14 Oklahoma

CONFERENCE: BIG 12

THE PIECES WERE IN PLACE FOR A BCS RUN, UNTIL A CRISIS AT QUARTERBACK LEFT THE SOONERS SCRAMBLING

2005 RECORD 8-4 (6-2 in Big 12 South)

RETURNING STARTERS 12

KEY RETURNEES DE C.J. Ah You (Sr.) Big 12 defensive newcomer of the year in '05 LB Rufus Alexander (Sr.) Do-it-all force led the team in tackles (102) WR Malcolm Kelly (Soph.) Team's top receiver (33 catches, 471 yards)

BIG MAN ON CAMPUS A breathless blend of power and breakaway speed, junior running back Adrian Peterson enters the season as a Heisman front-runner again. A nagging ankle sprain cost him a shot at the trophy as a sophomore, but he still rushed for 1,108 yards. "I haven't seen anything like him," coach Bob Stoops says of the 6'2" 218-pounder.

Long before the public learned of the $18,000 little-or-no-work-required jobs for Oklahoma players at a car dealership in Norman, Marc Thompson had some advice for his son Paul, a quarterback turned receiver. Figuring that Paul would most likely move back under center in the event of an emergency, Marc had told him, "You better get out there and throw [a football] at a tree, a house or something."

Thompson didn't heed his dad's advice--since the Holiday Bowl last December he had thrown only casually to warm up before summer workouts--but, boy, does he wish he had listened now. In the wake of sophomore Rhett Bomar's dismissal for violating the NCAA's extra-benefit rule by taking one of those dealership "jobs," Thompson, a fifth-year senior, is back at the position he was in at this time last year: starting quarterback. (Right guard J.D. Quinn was kicked off the team for the same violation.)

The athletic 6'4", 210-pound Thompson didn't make it through the 2005 season-opening loss to TCU, giving way to Bomar, who started the rest of the season. Thompson shifted to wideout and caught 10 passes for 106 yards. Just two weeks ago, on the day Bomar was kicked off the team, coach Bob Stoops called Thompson into his office and asked if he would return to quarterback. "It was a tough decision," Thompson says. "In the end I wanted to have the ball in my hands and do what was best for me and this team."

Could he get yanked again after one poor performance? "Paul's our guy, no matter what his performance is," says offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson.