2006 Oklahoma Sooners football team
Encyclopedia
The 2006 Oklahoma Sooners football team (variously "Oklahoma", "OU", or the "Sooners") represented the University of Oklahoma
in the college football
season of 2006-2007, winning the Big 12 Conference Championship. The team was coached by Bob Stoops
, led on offense by quarterback
Paul Thompson
, and played their homes games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
.
The previous year's team ended the with eight wins and four losses, third in the Big 12 South standings and 22nd in both the Associated Press
and USA Today
polls.
The season began on a bad note when the starting quarterback
and an offensive lineman were kicked off the team the day before fall practice started. The Sooners
lost two of their first five games including a controversial loss to the Oregon Ducks and a loss to the defending national champion Texas Longhorns. They followed those losses with eight consecutive wins. The Sooners won their fourth conference championship under Bob Stoops to make 40 conference championships total. They played Boise State University
in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl
and lost in what many consider one of the "greatest" bowl games of all time. The Sooners' defense again ended the season nationally ranked finishing number one is several categories in the conference. Following the season, Adrian Peterson was selected seventh overall in the 2007 NFL Draft
. In addition to Peterson, Rufus Alexander
and C. J. Ah You
were also drafted into the National Football League
(NFL).
After the previous year's 8–4 season, the Sooners looked to return to past success in 2006. Standout running back
Adrian Peterson came into the season healthy and was also on the Maxwell Award
watch list. Star linebacker
Rufus Alexander
, (a Bednarik Award hopeful) returned for his senior campaign as did defensive end
s C.J. Ah You, Larry Birdine
, and Calvin Thibodeaux (Ah You and Birdine were Ted Hendricks Award
hopefuls) Reggie Smith was also named to the Jim Thorpe Award
watch list.
Nearly all major sports publications had the Sooners in the preseason Top 10. Some had the Sooners as the preseason #1 pick including Athlon, Phil Steele and Gold Sheet. The team had a lot of young talent this year. The high school scouting website Rivals.com
ranked Oklahoma's 2005 recruiting class number one in the nation and the 2006 recruiting class number nine. Most of 2006 signees redshirt
ed and did not play in 2006. When combined with statements from the Oklahoma coaching staff, the Sooners expected to be back in contention for the national title this year. On July 24, 2006, the Sooners were a 5–1 favorite to win the National Championship.
On August 2, 2006, quarterback
Rhett Bomar
and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn, both sophomores, were dismissed from the team. It was reported that they violated NCAA regulations regarding receiving extra compensation. It was later determined Bomar received $7,406.88 and Quinn $8,137.17. The loss of these two key players affected the team's placement in many publications' preseason polls as well as their chances of winning a national championship. The team turned to starting quarterback Paul Thompson (a converted wide receiver
in 2005) and backup Joey Halzle to lead the team.
After investigating the Bomar scandal, on July 11, 2007, the NCAA announced a finding of "failure to monitor" the employment of student athletes and handed out penalties. These included a verdict that all wins from the 2005 Oklahoma season were vacated, changing the team's record from 8–4 to 0–4 for that year. The university of Oklahoma has announced that it will appeal the finding and the vacatur of the wins from the 2005 season. The wins were eventually restored.
s to look to in 2006, including Malcolm Kelly, Manuel Johnson, and Juaquin Iglesias. Not to mention junior Adrian Peterson, the team's main ball carrier
. Most of the Sooners' experience was on the other side of the ball. The Sooner linebacker
s were the most experienced players on the team. The squad was anchored by Rufus Alexander and Zach Latimer. Alexander was ranked as the third best linebacker in the country at the beginning of the season by College Football News
. Behind them were other key players such as Demarrio Pleasant and Lewis Baker. Sophomore Ryan Reynolds, a notable player coming out of high school, was injured in the preseason and therefore was unable to contribute in 2006. In addition to a veteran linebacker squad, Oklahoma had a number of big-name defensive ends. During the preseason, College Football News ranked Larry Birdine, Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You in the top 25 best defensive ends for the 2006 season (ranked 14th, 20th, and 22nd, respectively). Oklahoma was the only team with three players in the top 25.
Bob Stoops returned for his eighth season as Oklahoma's head coach. During the off-season, Stoops was once again mentioned as a candidate for positions outside of Oklahoma. While Stoops decided to stay in Norman, the rest of the Oklahoma coaching staff did see some changes. The biggest change came at the offensive coordinator position. Former offensive coordinator Chuck Long
left Oklahoma to take the head coaching job at San Diego State University
. Stoops chose somebody already on the staff to fill Long's spot. Kevin Wilson was named the new offensive coordinator after previously serving as the co-offensive coordinator along with Long as well as the offensive line coach. Rejoining the staff was former Sooner quarterback Josh Heupel, who led Oklahoma to the 2000 National Championship. Heupel had served two years as a graduate assistant before taking a position with Mike Stoops
, Bob Stoops's brother, at the University of Arizona
in 2005. Heupel took over Long's old position of quarterback coach. Leaving the staff was Darrell Wyatt who spent four years as the wide receivers coach. He took a position with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings
. This move launched another reshuffle of duties on Stoops's staff. Coach Kevin Sumlim took over Wyatt's duties with the wide receivers and was also named co-offensive coordinator with Wilson. Coach James Patton was hired on from Northwestern to take over Wilson's duties with the offensive line.
. The Sooners' offense performed well with quarterback Thompson completing 58% of his passes for 227 yards. Heisman hopeful Adrian Peterson performed well also, rushing for 139 yards, plus an additional 69-yard reception and two touchdown
s. However, the Oklahoma defense did not perform as well as expected, giving up over 300 yards offense. Even Coach Stoops believes "they weren't nearly as good as they were billed to be." Nevertheless, Oklahoma avoided another opening game upset and won 24–17.
. Washington began with the ball and on the opening offensive play, Kenny James squeezed through Oklahoma's line and dodged Keenan Clayton's tackle to race 54 yards for a touchdown. For the remainder of the first half, Oklahoma and Washington traded scores. Before the end of the 1st quarter, Paul Thompson hit wide receiver Malcolm Kelly in the back of the endzone to tie the game 7–7. Washington answered with a field goal early in the 2nd quarter and Oklahoma and Washington continued to trade field goals to end the 1st half tied 13–13. Oklahoma, however, came out strong in the second half and took the game away from the Huskies. Oklahoma scored 24 consecutive points before Washington scored a late-game touchdown to bring the final score in favor of Oklahoma 37–20.
Adrian Peterson continued his march up the Oklahoma record books with 165 rushing yards. Peterson was named the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. Quarterback Paul Thompson improved over his season debut, going 21-for-33 including 9-for-11 in the second half. Some began to see the emergence of "dynamic trio" in Thompson, Peterson, and Kelly.
's Oregon Ducks
, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables made some major changes to the defensive depth chart after giving up four long running plays through the heart of the defensive line against Washington. The starters at defensive tackle, cornerback, and strong safety were all demoted, opening opportunities for some freshmen to step up. D.J. Wolfe was replaced by Marcus Walker at cornerback while senior Jason Carter started in place of Keenan Clayton at strong safety. Carter replaced Clayton in the game against Washington after a missed tackle by the freshman led to a Husky touchdown on their first offensive play. Even though all four players at defensive tackle had almost the same number of plays, Steven Coleman was moved off the top of the depth chart as well.
