cvsooner
11/28/2007, 08:08 PM
Good times:
2002
Faked out of an upset
Smith’s standout effort not enough to get MU past gutsy, sly Sooners.
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Sunday, October 6, 2002
With Missouri needing another veteran play like he had brilliantly provided all night, Brad Smith’s magic ran out. On a last-chance fourth down, Smith looked for an open receiver but only found a heartbreaking Missouri loss.
Smith ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 183 yards and another TD, but it wasn’t enough to lead the Tigers to the upset.
On the Tigers’ final play from scrimmage last night against perhaps the nation’s best defense, Smith’s Cinderella slippers turned back into sneakers as Oklahoma defensive end Dan Cody collapsed on the redshirt freshman quarterback. And with that sack, the No. 3 Sooners escaped Faurot Field with a 31-24 victory.
"I’m grateful that I played all right," Smith said. "But wins and losses are all that matter. And we lost tonight."
But not before another chapter was added to an unprecedented rookie season. Facing MU’s most talented opponent this year, Smith was at his best. In front of a national-television audience for the first time, Smith rushed for 213 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. He passed for 178 yards and a touchdown. He even collected a tackle. With stars all over the OU defense and Missouri star receiver Justin Gage going for two school records, Smith was again the main attraction for a season-high crowd of 60,578 at Memorial Stadium.
"I thought it was a phenomenal performance by a redshirt freshman," MU Coach Gary Pinkel said.
Despite Smith’s greatness, it was a trick play that put the Sooners ahead for good. Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) escaped not with a dominant defensive play that has been the trademark of Bob Stoops’ OU teams. And not with an explosive offensive play that took the Sooners to the national title two years ago. The Sooners escaped with a fake field goal.
The Tigers (3-2, 0-1) rebounded from a 23-7 deficit, with 17 straight points. But OU answered on a fourth-and-8 from MU’s 14. The Sooners lined up for a 31-yard field goal, but holder Matt McCoy slipped loose after taking the snap and hit backup tight end Chris Chester in the end zone. MU’s James Kinney and Marcus King had Chester double-covered, but he still came down with the catch. Nate Hybl added a two-point conversion pass to Curtis Fagan in the back of the end zone, giving OU the lead again, 31-24.
"It was just a stab in the heart," Gage said.
The Sooners had to resort to trickery after Smith guided the Tigers back into the game. Looking more like the quarterback of Missouri’s first four games, Smith broke loose on third-and-7, dashing down the west sideline for a 25-yard touchdown drive with 1:50 left in the first half.
With MU trailing just 10-7 at halftime, Oklahoma’s offense came alive. The Sooners needed just seven plays to score twice, getting a pair of long touchdown scores.
Hybl opened the half picking on cornerback R.J. Jones, who was fresh off winning national defensive-player-of-the-week honors for intercepting three passes last week. But Jones bit hard on Hybl’s third-and-7 pass to Fagan down the east sideline and dived for the interception. With ball in hand, Fagan left Jones on the grass and outran Jason Simpson 65 yards to the end zone.
After a Missouri three-and-out and punt, it was tailback Quentin Griffin’s turn to blaze through the Tigers. Last week, MU defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus called Griffin the most explosive runner from 0-20 yards the MU staff has ever seen. On OU’s next drive, Griffin did Eberflus 33 yards better.
Griffin took a draw out of the shotgun, darted over the left tackle and raced 53 yards down the sideline for OU’s second touchdown in less than three minutes. Trey DiCarlo missed the PAT, giving OU a 23-7 lead.
But like he has all season, Smith had an answer. He drove the Tigers 87 yards and hit Gage on 23-yard slant to the end zone.
The MU defense came back with its second straight three-and-out stand, and Smith took over from there. The Tigers continued to claw back with a 38-yard Mike Matheny field goal to cut OU’s lead to 23-17.
The Tigers’ claws sharpened on their next possession. After converting a third-down pass to Darius Outlaw, Smith danced 25 yards for his second touchdown run.
