Oklahoma's Sam Bradford, a golfer when he isn't a quarterback, has never had a case of the yips.

At least, none that anybody has ever seen.

"If he sweats, that would be news to me," Oklahoma receiver Malcolm Kelly said. "I've never seen Sam sweat a drop."

Bradford is the calm kid, the storm's eye. He sees a lot, and not much of it ever seems to rattle him or his passing accuracy.

Whether it's a crowd of 82,000 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium or a national audience for tonight's Tostitos Fiesta Bowl against West Virginia, it's all the same to Bradford.

It's a game, the same one he played in the schoolyard, and the same one his dad, former Oklahoma lineman Kent Bradford, taught him to enjoy.

There's not much point to it if it isn't fun, he said.

But there also isn't much fun if there isn't winning, and Bradford has been making sure that there's been plenty of that.

The Sooners are 11-2, in large part because of astonishing statistics recorded by the 20-year-old redshirt freshman.

He leads the nation in passing efficiency at 180.53. At one point, he completed 22 successive attempts, an Oklahoma record that was just two short of the NCAA mark.

"From the beginning to now, I feel like I've gotten so much more comfortable," said Brawdford, who, at 6 feet 5, 213 pounds, resembles a long, skinny kid looking for a meal in the high school lunchroom. "Every day and every snap I get, I feel more comfortable.

"The playmakers on this team make for a real long list. With that much help around you, it's fun."

There's that word again: Fun.

It's a demeanor, one part laid back and one part competitive, that has allowed Bradford to move into the quarterback job in an almost seamless fashion. In fact, Sooners coach Bob Stoops has a nickname for him: "The Big Easy."

It's not for the city, although the Sooners would rather be in New Orleans for the national championship game than Glendale, Ariz. They might have been there if a concussion hadn't knocked Bradford out of the Texas Tech game in the Sooners' second loss.

"I really don't remember it, to be honest," said Bradford, who probably would rather not recall one day that just wasn't a whole lot of fun.

For Bradford, the nickname stands for something, actually somebody, else. It's the name attached to pro golfer Ernie Els.

Golf just happens to be one of Bradford's many pursuits. In high school, he also played basketball. At a Fiesta Bowl media session Saturday, he said he liked ice hockey so much that he almost moved from Oklahoma City to Dallas, where there are more places to skate.

Looking back, however, he was destined to play football at Oklahoma. In a state with one of the nation's biggest Native American populations, Bradford has Cherokee ancestors.

His Native American ancestry was not disclosed until this season. It has been reported that he is one-sixteenth Cherokee. He has a great-grandmother named Susie Walkingstick.

Bradford hasn't spent a whole lot of time talking about his roots. Nonetheless, they are there and just another part of his Oklahoma identity.

According to various reports, Bradford is believed to be one of the few quarterbacks with a Native American ancestry to play for a NCAA Division I school. The best known is Sonny Sixkiller, a Cherokee who was the University of Washington quarterback from 1970-72.

For now, Bradford wants to be identified only as a young quarterback with lots to learn.

The student in him is a reason for his quick emergence, according to Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. Bradford was on an early roll, especially in a victory over Miami on Sept. 8 when he had 19 completions for five touchdowns. Six games later in a victory over Iowa State, Bradford looked at the film and saw the flaws.

"He said: 'Coach, I think I got a little too greedy,' " Wilson said.

That's not much fun.