Duke learned the hard way
Published: 11/22/2008 6:46 PM
Last Modified: 11/22/2008 6:46 PM
Just under 30 minutes from kickoff for the college football game of the year, and it's worth remembering a moment in last year's Oklahoma-Tech game that helped sink the Sooners.
After Sam Bradford's injury, Oklahoma led 7-6 and seemed to be regaining some momentum when DeMarco Murray went for 9 yards on a first down.
But at the end of the play, left guard Duke Robinson was flagged for a personal foul penalty when he blocked a Texas Tech defender off the field, through the sideline and almost into the wall at Jones Stadium.
Instead of second-and-1, OU faced second and 16. The Sooner offense, with Joey Halzle pulling the trigger, never regained that momentum until Tech led 27-7.
"I learned a lot," Robinson said of his penalty. "It definitely set our team back a lot. Even though I feel personally the way I played, my own personal feeling, I dominated the guy or whatever. But it was a stupid play on my behalf because that was a play we (almost) got the first down and we were going to take it for a drive and it set us back 15 yards and put our team behind the trenches.
"I had the guy. He just didn't want to go down. I was like, 'Man, you gotta go down. I don't know where you're gonna go down at, but you gotta go down.' It was like everything was dark. It was like just me and him, nobody else. I don't know. It was crazy.
"Hopefully that'll never happen again. Hopefully."
– John E. Hoover
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
