NORMAN, Okla. – Both Oklahoma and UCLA entered the season with question marks at quarterback after watching last year's starters become first-round NFL Draft picks, but only the Sooners escaped the season opener feeling good about their situation. After playing well in all facets of the game in a season-opening rout of Florida Atlantic, No. 5 Oklahoma hopes for a repeat performance Saturday when it hosts a UCLA team that may be forced to play without starting quarterback Wilton Speight.
TV: 1 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Oklahoma -30
Recommended Videos
(function(d, s, id) {var js,ijs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(d.getElementById(id))return;js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src="//embed.scribblelive.com/widgets/embed.js";ijs.parentNode.insertBefore(js, ijs);}(document, 'script', 'scrbbl-js'));
The Sooners scored the first 56 points of the game and rolled to a 63-14 thumping of the Owls last weekend, averaging 10.5 yards per play and holding FAU to 4.4. In Oklahoma's first game without 2017 Heisman Trophy winner (and No. 1 overall NFL Draft pick) Baker Mayfield since 2014, Kyler Murray finished 9-of-11 for 209 yards and two touchdowns in less than a half of action. The Bruins also lost their record-setting quarterback to the pros (No. 10 overall pick Josh Rosen) but were not nearly as fortunate in coach Chip Kelly's return to college football, as Speight was forced from the game after getting hurt late in the first half of last weekend's 26-17 loss to Cincinnati. The graduate transfer, who injured his back while scrambling late in the first half, is day-to-day.
ABOUT UCLA (0-1)
If Speight cannot go on Saturday - he also suffered three broken vertebrae in his back in a game last October while still at Michigan - true freshman Dorian Thompson-Robinson would be expected to make his first career start after finishing 15-of-25 for 117 yards in relief of Speight last week. “(Thompson-Robinson) didn’t start until he was a senior in high school. … It’s just a matter of getting him more reps. And you saw him today, as he started to get a bit more comfortable, I thought that he made some more plays out there,” Kelly said. Freshman Kazmeir Allen (103 yards on five carries) accounted for over half of the Bruins' 144 total rushing yards on one play, breaking loose for a 74-yard score early in the third quarter.
ABOUT OKLAHOMA (1-0)
Junior running back Rodney Anderson, who led all Power Five players with 1,333 yards from scrimmage from Oct. 21 on last season, needed only five carries to reach 100 yards thanks to first-half TD runs of 30 and 65 yards. Fellow preseason All-Big 12 selection Marquise Brown tallied six receptions for 133 yards and a touchdown while walk-on receiver Lee Morris scored from 65 yards out and remained perfect in converting catches to touchdowns (all three of his career catches have resulted in scores). Linebacker Curtis Bolton was named Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week after registering a career-high six tackles; he also blocked and recovered a first-quarter punt for a score - giving Oklahoma its first such touchdown since 2002.
EXTRA POINTS
1. Three of Oklahoma's nine touchdowns against FAU covered exactly 65 yards.
2. The Bruins, who own the fourth-highest percentage of underclassmen in the country (71.7), have started 0-2 only once in the past 20 years (2010).
3. The Sooners were one of only four Power Five programs last weekend to run for at least 300 yards (316) and pass for 300 (334).
PREDICTION: Oklahoma 48, UCLA 17