Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops expects running back Adrian Peterson to play Saturday at UCLA, but hasn’t decided if he will start.

Peterson was suspended from practice Monday and Tuesday after violating an athletic department rule against skipping classes.

“At this point, we anticipate him playing,” Stoops said. “Start or not depends on how we feel practice is going, what we feel we need to do. Depending on what further happens from here, we’ll see.”

Peterson rushed for 220 yards in the Sooners’ 31-15 victory over Tulsa last Saturday and has scored all four of OU’s touchdowns this season.

Stoops has raved about everything the sophomore Heisman Trophy contender has done that relates to football, but added there’s more to playing at OU than producing on the field.

“I’m going to tell you there is not a guy who goes at it harder in the weight room in the summer and on the field.” Stoops said. “You watch him, the way he plays determined. But there are other parts of what we do here as college students and on a college team that also need to be fulfilled.”

By design

OU was expected to utilize its quarterbacks’ abilities to run this season. Yet, for the most part, that hasn’t happened.

Both Stoops and offensive coordinator Chuck Long said that was no accident.

“As far as quarterback-designed runs, that’s just not something we’ve worked to yet,” Stoops said. “Last week, you have an opportunity to give it to Adrian Peterson or have your quarterback just run it. We ran it plenty.”

Will that change when the Sooners face UCLA in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif.?

It might, but it’s not the biggest issue on the offense’s radar. Figuring out a way to effectively throw the ball is a bigger issue.

“Though that’s going to continue to be developed, the other areas of throwing the ball are, to me, what are more pressing,” Stoops said.

No regrets