Some words on OU's woes against Notre Dame
Published: 10/29/2012 6:24 AM
Last Modified: 10/29/2012 6:24 AM
Oklahoma-Notre Dame. They watched it, then wrote about it…
Pat Forde, Yahoo! Sports
"Big Game Brian Kelly commandeered Bob Stoops' nickname Saturday night. He took some more of Stoops' crumbling kingpin reputation, too, administering the Oklahoma coach's worst home loss – and giving him his second home loss in a single season for the first time. And he removed Stoops' Sooners completely from the national championship race with a 30-13 beating that nobody saw coming."
Dennis Dodd, CBSSports.com
"Notre Dame was darn near perfect. They snapped it 66 times with one penalty and no turnovers. They survived Oklahoma's withering hurry-up offense and then slowly, inexorably imposed their own tempo on the Sooners.
"'It's the first time somebody probably ran at us like this,' said OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops.
"But how? Clearly the Sooners had the better athletes and playmakers. Besides the luck and the network and the following, maybe these Irish had better wills."
David Haugh, Chicago Tribune
"If the moment was supposed to be bigger than Notre Dame, Oklahoma showed the most signs of skittishness. A shot-gun snap over Landry Jones' shoulder on Oklahoma's opening series lost 19 yards. The Sooners drew a flag for having 12 men on the field. A holding penalty nullified a TD run. By halftime, somewhere across the state's dusty plains, an irked Okie considered re-launching FireBobStoops.com."
George Schroeder, USA Today
"When it was over, he picked up his gold helmet and jogged across the field, searching for one particular opponent. Along the way, Everett Golson accepted congratulations from several Sooners, including Mike Stoops – the defensive coordinator shaking his head even as he said: 'Great job, man!' -- but he never stopped moving. Finally, at midfield, Notre Dame's quarterback again met Oklahoma safety Tony Jefferson.
"Their collision late in the third quarter had left Golson lying on the ground, struggling to breathe. Now, he smiled big. 'Good hit,' he told Jefferson. They both laughed. And then, having taken the Sooners' best shot and delivering Notre Dame's biggest victory in years, Golson moved on."
Ivan Maisel, ESPN.com
"Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones threw for 356 yards, but most of that occurred between the 20-yard lines. He didn't come close to throwing a touchdown pass. He did throw an interception, but only because 6-foot-2, 255-pound linebacker Manti Te'o executed a dive worthy of an San Francisco Giants outfielder and scooped up a deflected pass just before it hit the grass. That's five interceptions for Te'o, for you Heisman voters keeping score…
"The Irish's defense does the big things well, such as keep the other team out of its end zone. Only the Sooners' Belldozer offense, in which 6-6, 254-pound backup quarterback Blake Bell makes the ground shake, could coerce Notre Dame into allowing its first rushing touchdown of the year. And it even took him two possessions to do it."
Mark Lazerus, Chicago Sun-Times
"The Irish entered this game as 11-point underdogs, nothing more than high-profile fodder for Oklahoma's offensive threshing machine… The Irish looked absolutely overmatched early on.
Oklahoma quarterback Landry Jones shredded the Irish defense in the first quarter, facing no pressure in the pocket and seemingly no coverage in the defensive backfield. But OU's first two very impressive drives yielded just three points.
"And when Cierre Wood busted through the middle for a 62-yard touchdown run two snaps after the Sooners' field goal, he gave the Irish more than just a 7-3 lead. He gave them confidence and calmness in the storm of Sooners fans at Memorial Stadium. When the Irish forced two straight punts after that, the crowd quieted, and the Irish slowly took control of the clock, and of the game."
Blair Kerkhoff, Kansas City Star
"Notre Dame's hex on Oklahoma is so strong it now affects an entire conference. By taking down the Sooners 30-13 in a defensive struggle Saturday, the Fighting Irish strengthened their position in the national championship race at the expense of the Big 12. The Sooners entered the game ranked eighth in the BCS standings, and they are the most impressive conquest of Big 12 leader Kansas State. But now the same is true of Notre Dame, and in this sport of style points that influence ballots and computer calculations, hints such as comparative outcomes against common opponents carry weight."
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