Kinney’s third-down sack of Hybl forced an OU punt, but disaster soon struck the Tigers. Smith took a crushing blow to the head from Mitchell and was forced to the sidelines for one play. After returning, his quick pass to the left was picked off by OU safety Brandon Everage. Smith would have another chance after the Sooners took the lead with the fake field goal pass, but Smith threw his third interception - a deep third-down pass picked off by Eric Bassey.
The Tigers got the ball back with 1:39, but after driving the offense 42 yards, Smith was sacked to end the Tigers’ rally.
2003
NORMAN, Okla. - Some critics have chastised Oklahoma for sending a team of school officials to New Orleans to scout the Sugar Bowl, this year’s site for the Bowl Championship Series’ national championship game.
Missouri quarterback Brad Smith (16) is flattened by Oklahoma’s Dan Cody (80) last night in the 24th-ranked Tigers’ 34-13 loss to the top-ranked Sooners.
Forget scouting New Orleans. OU can start planning its national-title victory parade through the streets of Norman if last night’s dismantling of Missouri is any indication.
No cover jinx. No Texas hangover. No repeat of last year’s thriller in Columbia. Just another stomping from the nation’s best.
The Tigers showed some life in the fourth quarter of a 34-13 loss, but long before that, the Sooners confirmed their status as the nation’s dominant team last night - something Gary Pinkel knew long before kickoff at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
During his pregame radio interview, Pinkel said he’d rather be playing the woeful Chicago Bears than the Sooners. After a throttling of Pinkel’s 24th-ranked Tigers, perhaps No. 1 Oklahoma could replace the Bears in the NFC North.
"They’ve assembled a really, really good football team," said Pinkel, whose Tigers fell to 5-2 and 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference.
"I think that’s obvious when you see them on video and when you see them on TV. You can feel it, and when you’re standing on that sideline, you can really feel the remarkable speed that they have."
The loss was far from the 77-0 "Norman Conquest" suffered here by Missouri in 1986, nor did it quite demoralize the Tigers like last month’s loss to Kansas. But there were few smiles and pats on the back coming out of Missouri’s locker room.
"It’s still a loss," wide receiver Darius Outlaw said. "No team in college football likes to lose a game. The message in the locker room was we’ve got a game next week, and one game can’t ruin a season."
For the top-ranked Sooners (7-0, 3-0), Heisman Trophy candidate Jason White was everything as advertised and probably cemented his case as the award’s frontrunner. Punt returner Antonio Perkins added to his brilliant season with a 69-yard return for a touchdown, tying a pair of NCAA records along the way. And the Oklahoma defense was its usual swarming, impregnable self.
With 424 yards of offense, five sacks and a 24-point second quarter, the Sooners left little doubt who’s the best team in the nation - even if three Associated Press voters continue to select Miami as their No. 1 team later today.
"I’d be less of a man if I sat here and said they don’t deserve to be No. 1," Missouri free safety Nino Williams said. "They’re No. 1 for a reason, and the best team won today."
Playing at Oklahoma for the first time since a 37-0 loss in 1999, Missouri continued its misery on Owen Field and its winless stretch against teams ranked No. 1. The Tigers fell to 0-10 all-time against No. 1 teams and 0-3 to Oklahoma teams ranked atop the poll.
For a while, Missouri quarterback Brad Smith resembled the free-lancing playmaker that humiliated OU for 390 yards last fall in Columbia. Playing with a strained back he suffered during MU’s first possession, Smith tied the game at 10 with a 26-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. On a lead draw, Smith scooted around the right end and sprinted to the end zone with 9:33 left in the second quarter. Smith had rushed for 57 yards and thrown for 135 by halftime.
With Smith duplicating last year’s success against the Sooners, Oklahoma’s quarterback was putting together a prolific game of his own. Riding an unprecedented four-game stretch of 50-point games, the Sooners exploded for two touchdowns in the second quarter to break open what had been a competitive game.
After an MU three-and-out midway through the quarter, White needed just one play to hit Mark Clayton on a 39-yard touchdown strike. Williams appeared to have wrestled the ball loose from Clayton in the end zone, but the Sooners’ leading receiver regained the ball and was credited with the score.