After a controversial ending, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 34–33 giving Oklahoma their first loss of the season and making their record 2–1. Oklahoma led Oregon by 13 points late in the game, but Oregon scored a touchdown with 72 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 27–33 in favor of Oklahoma. Oregon then tried for an onside kick
and was awarded the ball by the officiating crew despite an Oklahoma player ending up with the ball and over the protests of the Oklahoma sideline who claimed that the ball did not travel the
required 10 yards before being touched by Oregon. The instant replay
officials took several minutes to review the call while the on-air commentators came to the conclusion that the ball should go to Oklahoma, effectively giving Oklahoma the win as well. The officials, however, awarded the ball to Oregon. ESPN
called the decision an "obvious mistake". The network also questioned the Pacific 10 Conference (Pac-10) policy of using conference officiating crews for inter-conference games. Other conferences typically use neutral officials or ones from the visiting team's conference, although Big 12 officials were used for Oklahoma's non conference games against UAB and the University of Washington. The Oregon offense then drove the field and scored the go ahead touchdown making the score 34–33.
Oklahoma President David Boren wrote a letter to Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg asking for the loss to be erased from Oklahoma's record, something that Weiberg did not support. Weiberg did say that he would raise concerns about the Pac-10 policy of using their own officials for inter-conference games in Pac-10 stadiums. Stoops said that he may cancel the 2008 game scheduled at Washington if the Pac-10 officiating policy is not changed.
The Pac-10 conference suspended the entire officiating crew, including both on-field and instant-reply officials, for one game. The replay official, Gordon Riese
, requested and was granted a leave of absence for the remainder of the season. Reise was quoted as saying, "I feel so bad I missed that call, it's driving me crazy," and that he was "struggling" with his mistake. On-field official David Cutaia had his suspension delayed so that he could officiate the September 23 game between the University of Southern California
and the University of Arizona
due to a shortage of Pac-10 conference officials.
Arizona is coached by Mike Stoops
, the brother of the Oklahoma head coach. Mike Stoops said he felt it "was ridiculous that they couldn't get all of the angles. It was pretty obvious, and not to see that Oklahoma had recovered those were just errors that are the fundamentals of refereeing," He says he favors changing the Pac-10 rules so that out-of-conference officials will be brought in for non-conference games.
Those calling for move from conference-paid officials to officials working in a national pool included Texas Longhorns
coach Mack Brown
. His defending national championship team
was called for a record number of penalties in a game against Rice. Brown said "You find when you go outside your league sometimes, people call things differently than our league... Believe it or not, there are still a lot of different interpretations that make it uncomfortable some during a ballgame." Less supportive of Oklahoma was Bob Knight, head basketball
coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders
. Knight had called for Oklahoma to forfeit its basketball game against Tech in 2003, when the Sooners won 69–64 because of two bad timekeeping decisions. The controversial Knight stated "...[H]ad Oklahoma forfeited that game against us like I suggested, they would have gotten far more positive publicity out of that than if they had gone to the Final Four that year. Now I guess the 'duck' is swimming in the other pond."
hopeful at the beginning of the season, and quarterback Clint Marks, who was on the list for the Davey O'Brien Award
) had mixed results against their counterparts from Oklahoma. Marks ended the day 3-for-9 with 40 yards and an interception, but Sabb was able to make a game-high 6 solo tackles with four tackles for loss. Other than linebacker's coach Art Kaufman, all of the Middle Tennessee coaches were in their first year at the school (including head coach Rick Stockstill
).
Malcolm Kelly broke a school record for receiving yards in a quarter that had stood since 1962 when he pulled down 134 yards in the first. He ended the day with 164 yards on 5 receptions and one touchdown. Adrian Peterson gained 128 yards on 27 carries and did not play after Oklahoma's first possession of the second half. Coach Stoops forced him to sit out because of the chance that "something freakish could happen" and he would be unavailable for the game against Texas. Paul Thompson had a good day as well, throwing 13-for-18 for 257 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, linebacker Zach Latimer and cornerback Nick Harris each had an interception; Latimer returned his 22 yards for a touchdown while Harris was pushed out at the one-yard line.
Oklahoma had 462 total yards of offense (272 through the air, 190 on the ground) while limiting MTSU to only 95 total yards. The 59 point loss was the largest for the Blue Raiders since 1933.
and the Sooners met at the Cotton Bowl
in Dallas
for their annual rivalry game known as the Red River Rivalry
(previously called the Red River Shootout). This marked the 101st meeting between the schools. Texas came into the game leading the series 56–39–5 overall and 44–35–4 at the Cotton Bowl. In 2005, the Longhorns broke a 5-year losing streak on their way to win the national championship at the Rose Bowl
against USC
.
The teams alternate home and away each year, and this year the Sooners played host. They occupied the bench under the press box and wore their red home jerseys while Texas wore their all-white road uniform. The stadium, as usual, was split down the 50-yard line with Sooner fans sitting on the south side of mid-field. The division is visually striking and the difference in crowd noise levels from one end of the stadium to the other almost always has a direct impact on the game. Beginning in 2007, the teams will alternate North and South ends of the field, thereby giving the home team fans the seats adjacent to the tunnel leading to both teams' locker rooms.
As intense as the rivalry between the schools is, there were many factors that tied the programs together in 2006. Texas head coach Mack Brown
was the Offensive Coordinator for the Sooners in 1984 (the Red River Shootout ended in a 15–15 tie that year). He is also the brother of UAB
head coach Watson Brown, who lost to Oklahoma at the beginning of the 2006 season. Oklahoma Co-defensive Coordinator and defensive backs coach Bobby Jack Wright was an assistant coach at Texas from 1986 to '97. Oklahoma also had two Austin natives on their roster, QB Hays McEachern and WR Fred Strong. McEachern's father was the Texas quarterback in 1977 and 1978 and his mother was a Longhorn cheerleader.
There were few bright points for the Sooners after half-time in this installment of the Red River Rivalry. Though they held the Longhorns to only a single offensive yard in the second quarter, the defense gave up two big pass plays on Texas' first series of the third, including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Limas Sweed that broke the defense's will. The offense seemed equally under-motivated in the second half, going three-and-out on their opening drive. Oklahoma also committed numerous turnovers in the second half, including a bad lateral pass that turned into a Texas touchdown, and two interceptions by quarterback Paul Thompson.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy
had solid, albeit mediocre, numbers, but was central to the drive that put the Longhorns ahead for good. Bob Stoops said after the game that McCoy "managed the game for[Texas] in a really good way." Texas' defense was also able to shut down Adrian Peterson and limit him to only 109 yards and one long run (a 29-yard touchdown run up the middle in the second quarter). Oklahoma's star wide receiver Malcom Kelly was limited to only two catches for 31 yards.
. There were three Cyclone touchdowns negated by the officials in that game (one called caught out of bounds, two on offensive penalties). Oklahoma lost to Texas for the second straight year in the Red River Rivalry in Dallas and was unable to mount a successful offensive drive for the entire second half. The Sooners also committed 11 penalties (a full third of their season total at the time) and five turnovers in that game. After equally disappointing weeks, both teams were looking to rebound.
Oklahoma held a significant advantage in contests between the schools with the series record at 65–5–2. Iowa State had not won in Norman since 1990 and had dropped nine straight games to the Sooners. The Cyclones' head coach Dan McCarney
was 0–5 against Oklahoma while Bob Stoops was 3–0 against Iowa State and 22–3 against teams from the North Division of the Big 12.
Iowa State took some outstanding players to Norman, but in the end it was not enough to win. Quarterback Brent Meyer is the all-time leader in passing yards and total offense at ISU; he finished the season with the Cyclone record for career touchdowns as well. Meyer is complemented by wide receiver Todd Blythe who led the nation in career yards per catch (19.0) and was fifth on the career touchdown receptions list (25) before the game. ISU linebacker Alvin Bowen also led the nation in tackles per game this season and had 17 against Nebraska. The special teams of the Cyclones was led by Ryan Baum who was averaging 18.0 yards per punt return and has scored one touchdown.
A win by Oklahoma where they never trailed was marred by an injury to Adrian Peterson. At the end of a 53 yard run in the fourth quarter, Peterson dove into the end zone and, as Stoops put it, "when he landed, he landed wrong." The result was a broken collarbone that put him on the sideline for the remainder of the regular season. During the post-game press conference Stoops said, "the earliest[Peterson] would be ready to play would be a bowl game." This put an end to Peterson's chase of the Oklahoma all-time rushing record; he was 150 yards from breaking Billy Sims' mark set in 1979 at the time.
