Trevor Knight isn't going to play and Cody Thomas is going to have to throw the ball.
Monday in Norman, Oklahoma football coach Bob Stoops said Trevor Knight will miss his third game in a row after being injured in the second half against Baylor. Thomas played the rest of that game, started at Texas Tech and started at home against Kansas.
But he's never had to worry about throwing the ball. He will on Saturday. He might also need to worry about his standing as a starting quarterback for next season.
OU ran for 384 yards against Texas Tech and then ran for 510 against Kansas, including getting an FBS single-season record performance from Samaje Perine, who went for 427.
And because of Oklahoma's success running the ball, the passing by Thomas hasn't been needed.
That won't be the case Saturday.
Thomas was 10-of-20 against Texas Tech for 133 yards, but he threw only three passes after halftime when OU decided to completely abandon the passing game. Against Kansas, Thomas completed only 3-of-13 passes for 30 yards. Guess that doesn't matter much when Perine is setting an NCAA record.
"I have confidence in Cody Thomas and hopefully we can improve," Stoops said. "I'm confident we'll be able to put that together more."
Thomas is going to need to do a lot more if he's interested in earning the starting spot for next season. He's 2-0 as a starter this season and now has a third game in a row where he essentially is getting a tryout for next season. Already the Sooners have Baker Mayfield, the freshman of the year last season at Texas Tech, as a possibility at quarterback next season as well as Knight and back-up Justice Hansen. A poor performance throwing against OSU would mean it would be near-impossible for Thomas to be considered the starter for next season.
And this tryout for Thomas has come against the bottom of the Big 12 in Iowa State, Kansas and now OSU. It's an excellent chance for Thomas to get some good experience and put up some decent numbers. He hasn't yet.
Now, OSU, losers of five games in a row and just 5-6 on the season, comes to Norman. The Cowboys' strength is its rush defense. The Cowboys are fifth in the conference, allowing 155.6 yards per game. Meanwhile, they are last in the Big 12 in pass defense, allowing more than 282 yards per game.
Only makes sense the Cowboys would load up against the run, considering the Sooners are featuring a freshman quarterback, might be without its best receiver and haven't really been consistent in anything pass-related all season long.
The Sooners are No. 1 in the Big 12 rushing, getting 265 yards per game. Perine has three games where he's gone for more than 200. Oklahoma is eighth-best in the conference in passing, getting just 220 yards per game.
Perine will certainly get the ball Saturday against the Cowboys, there's no doubt about that, but Thomas is going to have to make some quality throws.
"He's confident in what he's doing, not that he wasn't confident going into Week 1.," co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel said. "There's things he'd do differently and hopefully he won't repeat any of those same mistakes. He'll play better, I'm sure."
Thomas will play better if receiver Sterling Shepard returns. Stoops said Shepard would be a game-time decision as Shepard has been dealing with an injury since the first play of the Iowa State game on Nov. 1. Shepard missed the entire game against Baylor and was limited against Tech and Kansas. Shepard is averaging five catches per game. He had 15 catches for 197 yards against Kansas State.
If Shepard doesn't play that means more responsibility goes to junior Durron Neal and freshmen K. J. Young and Michiah Quick.
"It's going to be 1 on 1s on the outside and we're going to have to be good enough to win," Heupel said. "And that means throwing it in the right spot."
Which is something Thomas hasn't really done so far.
But it's something he'll have to do if Thomas is going to be the staring quarterback next season.
Follow Andrew Gilman on Twitter: @andrewgilmanOK