"He’s just about caught everything that has been thrown to him," White said of Clayton. "I threw it up there for him to make a play on it, and he did."
Four minutes later White hit Jejuan Rankins on a crossing route, and Rankins broke four tackles before diving into the end zone, giving OU a 24-10 lead with a 30-yard touchdown.
"They strike fast and hard," Pinkel said. "Most teams they put 60 on."
Just before halftime, the Sooners added another score when Perkins returned a Todd Gohsler punt 69 yards for his NCAA record-tying fourth punt return for a touchdown this season. It also matched the NCAA career mark, giving Perkins seven overall.
White completed 20 of 34 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns. Clayton caught eight passes for 110 yards.
Meanwhile, the Sooners familiarized Smith with the turf of Owen Field as he netted minus-7 yards on five carries in the second half. The five sacks marked the most in Smith’s two-year career, and he completed just 7 of 16 passes for 45 yards and an interception in the second half.
Smith was pulled for backup Sonny Riccio late in the fourth quarter, but Pinkel said it wasn’t related to the back injury he suffered earlier in the game.
"We settled down and really limited almost everything that they did in the second half," Stoops said. "When you have a good solid win in the Big 12, you take it."
2006
Offense does its part in win for Oklahoma
By STEVE WALENTIK of the Tribune’s staff
Published Sunday, October 29, 2006
Oklahoma’s offense wasn’t getting a lot of props in the postgame discussion of Missouri’s 26-10 loss to the Sooners yesterday afternoon on Faurot Field.
From the Tigers’ point of view, there were too many turnovers and penalties that killed potential scoring drives. That, more than anything Oklahoma did, led to MU’s demise.
"They pretty much did what we expected them to do," said MU cornerback Darnell Terrell, summing up the feelings of most of his teammates. "But it’s all about us doing our thing to stop them."
It was easy to see where Terrell was coming from. This wasn’t one of those you’ve-got-to-hand-it-to-them performances by the Sooners.
Sure, they ran the ball well, chewing up 231 yards, but their 4.4 yards-per-carry average didn’t jump off the stat sheet. And senior quarterback Paul Thompson was efficient, completing 11 of 19 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns, but his longest completion only covered 18 yards.
Perhaps most telling was how OU Coach Bob Stoops began his assessment of his team’s offensive performance.
"I thought our line, tight ends, fullbacks had an outstanding game," he said.
These are not the Sooners of 2004, when Heisman winning quarterback Jason White and star wideout Mark Clayton would pick you apart if All-American freshman Adrian Peterson didn’t run you over first.
But Oklahoma also has been a lot better than what most expected when Stoops booted starting quarterback Rhett Bomar off the team in August for taking money for work he didn’t do. That was supposed to doom the Sooners to pulling out victories like last year’s Chicago Bears.
Thompson has not been the same player who fumbled away his chance at being the starter in last year’s season-opening upset loss to TCU. He looked confused throughout that game and completed only 11 of 26 passes for 109 yards and an interception before eventually being moved to wide receiver.
Pushed back behind center after Bomar’s exile, Thompson has responded by completing nearly 61 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns compared to only five interceptions. He delivered a pair of perfect touchdown tosses against the Tigers.
The first came on a play-action pass to tight end Joe Jon Finley, who was running open over the middle for an 18-yard score that gave the Sooners a 14-3 lead with 14:56 left in the first half.
"That was a play we had practiced all week, and we got the exact look that we wanted," Thompson said. "It worked out just like we were doing it in practice. We knew that play was going to be there."
Missouri had pulled within 16-10 in the third quarter when Thompson connected with wide receiver Quentin Chaney on a deep slant for a 15-yard touchdown.
He also shuffled away from pressure and delivered a 12-yard strike to Malcolm Kelly on third down to keep alive OU’s first scoring drive. Three plays later, Thompson kept the ball on an option run for a 3-yard touchdown that gave the Sooners a lead they would not relinquish.