Other Sooners also had big days against Iowa State. Paul Thompson went 16 of 27 for 195 yards and two touchdowns, both to Malcolm Kelly. Kelly had a total of four receptions for 50 yards on the day while sophomore Manuel Johnson had four grabs for 48 yards. Linebacker Rufus Alexander pulled down his first interception of the season in the third quarter. Iowa State's only offensive points came on a 31-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter from Meyer to standout receiver Todd Blythe.
, the first African-American football player at the university. Gautt's jersey number (38) was not issued this season to any players and for the game against Colorado the 38 yard-line on both halves of the field was highlighted with crimson. This year also marked the 50th anniversary of the 1956 National Championship won by the Sooners. At least 34 members of that team were expected to attend the game, including former All-Americans
Bill Krisher, Tommy McDonald, and Clendon Thomas.
The series between Oklahoma and Colorado stands at 39–16–2 with the Sooners taking the advantage. Stoops is 5–1 against Colorado with a five-game winning streak. Before the first of those wins (in Norman on November 2, 2002) the Sooners dropped nine straight games to the Buffs, the most consecutive losses to a single opponent in the history of the program. Two of Stoops's wins over Colorado came in Big 12 Championship games (2002 and 2004). Colorado coach Dan Hawkins
is in his first year at the school and had not coached against Oklahoma before.
From the beginning, this game went heavily in the Sooner's favor. Both defenses played well, but Oklahoma's squad was able to limit Colorado to only 113 total yards, 51 of which came on the Buff's only scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma's offense was also held down, totaling only 271 yards mostly on runs and short underneath passes. Allen Patrick, filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson, was the player of the game and was the first person all season to run for over 100 yards against Colorado. He managed 110 yards on 35 carries with one touchdown run early in the fourth. For 218 consecutive games across 18 years, the Buffaloes have not been shut out; kicker Mason Crosby saved the streak with a 39-yard field goal into the wind late in the game.
's Missouri team is the surprise of the conference in 2006, having already matched their win total from last year. They shared the lead for the Big 12 North division with Nebraska (who they lost to November 4 in Lincoln). The Tigers won their homecoming game against Kansas State 41–21. The Sooners also won their homecoming game against Colorado by the score of 24–3. This was the beginning of a long road stretch for Oklahoma; they played four of their last five games on the road. This was the 91st meeting between the schools with the Sooners holding the advantage 63–23–5.
In the words of Coach Bob Stoops, the Sooners played "opportunistic" football against Missouri; converting four take-aways into 19 points (and adding a touchdown on a drive that saw new life after a "roughing the kicker" penalty) to beat the Tigers in Columbia. It was the first home loss of the season for Missouri and broke an eight-game home winning streak that stretched back in to the 2005 season.
Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel
was 23 for 44 with 248 yards and no touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions. Daniel rushed 20 times for 75 yards and a TD while the rest of the Tiger's offense was only able to add one rushing yard on seven carries. The Sooners' QB Paul Thompson went 11 for 19 with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 28 yards and a score while Allen Patrick added 162 yards on 36 carries. Meanwhile Malcolm Kelly
became the fastest player in Oklahoma history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards, after only his 19th game.
The two programs are very similar in their offensive philosophies. Texas A&M came in averaging a very balanced 213.7 yards per game rushing and 209.1 passing while the Sooners averaged 178.4 yards on the ground and 204.8 through the air. Oklahoma was surrendering an average of 36 fewer yards per game on defense.
The game started well for the Sooners. Allen Patrick had 101 yards on 14 carries and Oklahoma scored two touchdowns in the first quarter to A&M's one field goal. After Oklahoma failed to recover an early surprise onside kick, however, the Aggies closed the gap to 4 points with a scoring drive capped by a one yard rumble from running back Jorvorskie Lane
. The defenses stiffened in the second half and both teams had to settle for field goals in the third and fourth quarters. In his second risky call of the game, Stoops had the Sooners attempt to convert a fourth-and-inches with 1:29 left to play and the ball almost to the offense's 30 yard line. The run by Thompson was successful but unnecessary as A&M was penalized for having too many men on the field and Oklahoma was able to run out the clock.
Paul Thompson had a disappointing day as he completed only three of his twelve passing attempts for a total of 39 yards. A&M's Stephen McGee was slightly better completing 8 of 18 for 63 yards, though he was picked off by Marcus Walker in the third quarter; Garrett Hartley kicked a field goal after the Sooners offense could not advance the ball after the turnover. The Aggies forced two fumbles of their own (one from Patrick and one from Thompson), but they were forced to punt after their own offense was also stymied. The player of the game was Allen Patrick; he finished the day with a career-high 173 yards on 32 carries and one touchdown, however, he suffered a sprained ankle during the last minutes of the game. Coach Wilson questioned whether he will be 100% for the next game. Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione
is now 0-4 against the Sooners.
With Adrian Peterson still recovering from breaking his collar bone against Iowa State and Allen Patrick on the sideline in an ankle brace after suffering a late-game sprain the week before, many aspects of the offense were in doubt coming into this game. Paul Thompson responded by putting up a career-high 309 yards of passing, completing 24 of 31 attempts. True-freshman running back Chris Brown also stepped up to the challenge and ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter; this was the first time in 16 games that a Sooner back did not run for over 100 yards.
The only serious injury of the game came when wide receiver Manuel Johnson was knocked unconscious after hitting helmets with Texas Tech defensive back Chris Parker. Johnson was unresponsive on the sidelines for about 35 seconds before he opened his eyes. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance, treated for "a real bad concussion," and kept overnight. According to Coach Stoops, Johnson would not play against Baylor, but he returned for the regular season finale.
Tech played well also, especially on defense where they were able to create four turnovers including Thompson's first interception in 99 pass attempts. Defensive back Antonio Huffman returned the pick 54 yards for a touchdown and put the Red Raiders up 24–10 late in the second quarter. Texas Tech was able to capitalize on the other take-aways as well, turning them into 14 more points and held the lead until the fourth quarter. Two missed field goals and a fired-up Sooner defense held the Red Raiders off, however, and the Sooners were able to put the game away with a two-yard touchdown run by Brown.
for the 16th meeting between the schools and the seventh at Floyd Casey Stadium. Oklahoma has never lost to the Bears, though the game in 2005 in Norman went into double-overtime. This was the last game of the season for Baylor; even with a win they would not be bowl-eligible.
Baylor's passing offense had been strong all year. This was the first time they had been held below 21 points in their last seven conference games and they have two wide receivers with over 50 catches each. Unfortunately for the Bears, their starting quarterback Shawn Bell suffered a season-ending injury against Texas A&M on October 28.
Paul Thompson had a career-high 309 passing yards against Texas Tech, including a string of 14 straight completions after throwing his sixth interception of the year. At the time, he was also sixth on the Oklahoma single-season touchdown passes list with 17 and eighth on the season passing yards list with 2,092.
The Sooner defense played extremely well in Waco, limiting Baylor to 148 total yards and -48 yards of rushing. That is the fewest yards Baylor has produced all season and their worst performance on the ground in the program's history; it is also the second-best performance by an Oklahoma defense ever. Defensive back Reggie Smith also pulled down two interceptions, returning the first one 42 yards for a touchdown.
