OU offense finally finished a job
Published: 9/21/2010 11:12 PM
Last Modified: 9/21/2010 11:12 PM
Air Force scored to pull within 27-24 with 3:39 to play last Saturday, and if Owen Field fans squirmed, the Oklahoma Sooners steadied themselves.
Four straight DeMarco Murray runs gained a first down and forced the Falcons to burn all three of their timeouts. Then, on third-and-3 from the OU 37, Kenny Stills sat down in the soft belly of Air Force's zone, Landry Jones spotted him, and Stills clinched victory with a 10-yard gain.
The too-close-for-comfort finish left some observers concerned. To Bob Stoops, however, it showed real progress.
"I thought the discipline we played with last week, with the few penalties and the execution at the end of the game, particularly on offense..." Stoops said. "I think it's fair to say a year ago we wouldn't have done that."
A year ago, with one exception, the Sooners didn't do that. They did embark on a 17-play, 6-minute march in the fourth quarter of their Sun Bowl victory, protecting a 31-27 lead that would hold up.
Otherwise, the OU offense was a close-game dud.
Leading BYU 10-7 in the fourth quarter, OU blew a first-and-goal at the Cougars' 2-yard line. Jones went nowhere on a third-and-goal sneak from the 1, then everything fell apart before the Sooners took a delay-of-game penalty on fourth-and-goal.
They settled for Jimmy Stevens' field goal and a 13-7 lead. BYU got the ball back, and drove for the game-winning touchdown.
Having pulled to within 21-17 late in the third quarter at Miami, OU went three-and-out on back-to-back possessions as Ben Habern false started and Jarvis Jones held. Stevens kicked a field goal on the Sooners' final series, but it can't save a 21-20 loss.
Trailing Texas 16-13 in the fourth quarter in the Cotton Bowl, OU got three cracks at the Longhorn defense. The first ended when Chris Brown was stuffed on fourth-and-1. The second ended as Jones was intercepted by Aaron Williams. The third ended when Jones was picked again, this time by Earl Thomas.
Jones got four fourth-quarter chances at a game-tying drive at Nebraska, the Sooners down 10-3. The drives stalled on an interception, a badly overthrown slant on fourth down, another interception and (you guessed it) an interception of an ill-advised Hail Mary.
That's four offensive fold-ups in four 2009 losses.
No, the Sooners didn't score any points in the fourth quarter of last week's victory. And had Jones delivered on a fourth-down seam pass to Ryan Broyles midway through the period, OU would have led 34-17 and been in position to coast home.
But at least the Sooners finished strong, something their offense isn't used to doing.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
