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White Ignites Sooner Fire in 38-10 Blowout by Justin Waganer Senior Sports Writer October 14, 2001
Ask Trent Smith who he wants to be the Oklahoma quarterback, the likelihood of him giving White the nod is now very high. Smith, the talented tight end that seemed to be forgotten in the Sooner offense this year, reemerged with a fury on Saturday night catching four touchdowns in the 38-10 OU win over Kansas. Smith caught 11 passes for 70 yards and four touchdowns, (2, 12, 9, and 8 yard TD's) all from White who replaced the starter Nate Hybl in the first quarter after Hybl was ineffective. What does Smith think of the situation?
"I like the way Jason plays. He was relaxed and real easy to play with. He got me the ball every time, and that made it easy for me," Smith said after his school record breaking performance that included a possible fifth touchdown he dropped.
Now the questions arise once again, is Hybl or White the starter? Did White's solid performance for the second straight week win the starting job for him, or did Hybl simply have an off night that Bob Stoops didn't want to deal with? Stoops said afterward that every job is up for the taking every week and that Hybl's early performance led to the coaches wanting to see something different. White does bring something different, something exciting to the offense, but Stoops and Company still expect more from the redshirt sophomore from Tuttle, Oklahoma.
White is up to the challenge, one that he sees as an opportunity. "It was a great opportunity for me. I had to just step in and start playing. The offensive line really helped me out and made everything a lot easier for me. I'm starting to feel a lot more comfortable with the number one team." Where he may stay.
Early in the game Hybl struggled mightily to move the offense that lacked any spark or imagination. Nate threw several balls short and straight to the ground while playing timid and tight, the final straw may have been a mishandled snap on a fourth down, which ended up being his final snap of the night. While in the game Hybl was 5-11 for 15 yards while running three times for 22 yards, then White entered and finished with 18 completions on 29 attempts with 4 touchdown passes, two interceptions, and a fumble. However, his most impressive stat was his 12 runs for 117 yards on what has seemed to be a inept rushing offense.
While the offense finally started rolling when White entered the game, the defense and special teams were the rocks that they usually are. The defense went seven quarters from the end of the Kansas State game to the fourth quarter of this game without giving up a touchdown until a 77 yard touchdown pass from Kinsey to Ross. Jeff Ferguson continued to punt the ball a mile with five punts for a 42 yard average. Tim Duncan missed a field goal, but continued to boot kickoffs through the end-zone and so forth, giving the defense a huge field advantage boost.
Terry Allen called OU the best defense he'd seen since going to Kansas and backup quarterback Zack Dyer said it appeared as if OU had 15 guys on the field with the speed they showed. Doesn't it seem as if Oklahoma hears this following every game? These guys are big time and now the offense has seemed to open up some intrigue. If Jason White can run for over 100 yards in a game that opens holes for other backs on the delayed handoffs and option plays, then further opening the pass. Kansas found this out. They had a stronghold on a pathetic Oklahoma offense early and couldn't find their bearings after White entered.
Oklahoma next plays at home against Baylor at 2 p.m. next Saturday, no television is planned (or needed). Kansas next plays at home against Missouri.
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