Landry Jones: Does The Sooner Signal Caller Have What It Takes?

Well, it's that time of year again and football fans find themselves eagerly anticipating the kickoff to the 2010 college season. Everyone is excited for the games to begin and the next few weeks will drag by as slowly as molasses in wintertime.

This should be another great season and there are a number of teams that have the potential to end up on top when it concludes in the BCS Championship Game.

Some of these teams have a history of high expecations and the titles to go along with them. Some are relative newcomers to such lofty prognostications. Boise State and TCU are no strangers to talk of championships but not until recently has the word national accompanied the conversation.

The University of Oklahoma is definitely no stranger to being included in discussions of programs that have a legitimate chance to play for the national championship on a yearly basis. That distinction comes with claiming seven previous titles and having the most victories of the modern era of college football, from 1945 until the present.

Noted expert and college football magazine publisher Phil Steele turned a few heads when his pre-season poll had Oklahoma as the favorite to win the BCS Championship for the upcoming season.

The Sooners are coming off their worst season of the last decade with a record of 8-5.  Four players were taken in the first round of the NFL draft. OU has lost their last five BCS bowl games. The offensive line that had a hard time picking up blitzes and run blocking last season saw their best player, Trent Williams, leave as the fourth overall pick.

Quarterback play had been inconsistent in 2009 as the Sooners combined to throw for almost as many interceptions last year (15) as recent first overall draft pick Sam Bradford had thrown in his career (16).

Red-shirt sophomore quarterback Landry Jones now enters the season as the starter under center and the leader of the offense. Though Jones took the vast majority of snaps for the Sooners last year, he was not officially anointed the starter until after the sixth game of the season. This became a necessity when 2008 Heisman winner Bradford went out for good with a season ending re-injury of his shoulder against Texas.

Many Oklahoma fans are apprehensive to say the least concerning Jones' ability to lead the team back to championship form. Is he going to play like the poised and accurate signal caller who threw for a school record six touchdown passes against Tulsa? Will he revert to the player who looked like a deer caught in the headlights when he gave away five interceptions against the outstanding Nebraska defense in Lincoln?

You may have noticed that when the college football experts talk about the top returning freshman QB's from last year, Jones' name is usually not mentioned. The consensus seems to be the top two are USC's Matt Barkley and Stanford's Andrew Luck, both from the Pac 10. They are both quality players and may indeed end up as the best prospects when they eventually move on to careers in the NFL.

However, a case can be made that Jones should be considered on the list when the topic of top underclass quarterbacks is brought up. He has numbers comparable or better than both Luck and Barkley in most statistical categories.

While both Pac 10 QB's had strong run games to take away pressure and help them out, the Sooners rushing attack was down considerably from the previous two seasons.

Stanford's backs ran for 218 yds/game with a 5.3 yard rush average.

USC ran for 169 yds/game at a 4.9 yard average.

OU ran for only 135 yds/game and 3.6 yards per attempt.

Needless to say, Landry Jones did not get alot of help from the ground game.

Oklahoma's offense, while going through numerous issues with new faces, injuries and penalties up front, was a mere shadow of what they were the previous season when they had two backs each go over 1,000 yards on the ground. Rushing TD's dropped from 45 in '08 to only 18 in 2009.

Some of you may be asking what the rushing game has to do with Landry's inconsistency in the passing game. Aren't they separate from each other?

For a team to get it's play action passing game into high gear, it is important to make the defense respect the offenses ability to hurt them on the ground.

I would venture to say that if you combine a freshman quarterback who wasn't prepped to be the starter entering the season, add portions of a sub-par rushing game and problems picking up blitzes and sprinkle in dropped passes, penalties and numerous injuries, you've got a fine recipe for a very long season. Particularly when you play one of the toughest schedules in the country.

That's just what the Sooners' suffered through last year, a very long season.

Now that the new season approaches, what can Oklahoma fans expect from a more seasoned and better prepared Landry Jones? Well, they may get more than most are willing to hope for.

First of all, the numbers on Landry last season were not all that bad to begin with. In fact, when averaged out, they compare fairly evenly to what Sam Bradford put up last year playing in limited action behind the same patchwork offensive line.

