score of the night. LB Teddy Lehman forced a fumble that S Matt McCoy returned 81 yards for a TD.

The offense bounced back behind second-team quarterback Paul Thompson, who directed a nine-play, 75-yard drive that was finished on a four-yard pass to FB Dan Townsend. The two had hooked up on a 22-yard pass earlier in the possession.

RB Renaldo Works starred in the next drive. He reeled off a 42-yard run to the two-yard line, then plowed into the end zone on the very next play.

The next score came on a 12-play, 75-yard drive. QB Jason White passed to TE James Moses to cover the final 13 yards.

The final two touchdowns came in red zone action. Thompson tossed a nine-yard pass to Chris Chester before hitting Donta Hickson on a 14-yard pass.

"We made some mistakes that have nothing to do with the defense, but definitely, our defense sees these guys every day," Stoops said. "And we put some restrictions on the offense. They're at a disadvantage."

White completed 9-of-18 passes for 109 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Thompson was 12-of-22 for 108 yards and three scores. Noah Allen played the final series at quarterback and completed 2-of-3 passes for 15 yards.

Fifteen different receivers had catches, led by Townsend and Travis Wilson, both of whom had three.

Works was the top ground gainer with 12 rushes for 84 yards. Kejuan Jones carried nine times for 43 yards.

The lone injury during the workout was to the right knee of frshman defensive lineman Carl Pendleton. Stoops said, "They have to check it, but early on it doesn't appear to be too, too serious. We'll know more later."

After 11 days of work, the Sooners get an off-day on Sunday. They will practice twice on Monday before another scrimmage on Tuesday.

Prior to the scrimmage, Stoops announced the captains as voted on by the team. They are White, Works, Lehman, Derrick Strait, Kory Klein and Tommie Harris.

More comments from Bob Stoops ...

General: "We've been at each other for 11 straight days without a break. I imagine they're looking forward to not seeing each other for a few hours."

On being No. 1: "It doesn't do anything. We not sitting around the locker room talking about where we're (ranked).

On the defense: "We've got a chance to be really good there, but we still come up with a busted assignment here or there or get out of position. We need to eliminate those kinds of mental errors."

On the quarterbacks: "They had some good and bad plays. Jason try to stick a few balls in there and someone got a hand in there. He'll see that. I like the fact that he's trying to stick it in there. They were decent balls. He needs to keep getting snaps. I like his demeanor and the way he is moving around. Paul had some good plays too."

On the scrimmage: "We tried to stay away and make it more game-like with signals from the sideline and not being in the huddle. In fact, we did that on both sides of the ball."

On Tuesday's scrimmage: "The ones will go probably half of it and get a couple sets in. Then the twos and threes will get the rest of it.

Scoring Plays
McCoy 81-yard fumble return
Townsend 4-yard pass from Thompson
Works 2-yard run
Moses 13-yard pass from White
Chester 9-yard pass from Thompson
Hickson 14-yard pass from Thompson

Rushing
Renaldo Works	12-18
Kejuan Jones	9-43
Donta Hickson	6-22
Jerad Estus	4-19
Tashard Choice	1-2
Jacob Gutierrez	2-19

Passing
Jason White	9-18-109, 1 TD, 2 INT
Paul Thompson	12-22-108, 3 TD
Noah Allen	2-3-15

Receiving
Townsend	3-29 (3 yd TD)
Travis Wilson	3-22
Donta Hickson	2-26 (14 yd TD)
James Moses	2-20 (13 yd TD)
Willie Roberts	2-15
Marcus Johnson	2-14
Jejuan Rankins	1-37
Kejuan Jones	1-25
JD Runnels	1-17
Sadiki Wilson	1-13
Chris Chester	1-9 (9 yd TD)
Jerad Estus	1-9
Brandon Jones	1-3
Renaldo Works	1-(-3)
Jacob Gutierrez	1-(-4)

Kicking
Trey Dicarlo FG's	50 NG, 50 G, 57 NG, 57 NG
Blake Ferguson Punting	3-44.7
Cody Freeby Punting	1-37.0

Tackles & Other Defensive Stats

Strait- 1
Shelby- 2 (deflection)
J.Carter- 4 (deflection)
Nicholson- 3
Mitchell- 2
Lehman- 4 (forced fumble) (interception)
L. Baker- 3
M. Thompson- 4 (interception)
Poteat- 6
Pool- 3
Richardson- 1
Cade- 3
McCoy- 2 (fumble recovery 81 yard touchdown run) (deflection)
D. Williams- 1 (2 deflections)
G. Allen- 2
J. Jackson- 3 (2 sacks) (safety)
Pleasant- 2
P. Jackson- 2
Hurst- 1
Thibodeaux- 4 (sack)
Pendleton- 1
Helvey- 1 (sack)
Cody- 1 (sack)
Dotson- 1
Dvoracek- 1
McGruder- 1
J. Williams- 1 (sack)
Sublet- 1

University of Oklahoma Athletics

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