Thompson, who ran for 28 yards on six carries, fumbled once, but he never forced the ball into coverage or gave the Missouri defense a chance to make the momentum-changing play the Tigers needed.
"He’s always had the determination to go out and play with all he’s got," running back Allen Patrick said. "He goes out there and keeps everybody up. ... PT’s a pretty smart guy. He can read the defense and does a pretty good job of that."
When Peterson, the Big 12’s leading rusher, suffered a broken collarbone two weeks ago in a victory over Iowa State, some figured Thompson would be asked to do too much the rest of the season, and the Sooners would suffer. But Patrick has filled in admirably.
He carried 35 times for 110 yards and a touchdown in his first career start last weekend against Colorado and followed that with 162 yards on 36 carries yesterday against Missouri.
"Big, big for us, running the clock and milking the clock as well as getting some big first downs," said Thompson, whose team held the ball for nearly 13 minutes more than the Tigers.
Patrick, a junior, got plenty of advice from Peterson whenever he came off the field.
"AD was telling me to kind of slow down, because at first I was kinding of hitting the holes kind of hard," Patrick said. "I didn’t really have good vision, but he told me to slow down a little bit and when I see it, hit it. It opened up for me."
Patrick didn’t need to break a lot of tackles to be effective against the Tigers’ suspect run defense, which came in yielding 175.8 yards per game in Big 12 Conference play.
His blocking held up on third-and-7 from the Sooners’ own 4-yard line in the fourth quarter. He picked up 15 yards to keep alive the drive and give the OU defense a chance to rest after it stopped Missouri on four plays inside the 2-yard line.
When Thompson fumbled seven plays later on a third-down run, the Sooners had taken nearly five minutes off the clock.
"That was such a huge factor in the game, not only the fourth-and-1 stop, but how we drive the ball off of the goal line all the way down to about their 35 before we fumble it," Stoops said. "I was pumping them up on the sideline, ‘Hey, that’s a heck of a drive.’ "
Even if it’s not the sort of thing offenses usually get recognized for doing.
2002
Faked out of an upset
Smith’s standout effort not enough to get MU past gutsy, sly Sooners.
By DAVE MATTER of the Tribune’s staff
Published Sunday, October 6, 2002
With Missouri needing another veteran play like he had brilliantly provided all night, Brad Smith’s magic ran out. On a last-chance fourth down, Smith looked for an open receiver but only found a heartbreaking Missouri loss.
Smith ran for 213 yards and two touchdowns and passed for 183 yards and another TD, but it wasn’t enough to lead the Tigers to the upset.
On the Tigers’ final play from scrimmage last night against perhaps the nation’s best defense, Smith’s Cinderella slippers turned back into sneakers as Oklahoma defensive end Dan Cody collapsed on the redshirt freshman quarterback. And with that sack, the No. 3 Sooners escaped Faurot Field with a 31-24 victory.
"I’m grateful that I played all right," Smith said. "But wins and losses are all that matter. And we lost tonight."
But not before another chapter was added to an unprecedented rookie season. Facing MU’s most talented opponent this year, Smith was at his best. In front of a national-television audience for the first time, Smith rushed for 213 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries. He passed for 178 yards and a touchdown. He even collected a tackle. With stars all over the OU defense and Missouri star receiver Justin Gage going for two school records, Smith was again the main attraction for a season-high crowd of 60,578 at Memorial Stadium.
"I thought it was a phenomenal performance by a redshirt freshman," MU Coach Gary Pinkel said.
Despite Smith’s greatness, it was a trick play that put the Sooners ahead for good. Oklahoma (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) escaped not with a dominant defensive play that has been the trademark of Bob Stoops’ OU teams. And not with an explosive offensive play that took the Sooners to the national title two years ago. The Sooners escaped with a fake field goal.
The Tigers (3-2, 0-1) rebounded from a 23-7 deficit, with 17 straight points. But OU answered on a fourth-and-8 from MU’s 14. The Sooners lined up for a 31-yard field goal, but holder Matt McCoy slipped loose after taking the snap and hit backup tight end Chris Chester in the end zone. MU’s James Kinney and Marcus King had Chester double-covered, but he still came down with the catch. Nate Hybl added a two-point conversion pass to Curtis Fagan in the back of the end zone, giving OU the lead again, 31-24.
