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Husky roadkill
Sooners dominate Washington in road victory

OU's Ryan Reynolds (top right) and Travis Lewis tackle Washington quarterback Jake Locker on Saturday in Seattle. Locker was injured on the play. TOM GILBERT/Tulsa World

 
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer
Published: 9/14/2008  2:04 AM
Last Modified: 8/20/2009  9:58 AM

 SEATTLE — The west wasn't so wild this time. Nor the road so rocky.

Oklahoma, having lost seven of its previous eight games out west, and with this group of players struggling in each of three road games last season, looked very much at home on Saturday.

The No. 3-ranked Sooners ran the ball early and passed it late on offense, were continuously overwhelming on defense, and were clearly too much for Washington in a 55-14 victory. Neither did a Husky Stadium crowd of 67,716 do anything to deter the stampeding Sooners.

"I felt great about the attitude we carried on the field," said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops.

It was Stoops' 100th coaching victory, and one from which he seemed to draw great satisfaction and pride.

"The players really took the field in a strong way," Stoops said. "Really played physical."

The 41-point difference matched Stoops' largest margin of victory in 10 years of non-conference road games. OU's previous high spread in a non-Big 12 Conference game outside of Oklahoma was 44-3 at Air Force in 2001. OU won 62-21 at Tulsa last season.

But given the quality of play in OU's recent road trips, this one may have been the most impressive.

Last year's team was favored by 22 points in a 27-24 defeat at Colorado, and was favored by 30 in a 10-point triumph at Iowa State. In games west of Norman, things had become dour. The Sooners had suffered defeats at UCLA and Texas Tech in 2005, at Oregon in 2006 and at Colorado and Texas Tech in 2007, as well as back-to-back defeats in the Fiesta Bowl in Glendale, Ariz. The only victory in that stretch was a close win over Oregon in the Holiday Bowl in San Diego in 2005.

This time, though, the West was won with an offensive and defensive onslaught.

"I was happy with the plays our guys made," Stoops said.

OU (3-0) finished with 591 yards total offense (last week the Sooners had 592), with reserves playing the final 18 minutes. Washington (0-3) finished with 336 yards, but got just 241 against the Sooners' starters.

Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford completed 18-of-21 passes — including his last 13 in a row — for 304 yards and another school-record-tying five touchdowns. It's his fourth game (and second in a row) with five TD passes, breaking the mark of three he shared with Jason White.

Bradford's last two touchdowns, both in the third quarter, illustrate the talent around him — a quick slant that Ryan Broyles turned into a 77-yard TD and a short sideline pattern that Jermaine Gresham turned into a 64-yard TD.

But Oklahoma's success wasn't all passing. Hardly. OU ran the ball at will early before turning to the air, and Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray split time equally well. Brown rushed 13 times for 107 yards and Murray carried 16 times for 100 yards. Backup Mossis Madu also scored two touchdowns on the ground. OU amassed 274 rushing yards.

Oklahoma didn't need any help, but the Huskies committed three fumbles that the Sooners turned into 20 points.

On OU's first possession, Bradford got hit while delivering a pass to Juaquin Iglesias, who scooted into the end zone from 13 yards.

The Sooners converted a fumble by Washington quarterback Jake Locker (forced and recovered by OU cornerback Brian Jackson) into a 13-0 lead late in the first quarter when Bradford hooked up with Gresham for 22 yards over the middle.

After Washington missed a field goal, Bradford finished another scoring drive, this time with his first career rushing touchdown, a 1-yard sneak that made it 20-0.

The Huskies might have threatened again, but Lendy Holmes forced a fumble by D'Andre Goodwin after a 19-yard pass completion. Jackson's second recovery started another drive that Bradford cashed in with a 4-yard TD to Broyles. After another Husky fumble — this one recovered by DeMarcus Granger, who later left the game with an apparent foot injury — Madu made it 34-0 with a 1-yard plunge late in the second quarter.

Broyles (85 yards, 2 TDs) and Gresham (99 yards, 2 TDs) then turned in their long-distance tricks after halftime, and Madu added another short TD run early in the fourth quarter.



John E. Hoover 581-8384
john.hoover@tulsaworld.com







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ROAD WARRIORS



Oklahoma’s largest margins of victory on the road under Bob Stoops:

49: OU 56, Baylor 7, Nov. 4, 2000

46: OU 53, Iowa State 7, Oct. 4, 2003

41: OU 55, Washington 14, Sept. 13, 2008

41: OU 62, Tulsa 21, Sept. 20, 2007

41: OU 44, Air Force 3, Sept. 1, 2001

40: OU 49, Baylor 9, Nov. 16, 2002

37: OU 37, Tulsa 0, Aug. 30, 2002

35: OU 35, Baylor 0, Nov. 10, 2004

31: OU 56, Texas Tech 25, Nov. 22, 2003

28: OU 38, Kansas 10, Oct. 13, 2001

26: OU 36, Baylor 10, Nov. 18, 2006

21: OU 42, Louisville 21, Sept. 25, 1999
By JOHN E. HOOVER World Sports Writer

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COMMENTS 
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4 comments have been made for this team so far. Tell us what you think below!
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Hard Harry, broken arrow (9/14/2008 9:38:16 AM)
Road Warriors?? wow. Let's all high-five over whipping the not-so-husky Willinghammers. Washington looked absolutely horrible. Fumbles, dropped passes, and no players that could take a starting position at Iowa State. Pokes and Sooners have both played a very 90's Kansas State-like schedule of creampuffs. So with a win over Texas it appears the Sooners will be undefeated and will be headed for another blow-out embarrassment in the Orange Bowl against USC who played an impressive non-conference schedule.
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2curious, Tulsa, OK 74104 (9/14/2008 8:10:07 PM)
Yep, Harry. Once again the Sooners will be PLAYING for a national championship. Funny how that works out. And seven times, they've been successful (nine more if you ask the NCAA).

How's it been working for your Pokes? Played in any football championship games lately?
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det. bunk, (9/15/2008 9:44:40 AM)
harry, like it or not the sooners are by far the best team around here, don't be a hater! the sooners and the pokes will be a great game at the end of the season.
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CaliforniaOkie, (9/15/2008 1:01:19 PM)
I was at the game and it looked like OU was running down hill all night. It is one game in a long schedule. A great showing in most respects but the Special Teams play is still very shaky. We need to not even think about the Orange Bowl and play this season one game at a time. A cliche but true...
 

 
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