“Sooner Magic” Makes a Comeback:
OU on track for title run
Dallas – The 105th edition of the Red River Rivalry was nothing short of thrilling last Saturday. If you tuned in for ABC's coverage of the historic match-up, you no doubt were left holding your breath – no matter which team you root for – until the 1:08 mark of the game, when Texas punt-returner Aaron Williams muffed a punt from Oklahoma's Tres Way, securing the 28-20 victory for the Sooners, leaving Texas fans across the country with another sour taste in their mouths with flashbacks of UCLA and another muffed punt that sealed the fate of the Longhorns.
OU's offense broke out in a fever on offense to start the game, driving 83 and 75 yards, respectively, on their opening two drives of the game to jump out to a quick 14-0 lead. Texas was unable to move the ball consistently throughout the entirety of the game. The absence of Texas' leading wide receiver, freshman Mike Davis, might have had something to do with Texas' inability to effectively match OU's scoring.
Another huge factor in the game came in the first half as the Sooner offense continually went up-tempo to throw off defensive coordinator Will Muschamp and keep the Longhorns from making critical substitutions to match-up with the different formations offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson threw at him.
OU quarterback Landry Jones was asked if he felt he got everything out of the up-tempo offense the Sooners ran, saying, “We wanted to come in here and tempo Texas’ defense, and I feel like when we were “tempoing” them, they weren’t getting set. We played pretty well in that aspect, getting past the line.”
After the game, Mack Brown had this to say about the quick pace the OU offense threw at them, “We worked on it all week and OU does a good job of it,” Brown commented, “They caused our defense to bust on a few third downs and our offense had very few plays and that kept the defense on the field too long in the first quarter. I felt like we got gassed just a little bit...”
Brown's statements rang true of the Texas defense as the Sooners took 34 snaps on offense to only 10 for Texas in the first quarter. By the halftime, the Sooners had amassed 21 points on 57 offensive plays, racking up 289 yards. On the other hand, Texas was only able to muster 7 points on 27 plays, totaling 174 yards.
And, as it goes in the Red River Rivalry, the team that rushes the ball best and wins the statistical battle of total rushing yards, wins the game every year since Coach Stoops began leading his Sooner teams into Dallas.
Demarco Murray rushed the ball 25 times for 115 yards and 2 touchdowns. Murray took ranks today with some of the most famous running backs of all-time. His 55 all-purpose touchdowns ranks only second to Heisman winner Steve Owens, he is the 9th Sooner to reach the 3,000 yard rushing mark for a career, and his two scores today moved him into second place for career points, now only 6 points away from tying the aforementioned Owens.
In the post-game, Coach Stoops said he was proud of his football team, saying, “[It was] A well played football game against an excellent team of Texas. My compliments to them again...This is a special rivalry so to come out today, play like we did, and win a good football game to put us at 5-0, and of course our first conference game to win, is always a big deal.”
Most of the interviews centered around discussion of calls and plays made late in the game. One of the first had to deal with a play call with just over six minutes left in the third quarter.
Holding on to a 28-17 lead, Coach Stoops trotted out kicker Patrick O'Hara for what would have been a 42 yard field goal attempt from the UT 25 yard line. After a delay of game moved the ball back 5 yards, Stoops still persisted on the field goal formation. Stoops’ decision would prove a costly mistake on the head man’s part as holder John Nimmo was sacked on the fake attempt that fooled no one in the stands, much less the Texas team.
“I figured hey, why not give it a go. I didn't plan on losing 12 yards [on the sack], I thought he [Nimmo] would throw the ball away or try for an interference call. Just lay out and give it a chance, but that didn't happen,” Stoops admitted after the game.
Luckily for Stoops, his defense answered the call on the very next play from the UT 43. Texas quarterback Garret Gilbert dropped back to pass what looked to be a down-field bomb, and was sacked for an 11 yard loss by linebacker Tom Wort. That play sent the ball back to the Texas 30 and disrupted Gilbert and the Texas offense, setting them into a 4th down, punt situation.
After getting the ball back at their own 26 yard line and going three-and-out, veteran punter Tres Way committed what would could have been a costly mistake for the Sooners as he shanked a 17 yard punt that allowed Texas a golden opportunity to score with plenty of time on the clock to make a surge to win the game.
However, the OU defense was able to stymie Texas' offense and hold the Horns to a field goal that would wind up being the last score of the game. The fireworks were not over yet as Bob Stoops and his Sooners pulled a little “Sooner Magic” out of their hats to secure the victory.
