NORMAN — Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones spent last week putting in extra time with his first-year receivers: Justin Brown and Trey Metoyer.
Brown, a senior transfer from Penn State, and Metoyer, a freshman, have combined for 13 catches through the first two games. The total is three less than junior receiver Kenny Stills’ personal haul against UTEP and Florida A&M.
“It was nice to have it with Justin and Trey and getting more on the same page,” Jones said.
Receivers coach Jay Norvell was thankful the Sooners had an off-week early in the season for that purpose.
“With so many new skill players on offense, it gave us time to practice what we do,” he said. “You go out on there on Saturdays and do what you do well. The more we get a chance to practice, that is helpful. Repetition is how you get there.”
The Sooners will get more time to do that. After facing Kansas State on Saturday, they don’t play again until Oct. 6 at Texas Tech.
Old ties: OU coach Bob Stoops spent seven seasons as an assistant under Kansas State coach Bill Snyder and Stoops also spent five years as a graduate and volunteer assistant coach at Iowa, where his main job was running the defensive scout team while Snyder was the Hawkeyes’ offensive coordinator.
Stoops also has a connection to Kansas State quarterback Collin Klein. Stoops’ first full-time coaching job was as defensive ends coach at Kent State in 1998. Klein’s father, Doug, was the Golden Flashes’ quarterback coach.
“Little piece of trivia there for you,” Stoops said.
What’s working?: OU is 19-0 against ranked teams at Owen Field under Stoops. It will try to make it 20 straight when it faces 15th-ranked Kansas State on Saturday.
The OU coach doesn’t believe there’s any particular reason his teams have fared so well against quality competition at home.
“I don’t think there’s anything that we do. As we kind of work through the week, we like to call it the process of winning, is pretty standard how we do it,” Stoops said. “Hopefully, I’d like to think that our guys’ attention to detail and focus is the same. But sometimes, for whatever reason, some games here we’ve played pretty well. I don’t think there’s any exact science to it.”
Hostility appreciated: The Sooners rolled over then unbeaten Kansas State, 58-17, in last season’s meeting. OU defensive lineman David King said the Wildcats had been one of the better crowds he’s played in front of.
“Their fans were probably one of the better crowds we saw last year. They were on us from start to finish. They were throwing water bottles and stuff at us on the sideline. That’s the kind of atmosphere you want to play in,” he said. “You want to go into a hostile crowd and feed off that energy. They played pretty physical with us in the first half and then we kind of got after them in the second half a little bit.”
