Oklahoma Football: Sooners prove better than 2017 version in FAU victory

Murray and Kendall performed well as next men up at quarterback

The big question marks were all at quarterback. Kyler Murray and, to a lesser extent, Austin Kendall assuaged those worries against Florida Atlantic on Saturday. Murray earned the starting role in the preseason, edging out Kendall in the depth chart. And as the next man up at quarterback, Murray performed admirably in the blowout win.

Murray threw for 209 yards and two touchdowns on 9-of-11 passing. He added 23 rushing yards on four carries. Most impressively, he did all that in less than one half of playing time. Lincoln Riley and the coaching staff elected to pull Murray from the game after his 65-yard touchdown pass to Marquise Brown with 4:17 left in the second quarter.

Once Austin Kendall stepped in, he wasn’t quite as dynamic but was still just as effective. The redshirt sophomore averaged fewer yards per completion than Murray, as he opted to throw shorter passes rather than lofting bombs over the top. But Kendall still finished with 88 yards and a touchdown on 8-of-10 passing before crashing into an equipment crate on the sidelines early in the fourth quarter.

Tanner Mordecai also performed efficiently when the third-string quarterback came in for Kendall, completing both his pass attempts for 37 yards. Losing Baker Mayfield was expected to make the Sooners slightly less dynamic. If anything, it has unleashed Oklahoma’s offense even further. Because it is less critical to bolster any one player’s stats in pursuit of a Heisman, the offense now knows it has several players that can step up.