In case you don't know or remember, the term “Sooner Magic” is a particular term that has haunted fans of another rival school for decades. The phrase was born after the 1976 meeting between OU and Nebraska where Barry Switzer's young club pulled out a miraculous come-from-behind win in Lincoln with only three minutes to play, down 10 points.
On Saturday, October 2, 2010, Sooner Magic creeped into the Cotton Bowl to help Bob Stoops' young bunch win for the first time in two years against their arch-rivals.
With 1:39 left on the game clock, Texas kicked the ball to the Sooners, but not after Coach Stoops would worry the entire Sooner nation. Most people in the stands and watching at home thought Mack Brown would call for an onside kick – as apparently did Coach Stoops. Stoops sent out “the good-hands-team” to receive the kickoff and lined up nine players ten yards away from the ball.
Only Demarco Murray and Ryan Broyles drifted back in case Texas attempted to kick the ball over the heads of the first line of defense. Texas kicker Justin Tucker tried just that, a pooch kick over the front line's head, but his leg was too strong on the kick and the ball lazily bounced just over the line, into the end zone for a touch-back. The first sign of Sooner Magic was sweeping across the field.
After running back Demarco Murray carried the ball for no gain, Texas quickly called a timeout stopping the clock at 1:35. What happened next was purely Sooner Magic.
“The play got jacked up. It was a messed up deal. The head phones were not working. Yelling for a time out no one could hear. It was the same on the fake field goal. We had some communication issues. It was no one's fault, just a mechanical error,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson remembered.
Coach Stoops also was ready to take part in the blame for the play, saying, “I should have done a better job on that play as well. They [the offense] didn't feel good about it, so in that situation, I should have just used the last time out, and hopefully that would have given us a better play.”
On second down, ten yards to go from the 20 yard line, quarterback Landry Jones – who had committed no turnovers and had played an almost flawless game – took the snap and rolled to his right. Problem was, Landry should have rolled left.
“Coming off the sideline, I was a little confused about the signal for the play. When I took the snap, I went the wrong way. It was just a mess up from the beginning. It was pretty lucky on our part, to get the ball out of bounds and not have a turnover,” Jones remarked on his play.
As Jones ran right the ball seemingly fell out of his hand and Texas linebacker Emmanuel Acho hit Jones from behind, throwing him to the ground. Jones contorted his body as he hit the turf, rolled to try and tip the ball out of bounds. Somehow, Jones was apparently able to get a finger-tip on the ball and gave just enough of a push to help slide the ball out of bounds for a nine yard loss instead of what could have been an easy Texas touchdown.
Sooner Magic had now taken a front-and-center seat on the field with the OU team.
On the next play, OU's MVP of the game – running back Demarco Murray – darted through the heart of the Texas defense, rushing the ball 17 yards, back to the OU 23, giving punter Tres Way a chance to pin the Longhorns back to their side of the field.
Sooner Magic would make one final appearance for Coach Stoops and company, helping the OU team lock up the win.
Way hit a 36 yard punt that found Aaron Williams standing back for the return. Texas fans no doubt experienced feelings of deja-vu while OU fans were relishing in the Sooner Magic their team was able to take advantage of in the end.
As Williams called for the fair catch, deep snapper James Winchester stood only inches from him. Somehow, the sure-handed Williams inexplicably muffed the punt and Winchester quickly dove on top of the loose ball, sealing Texas' fate, giving Bob Stoops his seventh win against the Horns and Mack Brown.
While it may not have been a “pretty” win for the Sooners, junior linebacker Travis Lewis - who recorded a team high 10 tackles on the day - conjured up thoughts of Raider great Al Davis in his comments to the media, saying, “I will take the win, by three, by one, by 20 - it doesn’t matter. I don’t care. I will take the win, ” echoing Davis’ famous quote, “Just win, baby!”
And although some will look at this game as Texas giving the Sooners the game at the end, this writer felt a little magic in the air of the Cotton Bowl that afternoon. While I feel that the Longhorns certainly had golden opportunities to take the game from OU late in the game, the scoreboard still read 28-20 when the clock hit 0:00, and that meant that - to coin a phrase from the Sooners head man - “in the end” OU did what it had to do and stepped up at the crucial points of the game to cap off their victory in Dallas.
Up next for the Sooners is a bye week, followed with a bout with Iowa State - who beat Texas Tech in Ames this past weekend - on the 16th in Norman. Stoops and co. will look to take on the second half of their season and make a run toward a 7th conference championship and possibly another crack at the school’s 8th national championship, as many early BCS polls are beginning to show OU near the top of projected rankings.
For more on college and high school football, check out my blog http://footballimp.blogspot.com or email me at brett_t_hill@hotmail.com.
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