EL PASO, Texas – It is not a secret that OU is a different team on the road, and it is even less of a secret that redshirt freshman quarterback Landry Jones is a different quarterback away from Norman.

Unfortunately for Jones and the Sooners, they cannot play the Brut Sun Bowl at home, a place where they hold an FBS-high 30-game winning streak.

Away from Owen Field, Jones has a two-to-one interception-to-touchdown ratio — 10 interceptions to five touchdowns — and has been victorious just once.

Even though head coach Bob Stoops says he has full confidence in Jones and attributes a lot of his troubles to the lack of support around him, it is time for Jones to step up and prove what he can do.

The time for excuses has long come and gone.

Jones is no longer Heisman-winner Sam Bradford’s replacement; he is no longer an inexperienced freshman who is still learning how to play the position. He has played enough games to rid himself of those labels and develop his own identity.

But that identity is somewhat of a Jekyll-and-Hyde persona, you do not know what kind of performance you will get out of Jones from week to week. If Jones wants to be the Sooners’ starting quarterback in 2010 and 2011, he is going to have to redefine what kind of player he is.

The way he is going to redefine himself has to start with a good performance against the Stanford Cardinal.

Jones is going to have to find a way to end OU’s road struggles and get an offense that averages 16.2 points per road game to click on all cylinders early by completing crisp passes and making smart decisions.

But more importantly, Jones must win. Even if he does not put up stellar numbers and still finds a way to win, he will have made strides toward making OU his team, a title that Bradford earned when he was the starting quarterback.

If he cannot win and put up good stats, then Stoops should hold an open competition for the future of the starting quarterback position.

Jones may win that competition, but he has a good shot of finding himself on the sideline to start the 2010 season and a chance of not even seeing the field in 2011.

There have been rumors that OU will bring in Blinn College quarterback Cameron Newton to provide Jones with competition for next year, and there are high hopes for quarterback recruit Blake Bell. Bell will most likely redshirt his freshman year and be given the opportunity to compete for the starting job during the 2011 season.

Jones has the ability to be the Sooners’ quarterback of the future, but if he does not leave El Paso, Texas, with a victory and a good performance then that role may be in jeopardy.