SoonerShark
11/8/2006, 12:00 AM
http://www.newsok.com/article/2968212/?template=sports/ou
Further review: OU still irked
OU football
Controversy will be on Sooners' minds this Saturday against TechBy John Helsley
Staff Writer
NORMAN — Oklahoma's C.J. Ah You unknowingly played a role in Texas Tech's major season ticket campaign.
The platform: billboards showing Tech's Taurean Henderson, stretching ball toward the goal line, Ah You on the ground watching in a scene from the most controversial moment in OU's 2005 season, accompanied by the slogan:
"He's In. Are You?"
How's that for insult added to injury?
"I don't know what to say to that," said a stunned Ah You.
Replay officials, of course, ruled that Henderson did indeed cross the goal line on the game's final play, giving the Red Raiders a 23-21 win in Lubbock. It was the last of three reviewed plays in Tech's game-winning drive.
And it's a play that still sticks in the craw of some Sooners, especially this week with the Red Raiders coming to Norman on Saturday.
For Sooner defensive back Nic Harris, it was as much about the way the Red Raiders responded as the call itself that irked him.
"After they got that (call), they were sitting there cussing us out, all up in our faces like they did something," Harris said.
"I'll keep that in the back of my mind when I'm playing out there on Saturday."
The play has been relived and recounted and rejoiced in Lubbock.
With four seconds remaining and Tech at the OU 2, linebacker Rufus Alexander blitzed and collided with Henderson near the line of scrimmage.
As he fell, Henderson reached the ball for the goal line, but appeared down well before.
Officials on the field and in the booth called it a touchdown.
Some who were in the locker room last November told of an upset Bob Stoops who was angrier than they'd ever seen him.
"Oh…," Stoops said Tuesday, "that's pretty fair."
Alexander, who said last year he didn't think Henderson got in, was mum on the topic Tuesday. But OU defensive end Larry Birdine, who watched the game at home due to injury, was more than happy to give his from-the-couch accounts.
"I was watching from the house, and I had front-row seats," Birdine said. "Definitely, we got screwed. Everybody knows we got screwed."
The call propelled the Red Raiders into the Cotton Bowl and sent the Sooners way out West to the Holiday Bowl.
"You work hard, all summer, all this time," said OU tight end Joe Jon Finley. "Whenever a game gets taken away from you, because of something you don't have control over, it hurts real bad."
Some of that hurt still hasn't subsided.
"No doubt about it," Finley said. "You've got that sour taste from last year."
Ironically, Tech visits Norman with the Cotton Bowl at issue again, with the Sooners in position to get to Dallas with a strong finish to the season.
More irony: The Red Raiders are 11 days removed from their own cries of controversy, after complaints that botched officials' calls contributed to a 35-31 loss to Texas — in Lubbock.
"Hmm," Finley said. "I hate to see that happen to anybody."
Tech coach Mike Leach didn't see what all the fuss was a year ago. He's been quoted on several occasions since as saying Henderson "still hasn't been tackled."
Monday, Leach dismissed controversy from the equation.
"There's nothing controversial about last year's game," Leach said. "There's some disappointment (for the Sooners), but there's nothing controversial about it."
Oh, but the Sooners know controversy, what with last year's Tech encounter and this year's setback at Oregon, where mistakes leading to the loss were subsequently confirmed by the Pac-10.
With replay not yet two years old, OU has been involved in two of the most controversial outcomes involving the process.
"It's like everybody is out for us," Birdine said. "I think we did it to ourselves, because we went to two national championships and we laid an egg in both of them. And just because we've been so dominant over the last couple of years.
"It's just like everybody don't like us."
Ah You said the Sooners must move on.
"What's done is done," he said.
Ah You is, however, interested in that billboard, which so far hasn't returned any royalties his way.
"No, not yet," Ah You said with a smile. "I've got to look into that."
Further review: OU still irked
OU football
Controversy will be on Sooners' minds this Saturday against TechBy John Helsley
Staff Writer
NORMAN — Oklahoma's C.J. Ah You unknowingly played a role in Texas Tech's major season ticket campaign.
The platform: billboards showing Tech's Taurean Henderson, stretching ball toward the goal line, Ah You on the ground watching in a scene from the most controversial moment in OU's 2005 season, accompanied by the slogan:
"He's In. Are You?"
How's that for insult added to injury?
"I don't know what to say to that," said a stunned Ah You.
Replay officials, of course, ruled that Henderson did indeed cross the goal line on the game's final play, giving the Red Raiders a 23-21 win in Lubbock. It was the last of three reviewed plays in Tech's game-winning drive.
And it's a play that still sticks in the craw of some Sooners, especially this week with the Red Raiders coming to Norman on Saturday.
For Sooner defensive back Nic Harris, it was as much about the way the Red Raiders responded as the call itself that irked him.
"After they got that (call), they were sitting there cussing us out, all up in our faces like they did something," Harris said.
"I'll keep that in the back of my mind when I'm playing out there on Saturday."
The play has been relived and recounted and rejoiced in Lubbock.
With four seconds remaining and Tech at the OU 2, linebacker Rufus Alexander blitzed and collided with Henderson near the line of scrimmage.
As he fell, Henderson reached the ball for the goal line, but appeared down well before.
Officials on the field and in the booth called it a touchdown.
Some who were in the locker room last November told of an upset Bob Stoops who was angrier than they'd ever seen him.
"Oh…," Stoops said Tuesday, "that's pretty fair."
Alexander, who said last year he didn't think Henderson got in, was mum on the topic Tuesday. But OU defensive end Larry Birdine, who watched the game at home due to injury, was more than happy to give his from-the-couch accounts.
"I was watching from the house, and I had front-row seats," Birdine said. "Definitely, we got screwed. Everybody knows we got screwed."
The call propelled the Red Raiders into the Cotton Bowl and sent the Sooners way out West to the Holiday Bowl.
"You work hard, all summer, all this time," said OU tight end Joe Jon Finley. "Whenever a game gets taken away from you, because of something you don't have control over, it hurts real bad."
Some of that hurt still hasn't subsided.
"No doubt about it," Finley said. "You've got that sour taste from last year."
Ironically, Tech visits Norman with the Cotton Bowl at issue again, with the Sooners in position to get to Dallas with a strong finish to the season.
More irony: The Red Raiders are 11 days removed from their own cries of controversy, after complaints that botched officials' calls contributed to a 35-31 loss to Texas — in Lubbock.
"Hmm," Finley said. "I hate to see that happen to anybody."
Tech coach Mike Leach didn't see what all the fuss was a year ago. He's been quoted on several occasions since as saying Henderson "still hasn't been tackled."
Monday, Leach dismissed controversy from the equation.
"There's nothing controversial about last year's game," Leach said. "There's some disappointment (for the Sooners), but there's nothing controversial about it."
Oh, but the Sooners know controversy, what with last year's Tech encounter and this year's setback at Oregon, where mistakes leading to the loss were subsequently confirmed by the Pac-10.
With replay not yet two years old, OU has been involved in two of the most controversial outcomes involving the process.
"It's like everybody is out for us," Birdine said. "I think we did it to ourselves, because we went to two national championships and we laid an egg in both of them. And just because we've been so dominant over the last couple of years.
"It's just like everybody don't like us."
Ah You said the Sooners must move on.
"What's done is done," he said.
Ah You is, however, interested in that billboard, which so far hasn't returned any royalties his way.
"No, not yet," Ah You said with a smile. "I've got to look into that."