"It was just a stab in the heart," Gage said.
The Sooners had to resort to trickery after Smith guided the Tigers back into the game. Looking more like the quarterback of Missouri’s first four games, Smith broke loose on third-and-7, dashing down the west sideline for a 25-yard touchdown drive with 1:50 left in the first half.
With MU trailing just 10-7 at halftime, Oklahoma’s offense came alive. The Sooners needed just seven plays to score twice, getting a pair of long touchdown scores.
Hybl opened the half picking on cornerback R.J. Jones, who was fresh off winning national defensive-player-of-the-week honors for intercepting three passes last week. But Jones bit hard on Hybl’s third-and-7 pass to Fagan down the east sideline and dived for the interception. With ball in hand, Fagan left Jones on the grass and outran Jason Simpson 65 yards to the end zone.
After a Missouri three-and-out and punt, it was tailback Quentin Griffin’s turn to blaze through the Tigers. Last week, MU defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus called Griffin the most explosive runner from 0-20 yards the MU staff has ever seen. On OU’s next drive, Griffin did Eberflus 33 yards better.
Griffin took a draw out of the shotgun, darted over the left tackle and raced 53 yards down the sideline for OU’s second touchdown in less than three minutes. Trey DiCarlo missed the PAT, giving OU a 23-7 lead.
But like he has all season, Smith had an answer. He drove the Tigers 87 yards and hit Gage on 23-yard slant to the end zone.
The MU defense came back with its second straight three-and-out stand, and Smith took over from there. The Tigers continued to claw back with a 38-yard Mike Matheny field goal to cut OU’s lead to 23-17.
The Tigers’ claws sharpened on their next possession. After converting a third-down pass to Darius Outlaw, Smith danced 25 yards for his second touchdown run.
Kinney’s third-down sack of Hybl forced an OU punt, but disaster soon struck the Tigers. Smith took a crushing blow to the head from Mitchell and was forced to the sidelines for one play. After returning, his quick pass to the left was picked off by OU safety Brandon Everage. Smith would have another chance after the Sooners took the lead with the fake field goal pass, but Smith threw his third interception - a deep third-down pass picked off by Eric Bassey.
The Tigers got the ball back with 1:39, but after driving the offense 42 yards, Smith was sacked to end the Tigers’ rally.
2003
NORMAN, Okla. - Some critics have chastised Oklahoma for sending a team of school officials to New Orleans to scout the Sugar Bowl, this year’s site for the Bowl Championship Series’ national championship game.
Missouri quarterback Brad Smith (16) is flattened by Oklahoma’s Dan Cody (80) last night in the 24th-ranked Tigers’ 34-13 loss to the top-ranked Sooners.
Forget scouting New Orleans. OU can start planning its national-title victory parade through the streets of Norman if last night’s dismantling of Missouri is any indication.
No cover jinx. No Texas hangover. No repeat of last year’s thriller in Columbia. Just another stomping from the nation’s best.
The Tigers showed some life in the fourth quarter of a 34-13 loss, but long before that, the Sooners confirmed their status as the nation’s dominant team last night - something Gary Pinkel knew long before kickoff at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
During his pregame radio interview, Pinkel said he’d rather be playing the woeful Chicago Bears than the Sooners. After a throttling of Pinkel’s 24th-ranked Tigers, perhaps No. 1 Oklahoma could replace the Bears in the NFC North.
"They’ve assembled a really, really good football team," said Pinkel, whose Tigers fell to 5-2 and 1-2 in the Big 12 Conference.
"I think that’s obvious when you see them on video and when you see them on TV. You can feel it, and when you’re standing on that sideline, you can really feel the remarkable speed that they have."
The loss was far from the 77-0 "Norman Conquest" suffered here by Missouri in 1986, nor did it quite demoralize the Tigers like last month’s loss to Kansas. But there were few smiles and pats on the back coming out of Missouri’s locker room.
