Oklahoma Routs Ball State, Prepares for “Texas Week”
By Brett Hill, NCAA Correspondent
Norman – Oklahoma came in to this week’s matchup with Ball State University coming off their first conference win against the Missouri Tigers 38-28 in a lackluster performance that earned OU a downgrade by the Associated Press in their weekly poll to No.2 in the country; however, they were able to retain the No. 1 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll. The Sooners were a team upset, mad, disappointed, embarrassed and ready get back to “Sooner Football” as seniors Travis Lewis and Frank Alexander put it last week.
Last week, many of the Sooner players noticed a lack of intensity and focus during practices leading up to the Missouri game a week ago, the Sooners MVP of the evening – Tony Jefferson – shed some light on what he felt was a better week of practices, “We definitely made improvements [on the defense]. I saw that this week. We were hungry for it and knew we had to bounce back.”
So, the Cardinals from Muncie, Indiana came in to Norman to face a team ready to prove those who doubted them wrong and, after 655 offensive yards against just 214 for Ball State, four forced turnovers by the Sooners and 62 points later, Oklahoma sent the Cardinals limping home as they prepare for the Red River Rivalry against the Longhorns at the State Fair of Texas in Dallas.
After the game, all of the players comments were geared toward their anticipation of the upcoming Red River game in Dallas, something all OU players, coaches and fans simply cannot wait to get to each season.
“I sensed in the locker room that there wasn’t anybody jumping up and down. Already there’s a lot of anticipation for next week and we’ve got a lot of work to do to keep pushing and building on this team – to get better play – and I know the guys will be anxious to come back next week to polish some things up and get ready for [Texas] week,” were Coach Stoops’ thoughts on his team’s performance leading into the Texas game.
In a surprise start to this week’s game, Ball State lined up for the opening kickoff and caught the Sooners sleeping with an opening on-side kick, which they recovered. Fortunately for Sooner fans, the defense was able to force a three-and-out and the Sooners offense was able to take over on their own fifteen.
Ten plays and eighty-five yards later, OU would light the scoreboard first via a Landry Jones six yard touchdown pass to tight end James Hanna. Interestingly, placekicker duties were handled by Michael Hunnicutt after he took over the job for Jimmy Stevens last week as Stevens was said to have been hampered by a quad injury. At the 10:14 mark of the first quarter, OU led 7-0.
When Ball State received their next possession, they were again forced into a three-and-out, but were given a golden opportunity as the usually sure-handed and veteran wide receiver and All-American Ryan Broyles fumbled the punt and gave the Cardinals the ball on the OU 26.
Again, the Sooners defense stiffened and held Ball State to a field goal attempt of 34 yards which Steven Schott nailed, putting the Cardinals on the board 7-3 at the 6:59 mark.
The Sooners offense would be somewhat disappointing the remainder of the quarter and the defense would follow suit as OU quarterback Landry Jones would lead the Sooners offense into Ball State territory, only to have their drive stall out on the twenty-seven yard line, settling for a forty-four yard field goal that Hunnicutt banged off the upright and in for a 10-3 lead.
The Sooners defense would proceed to give up a Ball State drive that lasted 7:08 covering sixty-one yards in fifteen plays. However, all the Cardinals would be able to get out of the drive was three points, giving the Sooners a 10-6 lead early in the second quarter.
The Cardinals would not score for the remainder of the contest, as the field goal seemed to serve as added motivation to the Sooners to pick up their intensity and put on a dominant performance the rest of the way on both sides of the ball, taking advantage of several Cardinal miscues.
After a kickoff penalty caused the Sooners offense to start on their own eight yard line, Jones and company put together a twelve play, ninety-two yard drive capped off by a twenty-five yard touchdown run by walk-on sensation running back Dominique Whaley, giving the Sooners a 17-6 advantage.
One interesting note coming into the game was that Ball State sophomore quarterback Keith Wenning had not thrown an interception through his first three games. At the 8:10 mark of the second quarter, sophomore linebacker Tony Jefferson remedied that problem for Wenning as he picked off an attempted screen pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage by senior defensive end Frank Alexander giving the Sooners the ball on the Cardinal ten yard line.
Thirty-seven seconds later, Landry Jones found Kenny Stills, who ended the evening with seven grabs for eighty yards, in the back of the end zone for a 23-6 OU lead.
The turnovers and touchdowns were literally coming in waves and the Cardinals offense and defense had no answer for the Sooners.
On the next drive, Tony Jefferson once again intercepted Wenning as the Ball State quarterback seemed to be attempting to throw the ball out-of-bounds but missed his mark as Jefferson leaped into the air, extending his right arm to secure the interception, giving Jones and the Sooners offense the ball on their own twenty-three yard line.
“[Tony Jefferson] is an excellent athlete as he demonstrated out there tonight. Tony has a real knack for the ball. He had a huge night tonight,” Stoops said of his sophomore linebacker from California.
Keyed by a forty-seven yard catch-and-run by running back Roy Finch, the Sooners had the ball deep into Cardinal territory once again and capped off a six play, seventy-seven scoring drive with a one yard Dominique Whaley dive, giving the Sooners a 31-6 lead. Whaley would end the his evening with 109 yards on the ground and one score.
Ball State quarterback Keith Wenning must have thought he was experiencing déjà-vu as linebacker Tony Jefferson again picked off his pass that was tipped at the line by junior defensive end RJ Washington, setting up the Sooners on the Cardinal twenty-seven yard line.