Oklahoma was also unable to avoid turning the ball over, however, losing four fumbles and throwing one pick. Baylor set up a field goal on the first fumble by Smith after he failed to catch a punt return and Baylor's Braelon Davis returned a fumble by Chris Brown for a touchdown late in the game. Another fumble by Smith on a second return and one by Malcolm Kelly put premature ends to other Sooner drives.
between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State has been played all but two years since 1903 and is the most lopsided series between schools in the same state in the nation. Oklahoma holds a 78–16 advantage with 7 ties. This was the last game of the regular season and held major bowl implications for both programs. Head coach Mike Gundy
has managed to bring Oklahoma State to bowl-eligibility with six wins, but they were still not guaranteed a bowl berth. The Big 12 has eight contract bowl spots this year and nine bowl-eligible teams. Since teams with only six wins can only be selected for a bowl game after all available teams with seven or more have been selected, OSU needed Kansas to lose to Missouri to have any hope of a bowl game. After Missouri beat the Jayhawks 42–17, both Kansas and OSU had 6–6 records and the bowl selection committees would choose which team would be invited.
Aside from the rivalry and bowl implications, this game also decided who would represent the South Division at the Big 12 Championship Game in Kansas City
. At the beginning of the week, Texas and Oklahoma were tied for the lead with Texas holding the tie-breaker due to their win in the Red River Shootout earlier in the year. However, since Texas lost to Texas A&M on November 24, the Sooner victory at State won the division outright and gave them the chance to play Nebraska for the Big 12 title and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl (awarded contractually to the Big 12 winner if they are not selected to play in the national championship game
).
As with the previous five games, the absence of Adrian Peterson did not keep the Sooners from running the ball on the ground. Allen Patrick returned from missing the last two games with a sore ankle and put up 163 yards on 23 carries, including a 65-yard touchdown scamper to start the second half. Chris Brown had an additional 19 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns as Patrick's backup. At the end of the day, Paul Thompson only threw 11 passes, 7 completions for 77 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, and Oklahoma had 238 yards of rushing.
Oklahoma State's passing attack was more active, with both Zach Robinson and Bobby Reid completing 8 passes (on 17 attempts for 149 yards for Robinson, 12 and 82 for Reid). However, they were still only able to connect for one touchdown (Reid to D'Jaun Woods in the fourth quarter) and Robinson missed high on a last-second "Hail Mary
" that would have tied the game (the PAT
would have put the Cowboys up by one with only a few seconds left in the game). The Cowboys were also able to produce 119 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
. Played every Thanksgiving weekend for 71 years (from 1927 to 1998), this contest produced many memorable games — including the Game of the Century in 1971. The rivalry has cooled somewhat since the creation of the Big 12 as Bill Callahan
's Nebraska Cornhuskers and Stoops's Oklahoma Sooners now split a home-and-home two of every four years.
This was only the fourth time that the teams had met at a neutral site. The last time was the 1979 Orange Bowl where the Sooners won 31–24. Oklahoma held the lead in the all-time series with 42 wins, 37 losses and 3 ties and had never lost to Nebraska on neutral turf (one 7–7 tie in 1919 in Omaha
). Bob Stoops was 3–1 against Nebraska and had a two game winning streak; Callahan had never beaten Oklahoma.
This was the first time the two teams had met in the Big 12 Championship Game to determine the Big 12 Conference champion. Nebraska played in the championship game three of the first four years, winning in 1997 and 1999, but had not made it back since. Oklahoma missed the first four games but represented the South Division four of the next six years, topping the conference in 2000, 2002, and 2004. Oklahoma had the most appearances in the championship game (5) and conference titles (4) of any team in the Big 12.
Nebraska received the ball to start the game but Maurice Purify fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Oklahoma recovered the ball at the Nebraska 2-yard-line and scored a touchdown to take the lead 7–0 with 48 seconds expired off the clock. It was the fastest score in Big 12 Championship Game history. With 5:35 left in the first quarter, Oklahoma's quarterback completed a touchdown pass to Malcolm Kelly to go up 14–0. With 4:37 left in the first half, Nebraska's Zach Taylor threw a touchdown pass and the extra point shaved Oklahoma's lead to 14–7, which was still the score as the game went to half-time.
At the start of the half, Oklahoma started with the ball but were unable to advance, as Nebraska recorded their first quarterback sack
of the game and caused Oklahoma to go three-and-out and punt
. Later in the third quarter, Oklahoma used eleven plays, three minutes and 21 seconds, to go 99 yards and score a touchdown with 1:25 left in the third quarter. It was the longest scoring drive in Big 12 Championship history.
With 8:53 left in the game, Nebraska threw what was almost a touchdown pass, but Nic Harris
made a diving catch to intercept the ball in the end-zone for a touchback
. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter, so Oklahoma won the game 21–7. It was their fourth Big 12 Conference football championship, which is the most for any team in the conference (Nebraska and Texas each have two).
With the University of Texas's losses to both Kansas State and Texas A&M during the last two games of the season, Oklahoma saw its chances of a BCS bowl berth open up. Had Oklahoma lost its final game to Oklahoma State, then both Texas and Oklahoma would have been 6–2 in the Big 12 South and Texas would have won the tie-breaker by virtue of winning the head-to-head game in October. However, Oklahoma did knock off in-state rival Oklahoma State and then defeated the winner of the Big 12 North, Nebraska, on December 2, 2006.
Since Oklahoma won the Big 12 Championship game, they represented the Big 12 Conference in the Fiesta Bowl
in Glendale, Arizona
. Contractually, the Fiesta Bowl hosts the Big 12 Champion and then picks, from among the BCS eligible teams, the opponent. For 2007, the Fiesta Bowl picked Boise State
as Oklahoma's opponent for the Fiesta Bowl. The game took place on New Year's Day in the then-new University of Phoenix Stadium
, home of the Arizona Cardinals
. The Broncos led the Sooners the majority of the game, but the Sooners made up an 18 point deficit late in the game and led by a touchdown with a minute left in regulation. With 18 seconds left, the Sooners had the Broncos in a fourth-and-18 situation from midfield, but were stunned when the Broncos executed a hook and lateral for the tying score. This would be only the first of three Boise State trick plays that helped elevate this game to epic status.
The Sooners had the ball first in overtime, with Peterson scoring on their first play. Boise State then drove the ball toward the goal line, but faced fourth-and-goal from the 2. They then sent quarterback Jared Zabransky
into motion and snapped to backup wide receiver Vinny Peretta, who ran an option pass and found Derek Schouman in the end zone. The Broncos chose to go for the two-point conversion and the win instead of kicking for the tie. They then ran a Statue of Liberty play
, with Zabransky faking a pass to the right side and handing the ball behind his back to Ian Johnson
, who ran left and entered the end zone untouched, giving the Broncos a stunning 43–42 win.
As the 2006 college football season neared the end, many organizations began to announce finalists and winners of various post-season awards. Sooner players and coaches appeared on many of these lists. Head coach Bob Stoops was unanimously named Coach of the Year on the AT&T All-Big 12 Coaches Team. This is the third time he's won the award, more than any other coach in league history. Stoops was also named a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year award, a national award handed out by the Football Writer's Association of America. Oklahoma defensive coordinator/linebacker coach/associate head coach Brent Venables was named one of five finalists for the Broyles Award which goes to the nation's best assistant coach.
Several players for the Sooners were also honored. Oklahoma junior kicker Garrett Hartley was named a finalist for the Lou Groza Award
. Oklahoma senior linebacker Rufus Alexander was named the AT&T All-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He is the third Oklahoma player to earn this honor, following Teddy Lehman
in 2003 and Roy Williams
in 2001. Many of Oklahoma's players were also named to the All-Big 12 First and Second Team:
Oklahoma's lone All-American this year was linebacker Rufus Alexander. He was given first team All-American status by the American Football Coaches Association.