"It’s still a loss," wide receiver Darius Outlaw said. "No team in college football likes to lose a game. The message in the locker room was we’ve got a game next week, and one game can’t ruin a season."
For the top-ranked Sooners (7-0, 3-0), Heisman Trophy candidate Jason White was everything as advertised and probably cemented his case as the award’s frontrunner. Punt returner Antonio Perkins added to his brilliant season with a 69-yard return for a touchdown, tying a pair of NCAA records along the way. And the Oklahoma defense was its usual swarming, impregnable self.
With 424 yards of offense, five sacks and a 24-point second quarter, the Sooners left little doubt who’s the best team in the nation - even if three Associated Press voters continue to select Miami as their No. 1 team later today.
"I’d be less of a man if I sat here and said they don’t deserve to be No. 1," Missouri free safety Nino Williams said. "They’re No. 1 for a reason, and the best team won today."
Playing at Oklahoma for the first time since a 37-0 loss in 1999, Missouri continued its misery on Owen Field and its winless stretch against teams ranked No. 1. The Tigers fell to 0-10 all-time against No. 1 teams and 0-3 to Oklahoma teams ranked atop the poll.
For a while, Missouri quarterback Brad Smith resembled the free-lancing playmaker that humiliated OU for 390 yards last fall in Columbia. Playing with a strained back he suffered during MU’s first possession, Smith tied the game at 10 with a 26-yard touchdown run midway through the second quarter. On a lead draw, Smith scooted around the right end and sprinted to the end zone with 9:33 left in the second quarter. Smith had rushed for 57 yards and thrown for 135 by halftime.
With Smith duplicating last year’s success against the Sooners, Oklahoma’s quarterback was putting together a prolific game of his own. Riding an unprecedented four-game stretch of 50-point games, the Sooners exploded for two touchdowns in the second quarter to break open what had been a competitive game.
After an MU three-and-out midway through the quarter, White needed just one play to hit Mark Clayton on a 39-yard touchdown strike. Williams appeared to have wrestled the ball loose from Clayton in the end zone, but the Sooners’ leading receiver regained the ball and was credited with the score.
"He’s just about caught everything that has been thrown to him," White said of Clayton. "I threw it up there for him to make a play on it, and he did."
Four minutes later White hit Jejuan Rankins on a crossing route, and Rankins broke four tackles before diving into the end zone, giving OU a 24-10 lead with a 30-yard touchdown.
"They strike fast and hard," Pinkel said. "Most teams they put 60 on."
Just before halftime, the Sooners added another score when Perkins returned a Todd Gohsler punt 69 yards for his NCAA record-tying fourth punt return for a touchdown this season. It also matched the NCAA career mark, giving Perkins seven overall.
White completed 20 of 34 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns. Clayton caught eight passes for 110 yards.
Meanwhile, the Sooners familiarized Smith with the turf of Owen Field as he netted minus-7 yards on five carries in the second half. The five sacks marked the most in Smith’s two-year career, and he completed just 7 of 16 passes for 45 yards and an interception in the second half.
Smith was pulled for backup Sonny Riccio late in the fourth quarter, but Pinkel said it wasn’t related to the back injury he suffered earlier in the game.
"We settled down and really limited almost everything that they did in the second half," Stoops said. "When you have a good solid win in the Big 12, you take it."
2006
Offense does its part in win for Oklahoma
By STEVE WALENTIK of the Tribune’s staff
Published Sunday, October 29, 2006
Oklahoma’s offense wasn’t getting a lot of props in the postgame discussion of Missouri’s 26-10 loss to the Sooners yesterday afternoon on Faurot Field.
From the Tigers’ point of view, there were too many turnovers and penalties that killed potential scoring drives. That, more than anything Oklahoma did, led to MU’s demise.
"They pretty much did what we expected them to do," said MU cornerback Darnell Terrell, summing up the feelings of most of his teammates. "But it’s all about us doing our thing to stop them."
It was easy to see where Terrell was coming from. This wasn’t one of those you’ve-got-to-hand-it-to-them performances by the Sooners.
