Opportunities can be few and far between in college football. When one arrives, it is to be pounced on.

That’s what Oklahoma running back Jacob Gutierrez did last Saturday against Baylor, rushing for 173 yards and two touchdowns on 30 carries.

The numbers were huge, if not shocking, to most of the sellout crowd at Owen Field, but OU coach Bob Stoops claimed to be anything but surprised.

“I’ve seen Jacob now for two-and-a-half years and I’ve seen that,” he said. “I really felt he’d do really well.”

Gutierrez, a redshirt sophomore, certainly wasn’t an unknown commodity to Stoops or the rest of the Sooners. He dazzled teammates in 2003 while on the scout team.

Despite standing 5-foot-7 and weighing 181 pounds, Gutierrez has a unique ability to break tackles and frustrate defenses with a blend of power and speed.

“You think you’ve got Jacob, but he’s like Superman strong,” defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said. “He’s hard to take down. He’s so little, but he’ll run right through an arm tackle. And he’s so quick and elusive.”

After redshirting in 2003, Gutierrez appeared to be the perfect replacement for another pint-sized running back — Quentin Griffin.

Gutierrez even wore No. 22 in high school, the same number Griffin wore at OU.

But when 2004 rolled around, Adrian Peterson arrived and OU’s running game changed. Gutierrez didn’t have a single carry last season and had only carried 14 times in the six games leading up to last Saturday.

He appeared stuck on a depth chart that placed Peterson, Kejuan Jones and Donta Hickson in front of him.

“That’s football,” Gutierrez said.

But when OU ran out to face Baylor, Peterson and Hickson were hobbled by ankle injuries and Jones was serving a one-game suspension for violating team rules.

It was Gutierrez’s turn to deliver.

Boy, did he.