Published: September 07, 2008 12:23 am            

Broyles finally on the field

For at least a day, everything worked.

The night before, Ryan Broyles did not toss and turn, or, at least, toss and turn unsure which college to attend as he had in the early morning hours of Feb. 7, 2006, before finally deciding to play football at Oklahoma, which had only recently offered him a spot, and not for Oklahoma State, which had offered a year before.

Nor was he arrested for attempting to pilfer gasoline, as he was in the early morning hours of Aug. 31, 2007, a day before OU was to play North Texas, when he gave away the opportunity to star as a true freshman, putting his name on a rap sheet instead of a stat sheet.

Nor was he suspended, as he was a week ago, opening day, against Tennessee-Chattanooga, when he finally had to give up a game he could never get back for his year-earlier knuckleheadedness.

It could not have been worth the wait as one hopes a criminal record is never one of those necessary steps required to reap gridiron glory.

Yet it had to be fantastic because the last time anybody looked anything like this catching passes at OU, Mark Clayton was catching passes at OU … even if Broyles’ fourth catch of the day brought back memories of Andre Woolfolk that day against Nebraska, when Woolfolk reminded everybody of Lynn Swann.

Even if he had a hard time thinking of himself when it was over.

“It’s great, just being around a bunch of guys that just want to win,” he said. “Just trying to be a championship caliber team. It’s great.”

The Sooners wore Cincinnati down Saturday afternoon, walking away with a 52-26 victory. And if Broyles wasn’t the best player on the field, he sure looked like it.

Maybe not in the boxscore, where Sam Bradford threw for 395 yards and five touchdowns, career highs both, and maybe not in the Cincinnati locker room, where they might have been wondering how Travis Lewis could be everywhere at once or how nobody could keep Jeremy Beal away from the football.

But to the eye, it was Broyles.

He caught seven passes for 141 yards and a touchdown to complete a performance that will at least reign indefinitely as the finest debut ever by a Sooner receiver. If that doesn’t seem like much at a program that ran out of the wishbone for so long, remember that Tommy McDonald, Billy Brooks, Tinker Owens, Brandon Jones, Mark Bradley and Clayton all wore the crimson and cream.

The first pass Broyles caught was a little throw in the left flat, only he seemed to catch the ball and accelerate all at once, which was the only way to beat Cincinnati corner Brandon Underwood to the boundary and turn it into a 31-yard gain. The second catch, the next play, put OU up a touchdown less than 2 minutes into the game.

His fourth catch was the showstopper.

OU led 28-20 and faced third-and-9 at its own 23 midway through the third quarter. Yes, it was that close for a bit. But everything changed when Broyles flew through the air, almost like he was the defender, and snared the ball in front of Underwood, who might already have been thinking about running the other way. Instead, the Sooners were 43 yards closer to extending their lead.

“If Ryan keeps doing the things he’s been doing lately, he has a chance to be a special player here,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “He’s competitive and he has a knack for making plays like that.”

The rest was gravy, though it did include his last catch, still in the third quarter, when he nabbed a Bradford fling over the middle in traffic and made about three guys miss in the space of a few yards to pick up 23. That was the play he looked exactly like Clayton.

To say OU doesn’t win without him is saying too much, though the Norman High product sure made it easier. To say days like this, no matter who provides them, is about the best sports has to offer because first impressions can be made only once and, for all the waiting, Broyles exceeded all the superlatives coaches and Sooners had laid on him (for his on-field activity) since he arrived on campus.

“I’ve been telling people for a long time, just wait until he has a chance to show everybody how good he is,” said receiving mate Manny Johnson. “Today, he had that opportunity.”

Afterward, there were questions. Questions about Broyles’ personal growth. Questions about coming back from the embarrassment of last season’s eve. Questions about what it was like then and how it feels now.

At one point, Broyles said “I don’t even like talking about it,” but not like he was tired of the question; more like he just can’t believe he did something so stupid; something that cost him a year of football and had to put his Sooner ties in jeopardy until he was back on the straight and narrow long enough to be trusted again.

Let’s hope it’s exactly that. That he doesn’t even know that guy anymore.

Because he was so good Saturday.

And a Norman kid, too.

Often, it’s about the stories and this is a good one.

Let’s hope it turns out as well as it’s (re)started.

        

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