Whaley Steals the Show; Sooners Trounce Golden Hurricane 47-14
By Brett Hill
NCAA Correspondent
Norman, OK – When game week in the NCAA rolls around, one of the first orders of business for the head coach is to release his preliminary depth chart. Bob Stoops’ first depth chart of the 2011 season included a surprising name when it came to the running backs: walk-on, former Langston University running back and now, co-starter Dominique Whaley.
That’s right, Dominique Whaley. A former Lawton MacArthur Highlander selected to play in the Oklahoma Coaches Association all state game as a defensive back. He played 10 games at NAIA Langston in 2008, racking up a grand total of 258 yards and 2 touchdowns before transferring to Oklahoma in 2009.
The coaching staff talked up Whaley to a degree in 2009, but cautiously since he would not have been eligible to play until the 2010 season. The talk of Whaley, albeit not all that uncommon for players in spring ball, was positive and sounded promising as far as the world of walk-ons is concerned. Whaley was a “nice” player, looked “good” in practices, the usual “coach talk.”
The 2010 season saw more of the same talk as Stoops continued to mention Whaley as a potential player at running back that might possibly seem action. That talk never came to pass and Whaley never saw the field; so when Stoops ramped up the rhetoric on Whaley this summer and into the fall camp, most felt it was more of the same and possibly a ploy by Stoops to motivate the other running backs.
On Saturday, Whaley proved to those that doubted him that they were dead wrong. Whaley ended the evening with 18 rushes for 132 yards and 4 touchdowns. He also hauled in two passes for 12 yards, helping Oklahoma route in-state rival Tulsa. His 7.3 average per rush is one of the best averages for any running back in the Stoops era for a single game and his 3 first half touchdowns were the most in school history for a walk-on.
Whaley’s longest run of the evening came at the 10:00 mark in the first quarter when he took a handoff from Landry Jones and scampered down the field for 35 yards. But his best run came when he scored his last touchdown of the evening the third quarter.
With a 37-7 lead at the 3:03 mark, Whaley took a handoff from Jones on the Tulsa 32 yard line and headed right of the Golden Hurricane defense. After breaking 2 tackles near the line of scrimmage, Whaley broke 2 more en route to the end zone.
The highlight-reel score gave the Sooners their largest lead of the night and helped Whaley not only earn a game ball from Coach Stoops, but also a helmet sticker from Chris Fowler on ESPN’s College Gameday later that night.
On his performance, Whaley said, “I feel like I can be a lot better and never stop trying to get better. You can never be satisfied at OU.” Then, Whaley was asked to grade his performance on the night, and, surprisingly, the walk-on game-breaker replied, “Well, I did have a couple of busted assignments, one of them that could have killed our quarterback, so I’m going to give myself a ‘C,’ maybe even lower.”
When Stoops was told he must have been surprised by Whaley, he responded, “Why? Why do I ‘have’ to be? I’ve told [the media] he’s a good football player. You guys just don’t believe me. I’m not a bit surprised.”
OU’s 246 total rushing yards was almost double their average output for the 2010 season and their 5.3 yards per carry as a team was a full 2 yards better than their 3.36 average last year. Stoops had previously said that it was a goal of the offense this year to be better at running the ball, especially inside the red zone, and the Sooners did just that Saturday.
“[The running game] still needs to be polished up, but we’re getting there. It was a little bit better tonight,” said the Sooners’ head man.
Referring to their difficulties at Texas A & M last year scoring from goal to go situations, starting left tackle Donald Stephenson said, “We just wanted to improve on [running the ball], especially after [the Texas A & M game] last year, we’ve been working hard to get better rushing the ball and I think we took the first step tonight.”
Some of the “household” name Sooners also had big evening as Heisman-hopefuls Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles continued to show off their synchronization as Jones found Broyles 14 times – just 2 shy of the OU record – for 158 yards – including one 50 yarder with seconds to go in the 1st quarter – and one touchdown. Jones went 35 for 47 for 375 yards and the one touchdown pass to Broyles.
The “other” co-starter at running back for OU also had a nice evening as Brennan Clay rushed 14 times for a 4.6 yard average, including an 11 yard touchdown. Placekickers Jimmy Stevens and Michael Hunnicutt added a field goal apiece to round out the Sooners scoring.
As for the Golden Hurricanes, it was a difficult day throughout as TU was only able to muster 14 points. And playing without the NCAA’s record-holding all-purpose yardage player, wide receiver Damarius Johnson, suspended indefinitely pending an embezzlement charge and investigation stemming from two separate incidents at a Tulsa Macy’s department store However, definitely hurt the Golden Hurricane’s chances.