The 2007 NFL Draft
took place in New York City
on April 29 and April 30, 2007. Three players from the team were selected during the two day draft. Adrian Peterson was the first to go. He was the seventh selection of the draft and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings
. Peterson was the highest Sooner drafted since Cedric Jones
was drafted as the fifth pick in 1996. There was a long wait between Oklahoma's first player to go and the second. Rufus Alexander was also picked by the Vikings as their sixth round selection (pick 176). In the seventh and last round, C.J. Ah You was selected by the Buffalo Bills
(pick 239).
class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap;">
OU Opp
Punts-Yards
62-2460
85.3409
Avg per Punt
39.7
40.1
Time of Possession/Game
31:38
28:27
3rd Down Conversions
71/177 (40%)
58/192 (30%)
4th Down Conversions
7/11 (64%)
10/22 (45%)
Touchdowns Scored
52
29
Field Goals-Attempts
19-20
12-17
PAT-Attempts
49-50
28-28
Total Attendance (Games)
587,397 (7)
281,051 (5)
Avg per Game
83,914
56,210
Neutral Site
74,990 (2)
Statistics from:
* National rankings:
University of Oklahoma
The University of Oklahoma is a coeducational public research university located in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two became the state of Oklahoma. the university had 29,931 students enrolled, most located at its...
in the college football
College football
College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...
season of 2006-2007, winning the Big 12 Conference Championship. The team was coached by Bob Stoops
Bob Stoops
Robert Anthony "Bob" Stoops is the head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team. During the 2000 season, Stoops led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and a national championship....
, led on offense by quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Paul Thompson
Paul Thompson (football)
Paul Thompson is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2007...
, and played their homes games at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium
The Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium is the on-campus football facility for the University of Oklahoma Sooners in Norman, Oklahoma. The official capacity of the stadium, following recent renovations, is 82,112, making it the 16th largest college stadium in the United States and the third...
.
The previous year's team ended the with eight wins and four losses, third in the Big 12 South standings and 22nd in both the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
and USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
polls.
The season began on a bad note when the starting quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
and an offensive lineman were kicked off the team the day before fall practice started. The Sooners
Oklahoma Sooners
The University of Oklahoma features 19 varsity sports teams. Both men's and women's teams are called the Sooners, a nickname given to the early participants in the land rushes which initially opened the Oklahoma Indian Territory to non-native settlement. They participate in the NCAA's Division I-A,...
lost two of their first five games including a controversial loss to the Oregon Ducks and a loss to the defending national champion Texas Longhorns. They followed those losses with eight consecutive wins. The Sooners won their fourth conference championship under Bob Stoops to make 40 conference championships total. They played Boise State University
2006 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 college football season. The Broncos won the Western Athletic Conference championship with an undefeated 12–0 regular-season record , their second unbeaten regular season in the past three years...
in the 2007 Fiesta Bowl
2007 Fiesta Bowl
The 2007 Tostitos Fiesta Bowl was a college football bowl game played as part of the 2006–2007 Bowl Championship Series of the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season...
and lost in what many consider one of the "greatest" bowl games of all time. The Sooners' defense again ended the season nationally ranked finishing number one is several categories in the conference. Following the season, Adrian Peterson was selected seventh overall in the 2007 NFL Draft
2007 NFL Draft
The 2007 National Football League Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draft was televised for the 28th consecutive year on ESPN and ESPN2. The NFL Network also broadcast coverage of the event, its second year doing so...
. In addition to Peterson, Rufus Alexander
Rufus Alexander
Rufus Alexander is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft...
and C. J. Ah You
C. J. Ah You
Charles "C. J." Ah You, Jr. is an American football defensive end for the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the seventh round of the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oklahoma.-High school:Ah You played high school football at Lone...
were also drafted into the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
(NFL).
Preseason
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
Adrian Peterson came into the season healthy and was also on the Maxwell Award
Maxwell Award
The Maxwell Award is presented annually to the collegiate American football player judged by a panel of sportscasters, sportswriters, and National Collegiate Athletic Association head coaches and the membership of the Maxwell Football Club to be the best football player in the United States. The...
watch list. Star linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
Rufus Alexander
Rufus Alexander
Rufus Alexander is an American football linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in the sixth round of the 2007 NFL Draft...
, (a Bednarik Award hopeful) returned for his senior campaign as did defensive end
Defensive end
Defensive end is the name of a defensive position in the sport of American and Canadian football.This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formations have substantially changed how the position is played over the years...
s C.J. Ah You, Larry Birdine
Larry Birdine
Larry Birdine is an Canadian football defensive end for the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Green Bay Packers as an undrafted free agent in 2007...
, and Calvin Thibodeaux (Ah You and Birdine were Ted Hendricks Award
Ted Hendricks Award
The Ted Hendricks Award is given annually to college football's top defensive end. The award is named after Ted Hendricks, who is a member of both the College Football Hall of Fame as well as the Pro Football Hall of Fame and is presented by his own 501 foundation, called the Ted Hendricks...
hopefuls) Reggie Smith was also named to the Jim Thorpe Award
Jim Thorpe Award
The Jim Thorpe Award, named in memory of multi-sport legend Jim Thorpe, has been awarded to the top defensive back in college football since 1986...
watch list.
Nearly all major sports publications had the Sooners in the preseason Top 10. Some had the Sooners as the preseason #1 pick including Athlon, Phil Steele and Gold Sheet. The team had a lot of young talent this year. The high school scouting website Rivals.com
Rivals.com
Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting. The network was started in 1996 and currently employs more than 300 personnel.-Schools:The individual collegiate sites can be found...
ranked Oklahoma's 2005 recruiting class number one in the nation and the 2006 recruiting class number nine. Most of 2006 signees redshirt
Redshirt (college sports)
Redshirt is a term used in American college athletics that refers to a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen his or her period of eligibility...
ed and did not play in 2006. When combined with statements from the Oklahoma coaching staff, the Sooners expected to be back in contention for the national title this year. On July 24, 2006, the Sooners were a 5–1 favorite to win the National Championship.
On August 2, 2006, quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
Rhett Bomar
Rhett Bomar
Rhett Matthew Bomar is an American football quarterback who is currently a free agent. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft...
and offensive lineman J.D. Quinn, both sophomores, were dismissed from the team. It was reported that they violated NCAA regulations regarding receiving extra compensation. It was later determined Bomar received $7,406.88 and Quinn $8,137.17. The loss of these two key players affected the team's placement in many publications' preseason polls as well as their chances of winning a national championship. The team turned to starting quarterback Paul Thompson (a converted wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
in 2005) and backup Joey Halzle to lead the team.
After investigating the Bomar scandal, on July 11, 2007, the NCAA announced a finding of "failure to monitor" the employment of student athletes and handed out penalties. These included a verdict that all wins from the 2005 Oklahoma season were vacated, changing the team's record from 8–4 to 0–4 for that year. The university of Oklahoma has announced that it will appeal the finding and the vacatur of the wins from the 2005 season. The wins were eventually restored.
Schedule
Roster
In 2006, the Sooners competed with a relatively young team. Oklahoma listed 72 players on the roster and only nine of them are scholarship seniors. Following the dismissal of quarterback Rhett Bomar, fifth year senior Paul Thompson reconverted back to his former role of quarterback after spending 2005 as a wide receiver. Junior college transfer Joey Halzle was slotted as his backup. Thompson had several wide receiverWide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
s to look to in 2006, including Malcolm Kelly, Manuel Johnson, and Juaquin Iglesias. Not to mention junior Adrian Peterson, the team's main ball carrier
Running back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
. Most of the Sooners' experience was on the other side of the ball. The Sooner linebacker
Linebacker
A linebacker is a position in American football that was invented by football coach Fielding H. Yost of the University of Michigan. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up approximately three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage, behind the defensive linemen...
s were the most experienced players on the team. The squad was anchored by Rufus Alexander and Zach Latimer. Alexander was ranked as the third best linebacker in the country at the beginning of the season by College Football News
College Football News
College Football News is a magazine and website published by College Football News, Inc., headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. News coverage includes scores, statistics, rankings, and reports on college football games. Analysis includes comparisons between teams, predictions of game outcomes and...