Bradford threw 69 passes, completing 39 for 562 yards. He completed 56.5% of them with a passer rating of 134.5. His rating was well down from his previous two seasons', 180.84 in '08 and 176.53 in '09.

Landry Jones completed 261 of 449 passes for 3,198 yards. He completed 58% and ended the season with a rating of 130.83.

Sam had slightly better numbers than Landry for average per attempt (8.14 compared to 7.12) and average per completion (14.4 to 12.2).

Landry comes out on top when you average touchdowns per attempt. He threw for 26 touchdowns at a ratio of 1 TD for every 17.26 attempts. Sam had 2 touchdowns for a ratio of 1 to 34.5.

The biggest difference was that Jones threw 14 interceptions to none for Bradford. This shouldn't have been totally unexpected considering Sam had two years of experience playing behind one of the finest O-lines in OU history.

Jones meanwhile, had to suffer through the growing pains as his line shuffled throughout the season.

Contrasting Landry's freshman numbers' to Bradford's is not a fair comparison. As already stated, Sam had a solid offensive line with a potent rushing attack to compliment his passing game. He had the best passing season statistically for a freshman QB in NCAA history.

Comparing passing numbers to what Luck and Barkley put up last year as fellow freshman is fair and sheds a little more light.

Matt Barkley at USC completed 221 of 352 passes for 2,735 yards. He connected on almost 60% of his passes for about 228 yds/game. Barkley threw for 15 touchdowns against 14 interceptions and finished with a rating of 131.3. He led his team to a scoring average of 26.5 points a game.

The Trojan starting QB also averaged a touchdown pass every 23 throws and an interception every 25 throws. He was good for 7.6 yards per attempt and 12.7 yards a completion.

Andrew Luck of Stanford threw for 2,575 yards, completing 162 of 288 passes. He averaged 214 yards a game and connected on 56%. The Cardinal starter threw for 13 touchdowns and only 4 interceptions. His passer rating was a nice 143 and his team scored an average of 35.5 points a game.

Luck managed a TD once every 22 tosses. His main strength was an outstanding ratio of only one interception for every 96 passes. He averaged 8.7 yards an attempt and 15.6 yards per completion.

We have previously gone over most of Landry Jones numbers but will recap them here for comparisons sake.

Jones: 261 completions in 449 attempts for 3,198 yards. 130.83 passer rating and 246 yards a game. 26 Td's and 14 interceptions, with a scoring average of 31.1 points a game.

One score for every 17 attempts and an interception for every 32 attempts. 7.12 yards per attempt and 12.2 yards a completion.

An argument could easily be made that statistics wise, these numbers put him ahead of Barkley and trailing Luck.

However, Stanford had a much better offensive line than OU had for most of the year. You don't average 5.3 yards per rush without some outstanding blocking no matter how good Heisman runner-up Toby Gerhart played for them last year. This definitely helped the Cardinal signal caller not only in the pocket but also with his play actions.

The Sooners' coaching staff firmly believes the Oklahoma offensive line is going to play much better this year. Look also for dynamic running back Demarco Murray to be the beast out of the backfield he has shown flashes of becoming.

Expect marked improvement from the O-line and running game. This, along with stronger play from the receiving unit led by Ryan Broyles, should result in an offense that more closely resembles the high scoring units of 2008 and 2007 than the Jeckyl and Hyde performance witnessed by Sooner fans last year.

Jones' also has the added advantage of having worked with the first team offense and OU QB coach Josh Huepel throughout the spring and again this fall. There are very few Sooner fans who don't have the utmost confidence in Huepel's ability to coach a quarterback up to a very high performance level.

What does this all mean for the average fan of the Sooners? It means a much more explosive offense and some eye-catching numbers from Landry Jones for the up-coming season. He may never reach the numbers put up by Sam Bradford but nobody else may either.

Look for Landry putting up numbers similar to what Bradford put up his freshman year. This would be in the neighborhood of around 35 touchdown passes and cutting that interception total down to single digits. These are reasonable goals for him to shoot for and possibly even too low.

While nobody knows before the season starts if the Sooners are BCS Championship good, it will not be Jones holding them back.