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Another back carries Sooners By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH NORMAN, Okla. | The way they talk about Adrian Peterson around here, you’d think that Bob Stoops would be spending this week on the corner of Asp Avenue and Lindsey Street, wearing a Santa hat and begging for rushing yards. Stoops confirmed Tuesday that Peterson will not play in the Big 12 championship game, but that didn’t stop reporters from bombarding Stoops and Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson with hypotheticals. What if Peterson suddenly recovered from his broken collarbone on Saturday morning? Would he play? Would his return affect team chemistry? It went on and on. Wilson finally said what every other Sooner was thinking. “Contrary to what people think,” Wilson said, “there was some blocking going on with Peterson the past few years. AD is one of the most special players I’ve coached, but he isn’t the Lone Ranger.” If nothing else, Oklahoma has proved that during Peterson’s six-game absence. In fact, the Sooners have averaged 206 rushing yards per game without Peterson, compared with 172 with him. That 34-yard difference can be attributed to many things, but certainly to the hard-nosed running of junior Allen Patrick and the maturation of the Sooners’ young offensive line. In four games as the starter, Patrick has run for 603 yards and three touchdowns on 125 carries. He’s averaging more than 150 yards per game and 4.8 per carry. Patrick missed the Texas Tech and Baylor games because of an ankle injury, and freshman Chris Brown rushed for 253 yards and three touchdowns in place of Patrick. “When Adrian went down,” Oklahoma left tackle Chris Messner said, “you could see it in Allen and Chris’ faces that they were ready to go butt it up with people.” Patrick signed with Oklahoma after two years playing defensive back at Independence (Kan.) Community College. The Conway, S.C., native played running back in high school but came to Oklahoma to play defense. Or so he thought. Last season, when Peterson went down temporarily because of an ankle injury, Stoops decided to move Patrick to running back because of his obvious athletic ability. Patrick ran a 4.45 40-yard dash and had the team’s highest vertical leap of 37 1/2 inches. He also had seen Patrick knock some people’s heads off on kickoff team coverage. But nobody outside of Norman knew much about Patrick. So when Peterson went down against Iowa State this year, people assumed Oklahoma’s season was going with him. The Sooners knew better. In his first game, Patrick battered Colorado 35 times for 110 yards. It wasn’t pretty, but it sent a message. This guy could take on the load. “He hit the hole with a lot of attitude,” Oklahoma right tackle Trent Williams said. “You can hit him as hard as you can, but he’s going to get up and let you know he’s coming again.” Patrick has the look to match the swagger. After Monday’s practice, he wore a black skull cap and diamond studs on each ear. He smiled when asked about watching the defenses wear down week after week. “You keep pounding the ball,” Patrick said, “and you can tell they’re getting tired of the contact.” In the six games without Peterson, Oklahoma has achieved any sort of offensive balance only once, against Texas Tech. The Sooners simply haven’t had to throw to win games. And on a cold night in Kansas City, in a game traditionally decided by great running backs, fans can bet on seeing a lot of Allen Patrick, affectionately called “AP2” by his teammates. “Being a running back in a big game like this,” Patrick said, “it’s all on you.” So far, that’s been a winning formula for Oklahoma. With or without AP1. “It’s, ‘Hey, we’re coming at you,’ ” Oklahoma
quarterback Paul Thompson said. “Sometimes, they might
know where we’re going. As long as we’re more physical
than they are, it doesn’t matter if we tell them where
we’re going.”
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J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell) |