. Behind them were other key players such as Demarrio Pleasant and Lewis Baker. Sophomore Ryan Reynolds, a notable player coming out of high school, was injured in the preseason and therefore was unable to contribute in 2006. In addition to a veteran linebacker squad, Oklahoma had a number of big-name defensive ends. During the preseason, College Football News ranked Larry Birdine, Calvin Thibodeaux and C.J. Ah You in the top 25 best defensive ends for the 2006 season (ranked 14th, 20th, and 22nd, respectively). Oklahoma was the only team with three players in the top 25.
| (final) | ||||||
Wide Receivers
Offensive Line
Tight Ends
Fullbacks
|
Quarterbacks
Running Backs
Defensive Line
|
Linebackers
Defensive Backs
Punters
Kickers
Deep Snapper
|
||||
| † Starter at position * Injured; did not play in 2006. | ||||||
Coaching staff
| Name | Position | Years at OU |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bob Stoops Bob Stoops Robert Anthony "Bob" Stoops is the head coach of the University of Oklahoma football team. During the 2000 season, Stoops led the Sooners to an Orange Bowl victory and a national championship.... |
Head Coach | 8 | |||
| Brent Venables Brent Venables Thomas Brent Venables is an American college football coach.He is currently the associate head coach, defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the University of Oklahoma Sooners football team. In 2006, he was one of five finalists for the prestigious Broyles Award for the nation's top... |
Associate Head Coach Defensive Coordinator Linebackers |
8 | |||
| Bobby Jack Wright | Assistant Head Coach Co-Defensive Coordinator Defensive Backs |
8 | |||
| Kevin R. Wilson Kevin R. Wilson Kevin R. Wilson is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers.-Playing career:Wilson played offensive line and linebacker at Maiden High School... |
Offensive Coordinator Tight Ends/Fullbacks |
5 | |||
| Casey Glenn | Offensive Line GA | 2 | |||
| Cale Gundy Cale Gundy Joseph Cale Gundy is a former American football quarterback that played for the Oklahoma Sooners from 1990–1993. He is now the running backs coach for the Sooners. His brother Mike is the head football coach at Oklahoma State University.He lives in Norman, Oklahoma with his wife Kristy and his... |
Recruiting Coordinator Running Backs |
8 | |||
| Kevin Sumlin | Co-Offensive Coordinator Receivers |
5 | |||
| Josh Heupel Josh Heupel Josh Heupel, , is the current co-offensive coordinator at the University of Oklahoma. He was the quarterback for the Oklahoma Sooners football team in 1999-2000, and led Oklahoma to the 2000 national championship.-Personal:... |
Quarterbacks | 3 | |||
| James Patton | Offensive Line | 1 | |||
| Jackie Shipp Jackie Shipp Jackie Renardo Shipp is a former American football linebacker who played in the National Football League. He is currently the defensive line coach for the Oklahoma Sooners football team. He has been on the Sooners' coaching staff since the arrival of Bob Stoops in 1999.Shipp played high school... |
Defensive Line | 8 | |||
| Chris Wilson | Defensive Ends | 2 | Zach Spavital | Defensive GA | 2 |
Chuck Long
Chuck Long is an American football coach. He played quarterback in college at Iowa for Hayden Fry and professionally with the Detroit Lions and the Los Angeles Rams. He is an inductee of the College Football Hall of Fame. In the January 2008 issue of San Diego Magazine he was chosen as one of...
left Oklahoma to take the head coaching job at San Diego State University
San Diego State University
San Diego State University , founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, is the largest and oldest higher education facility in the greater San Diego area , and is part of the California State University system...
. Stoops chose somebody already on the staff to fill Long's spot. Kevin Wilson was named the new offensive coordinator after previously serving as the co-offensive coordinator along with Long as well as the offensive line coach. Rejoining the staff was former Sooner quarterback Josh Heupel, who led Oklahoma to the 2000 National Championship. Heupel had served two years as a graduate assistant before taking a position with Mike Stoops
Mike Stoops
Michael J. Stoops is a former American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the University of Arizona, a position he held from 2003 until his firing in 2011. Stoops previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, and the...
, Bob Stoops's brother, at the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
in 2005. Heupel took over Long's old position of quarterback coach. Leaving the staff was Darrell Wyatt who spent four years as the wide receivers coach. He took a position with the NFL's Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
. This move launched another reshuffle of duties on Stoops's staff. Coach Kevin Sumlim took over Wyatt's duties with the wide receivers and was also named co-offensive coordinator with Wilson. Coach James Patton was hired on from Northwestern to take over Wilson's duties with the offensive line.
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The Sooners began their season on September 2 against the UAB Blazers coached by Watson BrownWatson Brown
Lester Watson Brown is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at Tennessee Technological University, a position he has held since 2007...
. The Sooners' offense performed well with quarterback Thompson completing 58% of his passes for 227 yards. Heisman hopeful Adrian Peterson performed well also, rushing for 139 yards, plus an additional 69-yard reception and two touchdown
Touchdown
A touchdown is a means of scoring in American and Canadian football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone.-Description:...
s. However, the Oklahoma defense did not perform as well as expected, giving up over 300 yards offense. Even Coach Stoops believes "they weren't nearly as good as they were billed to be." Nevertheless, Oklahoma avoided another opening game upset and won 24–17.
University of Washington
On September 9, the Sooners took on the Huskies of Washington coached by Tyrone WillinghamTyrone Willingham
Lionel Tyrone "Ty" Willingham is a former American football player and coach. He was the head coach at Stanford University , the University of Notre Dame , and the University of Washington , compiling a career college football record of 76–88–1.-Early career:Willingham attended...
. Washington began with the ball and on the opening offensive play, Kenny James squeezed through Oklahoma's line and dodged Keenan Clayton's tackle to race 54 yards for a touchdown. For the remainder of the first half, Oklahoma and Washington traded scores. Before the end of the 1st quarter, Paul Thompson hit wide receiver Malcolm Kelly in the back of the endzone to tie the game 7–7. Washington answered with a field goal early in the 2nd quarter and Oklahoma and Washington continued to trade field goals to end the 1st half tied 13–13. Oklahoma, however, came out strong in the second half and took the game away from the Huskies. Oklahoma scored 24 consecutive points before Washington scored a late-game touchdown to bring the final score in favor of Oklahoma 37–20.
Adrian Peterson continued his march up the Oklahoma record books with 165 rushing yards. Peterson was named the Big 12's Offensive Player of the Week for his performance. Quarterback Paul Thompson improved over his season debut, going 21-for-33 including 9-for-11 in the second half. Some began to see the emergence of "dynamic trio" in Thompson, Peterson, and Kelly.
University of Oregon
Heading into the game against Mike BellottiMike Bellotti
Robert Michael "Mike" Bellotti is a college football analyst for ESPN and ABC. A native of California, he was hired as football offensive coordinator by the University of Oregon in 1989. From 1995 to 2009, he was the head coach of the Oregon Ducks football team...
's Oregon Ducks
Oregon Ducks
The Oregon Ducks refers to the sports teams of the University of Oregon, located in Eugene, Oregon. The Oregon Ducks are part of the Pacific-12 Conference in the Division 1 of the NCAA. With seventeen varsity teams, the Oregon Ducks are best known for their football team and Track and Field...
, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Brent Venables made some major changes to the defensive depth chart after giving up four long running plays through the heart of the defensive line against Washington. The starters at defensive tackle, cornerback, and strong safety were all demoted, opening opportunities for some freshmen to step up. D.J. Wolfe was replaced by Marcus Walker at cornerback while senior Jason Carter started in place of Keenan Clayton at strong safety. Carter replaced Clayton in the game against Washington after a missed tackle by the freshman led to a Husky touchdown on their first offensive play. Even though all four players at defensive tackle had almost the same number of plays, Steven Coleman was moved off the top of the depth chart as well.