Jefferson had this to say about his three interception career night: “It was weird. It just kept happening over and over again. On the fourth one [referencing a fourth interception he missed on the possession after his third] I was like, ‘…this is too good to be true, what’s going on here?’”
It only took Jones thirteen seconds to find his favorite receiver target as he hooked up with Ryan Broyles for a twenty-seven yard touchdown, extending the Sooners lead to 38-6. That catch tied Ryan Broyles for the all-time Big 12 receptions lead with 303 for his career. After that score, both squads play became somewhat sloppy and the Sooners committed their first turnover of the game as well.
With just 1:41 left in the half, Jones tossed his first interception of the game when an errant throw missed receiver Kenny Stills and was picked off by Ball State free safety Kyle Hoke.
The Cardinals were not able to capitalize off the turnover and with time winding down, the Sooners tried to make one last drive for points as Jones was able to find receiver Jaz Reynolds who almost scored on a slant route, but was brought down after gaining sixty-two yards.
Jones threw three incomplete passes and Michael Hunnicutt’s thirty yard field goal attempt floated wide left and the Sooners led 38-6 going into halftime.
OU started off the second half looking to take the fight out of the Cardinals, and the Sooners did just that going on a scoring rampage and demoralizing their MAC foe putting up thirty-one points within the first four minutes of the second half.
After Ball State went three-and-out and punted to the Oklahoma thirty-six, Jones was able to find Broyles again, this time on a second and ten that went sixty-four yards, giving the Sooners a 45-6 lead.
The Cardinals next possession followed with a punt and it took Jones exactly nine seconds to find the end zone again as he hit Jaz Reynolds streaking down the west sideline for a fifty-six yard score.
After the ensuing kickoff, Ball State took over on their own twenty and quarterback Keith Wenning rushed for a one yard gain as senior linebacker Travis Lewis applied a hit that caused him to fumble the ball that was scooped up by fellow backer Tom Wort and returned twenty-two yards, giving the Sooners a ridiculous 59-6 advantage. Wort’s score was the Sooners first defensive touchdown of the 2011 season for the Sooners defense.
The flurry of scores in the third quarter came in a markedly fast pace. Three minutes and twenty-six seconds ticked off while the Sooners took their halftime lead from 38-6 to 59-6.
As the quarter came ticking to an end, Jones would find Ryan Broyles for a six yard gainer that gave Broyles the all-time Big 12 receptions record with 304 grabs for his illustrious career in the Crimson and Cream.
Jones, who finished the contest with 425 yards passing, one interception and five touchdowns said, “We wanted to get that record for [Ryan]. He’s such a great athlete and to be able to play alongside him is a real honor,” of Broyles performance.
“I felt like today there was a good chance for me to break [the Big 12 record] and I’m very blessed to be in this position and put on these pads for OU,” was all the humble senior receiver had to say on his record-breaking performance. He recorded the four catches needed to secure the record all for himself and racked up 109 yards receiving with two touchdowns.
On that same drive that extended into the fourth quarter, the Sooners would add to their lead as their drive stalled on the Ball State twenty-two yard line, giving Michael Hunnicutt a chance to redeem himself for an earlier miss and the red-shirt freshman kicker did not disappoint, hitting the thirty-nine yard try, putting the Sooners over the sixty point mark, 62-6.
Not since a 2009 contest with Texas A & M in Norman have the Sooners posted sixty points in a game. Also, the Sooners defense had not had as good a day in the turnover department since recording three fumble recoveries and an interception against Nebraska in the 2010 Big 12 Championship Game.
With the win, the Sooners put any doubts they might have a difficult time “getting up” for the MAC Conference foe and walked away almost fully healthy – the lone Sooner injury coming to running back Brennan Clay who looked to have a shoulder injury early in the second quarter but was said to be fine going into “Texas Week.”
On where he feels his team is going into the Texas game, Coach Stoops said, “I feel good that we made good progress; I feel good that the players aren’t overjoyed about anything meaning they know there’s more to come and they’re anticipating that and they know we need to keep getting better in some areas. So, I feel we’re in a good spot and I know they’re always excited about this game…everybody is, so they’ll work hard this week and get ready for it.”
After many of the players noticed a lack of intensity and focus during practice leading up to the Missouri game a week ago, the Sooners MVP of the evening – Tony Jefferson – shed some light on what he felt was a better week of practices while adding his thoughts on the upcoming tilt with Texas, “We definitely made improvements [on the defense]. I saw that this week. We were hungry for it and knew we had to bounce back. This week is going to be a dogfight and I’m ready to go out there and beat the Longhorns. Let’s play some ball.”
“Tonight was a great game for us, but we’re ready for Texas now and ready to go. Everyone from both state’s get so into it, it’s going to be a great game,” Wort added after the game. His fellow backer, Travis Lewis also was ready to get to the business of the Texas saying, “[Both teams] undefeated, Texas / OU. It can’t get any bigger than that. So, they’re trying to take off our heads, we’re trying to take off theirs and it should be an exciting game to watch.”
Oh, and for the matter of rankings in post-Saturday action in college football, the Sooners took yet another drop in the Associated Press Poll as former #3 Alabama flip flopped positions with Oklahoma after their win at Florida. In the ESPN / USA Today Coaches Poll – the only poll used in computing BCS rankings that will come out later this month – OU was able to hold on to the top spot in the nation by eleven points.
The annual Red River Rivalry game will take place this Saturday at 11:00 AM from the State Fair of Texas in Dallas and will be broadcast on ABC. For more coverage, log on to my blog at http://footballimp.blogspot.com.
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