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Naming this decade's top plays in local college ball

 
By JIMMIE TRAMEL, World Sports Writer
Published: 7/18/2009  2:23 AM
Last Modified: 7/18/2009  3:52 AM

 Time flies. It seems like yesterday that people were fretting about Y2K-spawned computer gremlins. Now we're one measly football season away from the 2000s being over.

In honor of the curtain coming down on the decade, this is one person's opinion of the state's top 10 college football plays of the 2000s.

Ground rules? The play had to occur in an OU, OSU or TU victory. And the play had to be either YouTube-worthy or carry significant stakes — or both.

1. Torrance Marshall to the rescue: Oklahoma won a national championship in 2000 and Marshall saved the season with a clutch defensive play at Texas A&M.

OU trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter, but rallied for a 35-31 win. The go-ahead points came when Marshall, a linebacker, snared his first career interception and rumbled 41 yards for a touchdown.

2. Fields to Woods: Josh Fields zipped a 14-yard pass to Rashaun Woods with 1:36 remaining to give Oklahoma State a shocking 16-13 road ambush of fourth-ranked Oklahoma in the 2001 regular season finale. OU was the highest-ranked team OSU had beaten since a victory over third-ranked Colorado in 1972.

If the Sooners had won, they would have advanced to the Big 12 title game and been in the mix to play for a national crown. Instead, the Cowboys used the upset as a launching pad to bowl seasons each of the next three years — and the tone was set for a series of helter skelter Bedlam games in the 2000s.

3. The Landrum Leap: Tulsa ended a string of 11 consecutive losing seasons when Jermaine Landrum made an electrifying play that gave the Hurricane a 31-28 win at Rice in 2003.

TU trailed 28-24 when James Kilian threw a short pass to Landrum, who broke three tackles and blazed down the sideline for a 31-yard score.

Landrum went airborne the final 4 yards and almost his entire body was over the boundary stripe when he extended the ball over an end zone pylon with 57 seconds left. It clinched TU's sixth victory and the school's first non-losing record since 1991.

4. Roy Williams Can Fly: The Oklahoma defensive back provided one of the all-time highlight reel moments of the Red River Rivalry when he launched himself over the line of scrimmage in an 2001 game against Texas.

Williams launched himself on a collision course with Chris Simms, whose pass floated into the hands of Teddy Lehman. The linebacker scored with 2:01 left to secure a 14-3 victory.

It's the signature play of the Bob Stoops era. Why doesn't it top this list? Because OU was likely going to win without Williams' dive. The play began at the Texas 3. The Horns, who gained only 225 yards that day, would have had to go 97 yards in two minutes to win.

5. Bedlam Jump Ball: OU's Derrick Strait preserved an undefeated season in 2000 by going vertical to knock away a pass intended for OSU's Marcellus Rivers on a fourth-and-goal play in the fourth quarter. It came in the regular season finale of a national championship campaign.

6. Pettigrew Goes Long: A 2007 OSU-Texas Tech game was an offensive classic and the biggest play on a 1,328-yard day was made by Cowboy tight end Brandon Pettigrew, whose 54-yard catch-and-run provided a game-winning touchdown with 1:37 left.

The play, though it occurred early in the season, had big ramifications. The Cowboys went 6-6 during the regular season. If they had lost to Tech, they wouldn't have gone bowling.

7. Works-manlike Performance: Oklahoma trailed by four points late in the fourth quarter of a 2002 game against Alabama. Then Renaldo Works turned a shovel pass into a wild 39-yard gain that set up a go-ahead touchdown run by Kejuan Jones with 2:11 left.

Works zig-zagged through would-be tacklers and hurdled a teammate as he raced down the sideline to the 8. It was the most sensational play of the first regular season meeting of the college football powers.

8. Stop and Go: Tulsa remained on course to win the C-USA West title when Paul Smith threw a 51-yard TD pass to Charles Clay with 43 seconds left in a 2007 game against SMU.

The big play capped a 99-yard drive after Nelson Coleman and Alain Karatepeyan stuffed the Mustangs on a fourth-and-goal play at the 1.

9. Boise or Bust: Tulsa had enough wins to be bowl-eligible before a 2003 regular season finale at San Jose State. But the Hurricane still might have been left out of the bowl picture if not for a 34-32 victory that was sealed when linebacker Michael LeDet blew up a fourth-and-1 run at midfield with 2:30 remaining.

The Spartans (who gained 567 yards) moved up and down the field all game, but LeDet's timely stop clinched a trip to Boise for the Humanitarian Bowl — TU's first bowl since 1991.

10. Big Save: OSU's 28-23 upset of third-ranked Missouri last season was still in doubt when the Tigers reached the Cowboy 31 late in the fourth quarter. Patrick Lavine intercepted a Chase Daniel pass with 1:41 left to clinch OSU's first 6-0 start since 1945 and the Cowboys' first road win over a top three team since 1967.
By JIMMIE TRAMEL, World Sports Writer

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Steff M, Claremore (7/18/2009 11:02:01 AM)
Williams' play is probably the one most etched in people's minds (mostly due to the SI cover) but the Fields pass is probably the most stunning and the most meaningful. I can still remember walking out of the stadium stunned and that long, quiet ride home.
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wk, (7/18/2009 12:41:46 PM)
The ones etched in my mind don't qualify because of the loss but the Boise State trick plays to win (hook and ladder and statute of liberty) are two of the greatest plays of all time in college football. The pundits are rating them right below the California win where the guy finally runs through the band for the win.
 

 
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