After a controversial ending, the Oregon Ducks defeated the Oklahoma Sooners 34–33 giving Oklahoma their first loss of the season and making their record 2–1. Oklahoma led Oregon by 13 points late in the game, but Oregon scored a touchdown with 72 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 27–33 in favor of Oklahoma. Oregon then tried for an onside kick
Onside kick
In American and Canadian football, an onside kick is a type of kick used at a kickoff or other free kick, or scrimmage kick or other kick during play, in which the ball is kicked favorably for the kicking team to avoid giving away the ball...
and was awarded the ball by the officiating crew despite an Oklahoma player ending up with the ball and over the protests of the Oklahoma sideline who claimed that the ball did not travel the
required 10 yards before being touched by Oregon. The instant replay
Instant replay
Instant replay is the replaying of video footage of an event or incident very soon after it has occurred. In television broadcasting of sports events, instant replay is often used during live broadcast, to show a passage of play which was important or remarkable, or which was unclear on first...
officials took several minutes to review the call while the on-air commentators came to the conclusion that the ball should go to Oklahoma, effectively giving Oklahoma the win as well. The officials, however, awarded the ball to Oregon. ESPN
ESPN
Entertainment and Sports Programming Network, commonly known as ESPN, is an American global cable television network focusing on sports-related programming including live and pre-taped event telecasts, sports talk shows, and other original programming....
called the decision an "obvious mistake". The network also questioned the Pacific 10 Conference (Pac-10) policy of using conference officiating crews for inter-conference games. Other conferences typically use neutral officials or ones from the visiting team's conference, although Big 12 officials were used for Oklahoma's non conference games against UAB and the University of Washington. The Oregon offense then drove the field and scored the go ahead touchdown making the score 34–33.
Oklahoma President David Boren wrote a letter to Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg asking for the loss to be erased from Oklahoma's record, something that Weiberg did not support. Weiberg did say that he would raise concerns about the Pac-10 policy of using their own officials for inter-conference games in Pac-10 stadiums. Stoops said that he may cancel the 2008 game scheduled at Washington if the Pac-10 officiating policy is not changed.
The Pac-10 conference suspended the entire officiating crew, including both on-field and instant-reply officials, for one game. The replay official, Gordon Riese
Gordon Riese
Gordon Riese is a former college baseball pitcher in the 1960s who was inducted into the Portland State University Hall of Fame in 1997. He has spent the last 28 years as a Pac-10 Conference football official...
, requested and was granted a leave of absence for the remainder of the season. Reise was quoted as saying, "I feel so bad I missed that call, it's driving me crazy," and that he was "struggling" with his mistake. On-field official David Cutaia had his suspension delayed so that he could officiate the September 23 game between the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
and the University of Arizona
University of Arizona
The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...
due to a shortage of Pac-10 conference officials.
Arizona is coached by Mike Stoops
Mike Stoops
Michael J. Stoops is a former American football coach and former player. He was the head football coach at the University of Arizona, a position he held from 2003 until his firing in 2011. Stoops previously served as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa, Kansas State University, and the...
, the brother of the Oklahoma head coach. Mike Stoops said he felt it "was ridiculous that they couldn't get all of the angles. It was pretty obvious, and not to see that Oklahoma had recovered those were just errors that are the fundamentals of refereeing," He says he favors changing the Pac-10 rules so that out-of-conference officials will be brought in for non-conference games.
Those calling for move from conference-paid officials to officials working in a national pool included Texas Longhorns
Texas Longhorn Athletics
Texas Longhorns athletics programs include the extramural and intramural sports teams of The University of Texas at Austin. These teams are referred to as the Texas Longhorns , taking their name from the Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and are now the...
coach Mack Brown
Mack Brown
William Mack Brown is head coach of The University of Texas at Austin Longhorn football team.Prior to his head coach position at Texas, Brown was head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, and North Carolina. Brown is credited with revitalizing the Texas and North Carolina football programs...
. His defending national championship team
2006 Texas Longhorn football team
The 2006 Texas Longhorn football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head football coach was Mack Brown, who received the 2006 Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for "Coach of the Year". The Longhorns play their home games in...
was called for a record number of penalties in a game against Rice. Brown said "You find when you go outside your league sometimes, people call things differently than our league... Believe it or not, there are still a lot of different interpretations that make it uncomfortable some during a ballgame." Less supportive of Oklahoma was Bob Knight, head basketball
Basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or "shooting" a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules...
coach of the Texas Tech Red Raiders
Texas Tech Red Raiders
The Texas Tech Red Raiders are the athletic teams that represent Texas Tech University . The women's basketball team uses the name Lady Raiders; however, the school's other women's teams use the "Red Raiders" name. The university's athletic program fields teams in 15 varsity sports and 30 club sports...
. Knight had called for Oklahoma to forfeit its basketball game against Tech in 2003, when the Sooners won 69–64 because of two bad timekeeping decisions. The controversial Knight stated "...[H]ad Oklahoma forfeited that game against us like I suggested, they would have gotten far more positive publicity out of that than if they had gone to the Final Four that year. Now I guess the 'duck' is swimming in the other pond."
Middle Tennessee State University
The Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (2–1) were relatively new to Division I-FBS having joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2000 after one year as an independent. Oklahoma and the Blue Raiders had not played against each other before. The Blue Raiders' star players (linebacker J.K. Sabb, a Butkus AwardDick Butkus Award
The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football...
hopeful at the beginning of the season, and quarterback Clint Marks, who was on the list for the Davey O'Brien Award
Davey O'Brien Award
The Davey O'Brien Award, officially the Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award, named after Davey O'Brien, is presented annually to the collegiate American football player adjudged by the Davey O'Brien Foundation to be the best of all National Collegiate Athletic Association quarterbacks. The...
) had mixed results against their counterparts from Oklahoma. Marks ended the day 3-for-9 with 40 yards and an interception, but Sabb was able to make a game-high 6 solo tackles with four tackles for loss. Other than linebacker's coach Art Kaufman, all of the Middle Tennessee coaches were in their first year at the school (including head coach Rick Stockstill
Rick Stockstill
-External links:* at GoBlueRaiders.com...
).
Malcolm Kelly broke a school record for receiving yards in a quarter that had stood since 1962 when he pulled down 134 yards in the first. He ended the day with 164 yards on 5 receptions and one touchdown. Adrian Peterson gained 128 yards on 27 carries and did not play after Oklahoma's first possession of the second half. Coach Stoops forced him to sit out because of the chance that "something freakish could happen" and he would be unavailable for the game against Texas. Paul Thompson had a good day as well, throwing 13-for-18 for 257 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, linebacker Zach Latimer and cornerback Nick Harris each had an interception; Latimer returned his 22 yards for a touchdown while Harris was pushed out at the one-yard line.
Oklahoma had 462 total yards of offense (272 through the air, 190 on the ground) while limiting MTSU to only 95 total yards. The 59 point loss was the largest for the Blue Raiders since 1933.
University of Texas
The 2006 Texas Longhorn football team2006 Texas Longhorn football team
The 2006 Texas Longhorn football team represented the University of Texas at Austin in the 2006 NCAA Division I FBS football season. The team's head football coach was Mack Brown, who received the 2006 Paul "Bear" Bryant Award for "Coach of the Year". The Longhorns play their home games in...
and the Sooners met at the Cotton Bowl
Cotton Bowl (stadium)
The Cotton Bowl is a stadium which opened in 1929 and became known as "The House That Doak Built" due to the immense crowds that former SMU running back Doak Walker drew to the stadium during his college career in the late 1940s. Originally known as Fair Park Stadium, it is located in Fair Park,...
in Dallas
Dallas, Texas
Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...
for their annual rivalry game known as the Red River Rivalry
Red River Rivalry
The Red River Rivalry, commonly known as the OU-Texas Game or Texas-OU Game, is an American college football rivalry game played annually by the Oklahoma Sooners football team of the University of Oklahoma and the Texas Longhorns football team of the University of Texas. The series is considered...
