ESPN Big 12 Blog

Posted by ESPN.com's Tim Griffin

	Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
	Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford had an outstanding Saturday, throwing for 411 yards and four touchdowns in the Sooners' 35-10 win over TCU.

NORMAN, Okla. -- Sam Bradford showed the bumps and bruises of a hard day of football.

Repeatedly facing eight defenders in the box, Bradford said he might have been hit more than in any college game he could remember. But he wasn't too disappointed, considering the results.

With TCU's defense daring him to pass, Bradford wisely went to the air. He beat TCU's blitzes and finished with a career-high 411 yards and four touchdowns to direct Oklahoma to an easy 35-10 victory over the Horned Frogs.

"There was a couple of more than I'd like to take, but as long as you get the win, you don't complain," said Bradford, who was sacked three times but remain upright long enough to enable the Sooners to make a forceful claim when the new No. 1 team is selected tomorrow morning.

TCU's defensive strategy snuffed out Oklahoma's running game from the start. But it provided a variety of openings that wide receiver Manny Johnson was able to take advantage of.

Johnson grabbed five passes for a school-record 206 yards and three touchdowns. All of the plays came on TCU blitzes as he beat his defender and had clear sailing to the end zone.

"Obviously, they had a lot of people in the box, so we took advantage of that defense and went outside," said Johnson, who scored on grabs of 76, 55 and 63 yards for three-straight Sooner scores. "I just enjoyed getting into open space and being able to show my speed a little bit."

The Sooners jumped on TCU early, forcing the Horned Frogs to scramble because of their no-huddle attack.

Bradford's cadence repeatedly flummoxed TCU's defense, forcing the Horned Frogs into three offside penalties and two other times when they had 12 players on the field in the first quarter. The Horned Frogs were penalized eight times for 41 yards in the first quarter.

And when the Horned Frogs finally lined up, Bradford was waiting with his passing. He finished with a school-record 199 yards in the first quarter to stake the Sooners' to an early 21-3 lead.

"In the first quarter, we were able to tempo them," Bradford said. "They weren't as ready to play as quick as we wanted to play. We were making them make mistakes and that's exactly how we wanted to get them to play."

The Sooners finished with only 25 yards rushing, a figure that Bradford knows must improve. But he'll enjoy his big game, even as he sits in a whirlpool soaking out the effects of the pounding he faced.

"It's just comes with the position," he said. "If I stay in there and don't take the hit, it shows that I'm not committed enough to be with my teammates. It's part of my job and I wanted to hang in there with them."