Oklahoma - OK? | Sports in Stilettos

Until about 9:30 last Saturday night, Oklahoma was ranked third in the nation and, despite being down a star tight end, was expected to make a run for the national championship again this season.

And then came the hit heard round the college football nation. Heisman-winner (and love of my sister's life) Sam Bradford went down, and he stayed there for a while, writhing in pain before being helped off the field, holding his throwing arm.

If you're one of the three people who didn't see it live or on highlight reels, it was sickening to watch, and no matter how much I tried to reassure my baby sis that it might not be so bad, that Tom Brady went down similarly a few days earlier in the preseason game against the Redskins and was okay, I couldn't deny that it really, really didn't look good.

And neither did the rest of the Sooners with Bradford and Jermaine Gresham crowding the sidelines. Exhibit A: BYU 14, OU 13.

A shocking upset? Maybe if Bradford hadn't gotten hurt. But when he went down, the Sooners season prospects went downhill.

Could they still make a run at the title? Of course. The loss to BYU was a nonconference game, it was a close Week One loss and, as OU found out Saturday, you never know what's going to happen next. But you should be a little more prepared for a wide range of possibilities than the Sooners seemed to be on Saturday night.

Redshirt freshman Landry Jones gets props for not totally melting down when he was unexpectedly put in charge of the offense. The Sooners were struggling before he came in - the defense didn't look sharp and I think they lost more yards to penalties than they gained on the ground. While a quarterback like Bradford should be able to bring his team back to win the game, you can't realistically expect that from a young guy who clearly did not expect to see meaningful playing time until maybe September 2010.

With Sam Bradford out 2-4 weeks at last report, Landry is the guy for the foreseeable future. The silver lining is that he'll be more prepared to take over next season, and the transition from Bradford to Jones will be that much smoother.

The bad news is that the Sooners need him now. He should be fine; he was recruited by OU after all, and they wouldn't waste a scholarship on someone terrible.

But that means the OU coaching staff needs to treat Jones like the talented scholarship quarterback he hopefully is, something they certainly didn't do on Saturday night when they were panicked by the loss of their star.

From quarterbacks coach, and former OU QB, Josh Heupel leading Jones down the sidelines by the facemask like a misbehaving thoroughbred, to the coaching staff changing and rechecking and second-guessing every single play at the line of scrimmage, Jones wasn't allowed to step up and show the world why he's the number two - now number one - guy for one of the Big 12's best football programs.

He's substituting for someone who is a freakishly talented player and the unquestioned leader of the team. He can't get away with simply keeping Bradford's spot warm for him for the next few weeks, at least not if the Sooners want a chance at even a Big 12 Championship.

Reports after the game suggest that he tried to motivate and energize and reassure his team - he was the only person who spoke up in the locker room at halftime, and Bob Stoops said he didn't see Jones flinch once after taking the field (those of us who watched on tv saw more angles and just might disagree). I hope they're right.

I hope he overcomes the micromanagement of the coaching staff and is able to step up and become a confident, competent quarterback asap. I hope Bradford comes back soon, so Jones isn't forced to do too much, too soon. I hope Bob Stoops and his coaches act as confident in their makeshift quarterback as they're telling the media, because it sure didn't look like that Saturday night.

And I really hope Landry shaves off that hideous excuse for a mustache.