Tulsa did show flashes of what might still prove to be a productive season as the Golden Hurricane’s were able to identify and exploit OU’s seemingly one weak spot on defense: the free safety.
Starter Javon Harris began the game solidly, holding his ground in the run and pass game throughout, even forcing a fumble in the second quarter on tailback Ja’Terian Douglas. But with 3:08 remaining the first half, Harris busted his coverage of receiver Bryan Burnham and was beat for a 44 yard touchdown pass from GJ Kinne.
And, in the second half, Harris was exposed again on wheel routes the Sooners were said to have specifically have worked on with a great amount of detail. At 10:08 in the third quarter, Tulsa receiver Willie Carter beat Harris as he looked inside for the run and caught a Kinne lob and took off for 69 yards to the OU 10 yard line.
Luckily for Harris, redemption was only a play away as Kinne tossed a screen pass to receiver Jordan James who was hit by Sooners cornerback Demontre Hurst. Harris covered the fumble by James to help avoid Tulsa’s second score.
However, the fourth quarter saw Harris fall for the wheel route again as Willie Carter once again sprinted around Harris going for a 42 yard gainer that helped set up Tulsa’s second and final score of the game 4 plays later on a halfback pass from Kinne to Trey Watts over the middle, who ran through an arm tackle of Harris’ replacement, free safety Sam Proctor.
“Yeah, it looked like [busted coverage]. It was just bad coverage. The defense was just really good. Other than those three busts, it was good,” Stoops said when asked specifically about the three big plays given up on the defense.
Other notable players on the Sooners defense Saturday were defensive ends Frank Alexander, Ronnell Lewis, strong safety Aaron Colvin and middle linebacker Tom Wort.
Lewis, who entered the contest just being cleared by the NCAA to participate this season on September 1st, co-led the team with 8 tackles, 1 sack, and 2.5 tackles for loss.
On getting off this season to a good start, Lewis humbly replied, “I’m just a team player and I just do my job. That’s all. I just want to help the team the best I can and go out there and do what I do, making plays and getting the crowd pumped up.”
His fellow end, Frank Alexander, gets my vote for defensive MVP of the game as he recorded 6 tackles, 1 sack, 1.5 tackles for loss, 2 pass breakups, and one interception – the first of his career – with a return of 27 yards at the 11:48 mark of the second quarter as Tulsa was driving for their first score of the game.
Alexander said, “I try to work with the receivers a little bit in practices sometime just so, if I ever get that opportunity, I know what to do with the ball because you never know,” when asked about his int. “I felt like we went out there with a chip on our shoulders to prove that we could be a good D-Line. I felt like everybody stoop up and put everything they had into it and it came out good tonight.”
Colvin, the other leader in tackles, also had 1 pass breakup and one fumble recovery. Wort only recorded 5 tackles on the night, but also tallied 2 quarterback hurries and helped safety Javon Harris cause a fumble in the first half.
Wort also was the first player this year for the Sooners defense to wear #12 in memory of Austin Box who passed away May 19th of an overdose of painkillers. With a heavy heart, Wort took the field adorning Box’s number and had this to say about the moment: “It was a special moment, something I’m never going to forget. I absolutely think he would be proud of us tonight, but he wouldn’t want us to win just one game and stop there. We’ve got the whole season ahead of us and are looking forward to it.”
Obviously, the Sooners seem to have found their answer at running back going forward this season. OU goes into next week on a bye and comes back to action with their first road game of the year at Florida State on September 17th at 7:00 PM. The ‘Noles are coming off a 34-0 blitz of Louisiana-Monroe at Tallahassee going into their game with Charleston Southern this Saturday.
Barring a miracle, the Sooners and Seminoles will meet up in a battle of top 5 teams. Last season, the Sooners met up with the Seminoles in Norman where they were handed a 47-17 beat down. The Seminoles are without quarterback Christian Ponder, now with the Minnesota Vikings, but have sophomore EJ Manuel, a more diverse quarterback that can throw and run.
If the Sooners hope to leave Tallahassee with a win, Harris and the other safeties will have to shore up their deficiencies in the pass game and the offense will have to work hard on keeping up the run game as the ‘Noles boast one of, if not the best defensive front seven’s in the nation.
However, getting back receiver Kenny Stills and defensive tackle Stacey McGee, who were on suspension this week for transgressions during the offseason, should help the Sooners immensely as they travel to play Florida State for the first time since in the state of Florida since their 2000 National Championship Win.
For Tulsa, a 2:30 kick at Tulane awaits the Golden Hurricane this Saturday. Then, contests with two more top ten teams in Oklahoma State and Boise State await TU. For more, visit footballimp.blogspot.com.
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