Sure, they ran the ball well, chewing up 231 yards, but their 4.4 yards-per-carry average didn’t jump off the stat sheet. And senior quarterback Paul Thompson was efficient, completing 11 of 19 passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns, but his longest completion only covered 18 yards.
Perhaps most telling was how OU Coach Bob Stoops began his assessment of his team’s offensive performance.
"I thought our line, tight ends, fullbacks had an outstanding game," he said.
These are not the Sooners of 2004, when Heisman winning quarterback Jason White and star wideout Mark Clayton would pick you apart if All-American freshman Adrian Peterson didn’t run you over first.
But Oklahoma also has been a lot better than what most expected when Stoops booted starting quarterback Rhett Bomar off the team in August for taking money for work he didn’t do. That was supposed to doom the Sooners to pulling out victories like last year’s Chicago Bears.
Thompson has not been the same player who fumbled away his chance at being the starter in last year’s season-opening upset loss to TCU. He looked confused throughout that game and completed only 11 of 26 passes for 109 yards and an interception before eventually being moved to wide receiver.
Pushed back behind center after Bomar’s exile, Thompson has responded by completing nearly 61 percent of his passes with 13 touchdowns compared to only five interceptions. He delivered a pair of perfect touchdown tosses against the Tigers.
The first came on a play-action pass to tight end Joe Jon Finley, who was running open over the middle for an 18-yard score that gave the Sooners a 14-3 lead with 14:56 left in the first half.
"That was a play we had practiced all week, and we got the exact look that we wanted," Thompson said. "It worked out just like we were doing it in practice. We knew that play was going to be there."
Missouri had pulled within 16-10 in the third quarter when Thompson connected with wide receiver Quentin Chaney on a deep slant for a 15-yard touchdown.
He also shuffled away from pressure and delivered a 12-yard strike to Malcolm Kelly on third down to keep alive OU’s first scoring drive. Three plays later, Thompson kept the ball on an option run for a 3-yard touchdown that gave the Sooners a lead they would not relinquish.
Thompson, who ran for 28 yards on six carries, fumbled once, but he never forced the ball into coverage or gave the Missouri defense a chance to make the momentum-changing play the Tigers needed.
"He’s always had the determination to go out and play with all he’s got," running back Allen Patrick said. "He goes out there and keeps everybody up. ... PT’s a pretty smart guy. He can read the defense and does a pretty good job of that."
When Peterson, the Big 12’s leading rusher, suffered a broken collarbone two weeks ago in a victory over Iowa State, some figured Thompson would be asked to do too much the rest of the season, and the Sooners would suffer. But Patrick has filled in admirably.
He carried 35 times for 110 yards and a touchdown in his first career start last weekend against Colorado and followed that with 162 yards on 36 carries yesterday against Missouri.
"Big, big for us, running the clock and milking the clock as well as getting some big first downs," said Thompson, whose team held the ball for nearly 13 minutes more than the Tigers.
Patrick, a junior, got plenty of advice from Peterson whenever he came off the field.
"AD was telling me to kind of slow down, because at first I was kinding of hitting the holes kind of hard," Patrick said. "I didn’t really have good vision, but he told me to slow down a little bit and when I see it, hit it. It opened up for me."
Patrick didn’t need to break a lot of tackles to be effective against the Tigers’ suspect run defense, which came in yielding 175.8 yards per game in Big 12 Conference play.
His blocking held up on third-and-7 from the Sooners’ own 4-yard line in the fourth quarter. He picked up 15 yards to keep alive the drive and give the OU defense a chance to rest after it stopped Missouri on four plays inside the 2-yard line.
When Thompson fumbled seven plays later on a third-down run, the Sooners had taken nearly five minutes off the clock.
"That was such a huge factor in the game, not only the fourth-and-1 stop, but how we drive the ball off of the goal line all the way down to about their 35 before we fumble it," Stoops said. "I was pumping them up on the sideline, ‘Hey, that’s a heck of a drive.’ "
Even if it’s not the sort of thing offenses usually get recognized for doing.