Getting better

Clay Horning
The Norman Transcript

October 29, 2006 12:19 am

— • Allen Patrick looking good since Peterson’s injury

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Kevin Wilson thought he saw a few things early. Like any offensive coordinator worth his salt, he adjusted. Instead of gearing plays directly into the defense, a slight change here and there, he felt, gave the Sooners more to run through.
“We just did a better job of setting some things up,” Wilson said.
And still, there was little question Allen Patrick, plenty steady seven days earlier against Colorado, was a different, better and more forceful runner Saturday afternoon at Faurot Field and one of the biggest reasons why Oklahoma knocked off Missouri 26-10.
Once again, Patrick showed stamina, following last week’s 35-carry performance with 36 against the Tigers. This time he turned them into 162 yards, an average of 4.5 per carry (after just 3.1 against Colorado) and much better than that after the half, when he virtually took over the offensive reins.
“The more he’s in there, the more he’s comfortable with what he’s doing,” Sooner coach Bob Stoops said. “I’m really proud of him. He’s doing a great job.”
Patrick did not score a touchdown, but he sparked the Sooners’ 80-yard third-quarter march — which answered a 66-yard Tiger march — with back-to-back runs of 10 and 11 yards. And what he did facing third-and-7 from the Sooner 4 on the second play of the fourth quarter may have been as important as a touchdown: taking a hand-off, breaking to the left boundary before cutting upfield and motoring for 15 yards and a first down.
That drive eventually petered out, with Missouri taking over on the other side of mid-field following David Overstreet’s recovery of Sooner quarterback Paul Thompson’s fumble. Stoops, though, remained thrilled with the change of field position.
“Hey, we just took the ball off the 1-yard line,” he said. “That’s a heck of a drive.”
All told, Patrick ran for 116 yards after the half, including four carries of 10 or more yards.
“He’s just feeling comfortable,” Thompson said.
While Wilson did what he could from the pressbox, making the adjustments and sending in the plays, Patrick was also receiving guidance on the sideline from the guy he’s been thrust into replacing: Adrian Peterson.
“A.D. was telling me to slow down and, ‘When you see it, hit it.’ That’s what I did,” Patrick said. “I usually go out there and try to stick it in there when I need to be reading.”
Peterson couldn’t have been more happy for his prized pupil.
“I think he’s going to get better every week,” he said.
So far, at least, he has.

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