(previously called the Red River Shootout). This marked the 101st meeting between the schools. Texas came into the game leading the series 56–39–5 overall and 44–35–4 at the Cotton Bowl. In 2005, the Longhorns broke a 5-year losing streak on their way to win the national championship at the Rose Bowl
Rose Bowl Game
The Rose Bowl is an annual American college football bowl game, usually played on January 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California. When New Year's Day falls on a Sunday, the game is played on Monday, January 2...
against USC
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
As intense as the rivalry between the schools is, there were many factors that tied the programs together in 2006. Texas head coach Mack Brown
Mack Brown
William Mack Brown is head coach of The University of Texas at Austin Longhorn football team.Prior to his head coach position at Texas, Brown was head coach at Appalachian State, Tulane, and North Carolina. Brown is credited with revitalizing the Texas and North Carolina football programs...
was the Offensive Coordinator for the Sooners in 1984 (the Red River Shootout ended in a 15–15 tie that year). He is also the brother of UAB
University of Alabama at Birmingham
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is a public university in Birmingham in the U.S. state of Alabama. Developing from an extension center established in 1936, the institution became an autonomous institution in 1969 and is today one of three institutions in the University of Alabama System...
head coach Watson Brown, who lost to Oklahoma at the beginning of the 2006 season. Oklahoma Co-defensive Coordinator and defensive backs coach Bobby Jack Wright was an assistant coach at Texas from 1986 to '97. Oklahoma also had two Austin natives on their roster, QB Hays McEachern and WR Fred Strong. McEachern's father was the Texas quarterback in 1977 and 1978 and his mother was a Longhorn cheerleader.
There were few bright points for the Sooners after half-time in this installment of the Red River Rivalry. Though they held the Longhorns to only a single offensive yard in the second quarter, the defense gave up two big pass plays on Texas' first series of the third, including a 33-yard touchdown pass to Limas Sweed that broke the defense's will. The offense seemed equally under-motivated in the second half, going three-and-out on their opening drive. Oklahoma also committed numerous turnovers in the second half, including a bad lateral pass that turned into a Texas touchdown, and two interceptions by quarterback Paul Thompson.
Texas quarterback Colt McCoy
Colt McCoy
Daniel "Colt" McCoy is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Browns in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft...
had solid, albeit mediocre, numbers, but was central to the drive that put the Longhorns ahead for good. Bob Stoops said after the game that McCoy "managed the game for
Iowa State University
Both teams came into this game after losses the previous week. Iowa State dropped to 3–3 (0–2 Big 12) with a 28–14 loss to Nebraska in AmesAmes, Iowa
Ames is a city located in the central part of the U.S. state of Iowa in Story County, and approximately north of Des Moines. The U.S. Census Bureau designates that Ames, Iowa metropolitan statistical area as encompassing all of Story County, and which, when combined with the Boone, Iowa...
. There were three Cyclone touchdowns negated by the officials in that game (one called caught out of bounds, two on offensive penalties). Oklahoma lost to Texas for the second straight year in the Red River Rivalry in Dallas and was unable to mount a successful offensive drive for the entire second half. The Sooners also committed 11 penalties (a full third of their season total at the time) and five turnovers in that game. After equally disappointing weeks, both teams were looking to rebound.
Oklahoma held a significant advantage in contests between the schools with the series record at 65–5–2. Iowa State had not won in Norman since 1990 and had dropped nine straight games to the Sooners. The Cyclones' head coach Dan McCarney
Dan McCarney
-External links:* * * * *...
was 0–5 against Oklahoma while Bob Stoops was 3–0 against Iowa State and 22–3 against teams from the North Division of the Big 12.
Iowa State took some outstanding players to Norman, but in the end it was not enough to win. Quarterback Brent Meyer is the all-time leader in passing yards and total offense at ISU; he finished the season with the Cyclone record for career touchdowns as well. Meyer is complemented by wide receiver Todd Blythe who led the nation in career yards per catch (19.0) and was fifth on the career touchdown receptions list (25) before the game. ISU linebacker Alvin Bowen also led the nation in tackles per game this season and had 17 against Nebraska. The special teams of the Cyclones was led by Ryan Baum who was averaging 18.0 yards per punt return and has scored one touchdown.
A win by Oklahoma where they never trailed was marred by an injury to Adrian Peterson. At the end of a 53 yard run in the fourth quarter, Peterson dove into the end zone and, as Stoops put it, "when he landed, he landed wrong." The result was a broken collarbone that put him on the sideline for the remainder of the regular season. During the post-game press conference Stoops said, "the earliest
Other Sooners also had big days against Iowa State. Paul Thompson went 16 of 27 for 195 yards and two touchdowns, both to Malcolm Kelly. Kelly had a total of four receptions for 50 yards on the day while sophomore Manuel Johnson had four grabs for 48 yards. Linebacker Rufus Alexander pulled down his first interception of the season in the third quarter. Iowa State's only offensive points came on a 31-yard touchdown pass late in the first quarter from Meyer to standout receiver Todd Blythe.
University of Colorado
This week was homecoming for the Sooners, and there were some special celebrations planned. All season, Oklahoma had been remembering and recognizing the career of the late Prentice GauttPrentice Gautt
Prentice Gautt was a running back for the University of Oklahoma football team from 1956 to 1959. Gautt was the first black football player at the University of Oklahoma where he wore #38....
, the first African-American football player at the university. Gautt's jersey number (38) was not issued this season to any players and for the game against Colorado the 38 yard-line on both halves of the field was highlighted with crimson. This year also marked the 50th anniversary of the 1956 National Championship won by the Sooners. At least 34 members of that team were expected to attend the game, including former All-Americans
College Football All-America Team
The College Football All-America Team is an honor given annually to the best American college football players at their respective positions. The original usage of the term All-America seems to have been to the 1889 College Football All-America Team selected by Casper Whitney and published in This...
Bill Krisher, Tommy McDonald, and Clendon Thomas.
The series between Oklahoma and Colorado stands at 39–16–2 with the Sooners taking the advantage. Stoops is 5–1 against Colorado with a five-game winning streak. Before the first of those wins (in Norman on November 2, 2002) the Sooners dropped nine straight games to the Buffs, the most consecutive losses to a single opponent in the history of the program. Two of Stoops's wins over Colorado came in Big 12 Championship games (2002 and 2004). Colorado coach Dan Hawkins
Dan Hawkins (coach)
Dan Hawkins is a sportscaster and former American football player and coach in the United States. He served as the head football coach at Willamette University, Boise State University, and the University of Colorado at Boulder, compiling a career college football record of 112–61–1...
is in his first year at the school and had not coached against Oklahoma before.
From the beginning, this game went heavily in the Sooner's favor. Both defenses played well, but Oklahoma's squad was able to limit Colorado to only 113 total yards, 51 of which came on the Buff's only scoring drive late in the fourth quarter. Oklahoma's offense was also held down, totaling only 271 yards mostly on runs and short underneath passes. Allen Patrick, filling in for the injured Adrian Peterson, was the player of the game and was the first person all season to run for over 100 yards against Colorado. He managed 110 yards on 35 carries with one touchdown run early in the fourth. For 218 consecutive games across 18 years, the Buffaloes have not been shut out; kicker Mason Crosby saved the streak with a 39-yard field goal into the wind late in the game.
University of Missouri
Gary PinkelGary Pinkel
Gary Robin Pinkel is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the head football coach at the University of Missouri, a position he has held since the 2001 season. From 1991 to 2000, Pinkel coached at the University of Toledo, where his team won a Mid-American Conference...
's Missouri team is the surprise of the conference in 2006, having already matched their win total from last year. They shared the lead for the Big 12 North division with Nebraska (who they lost to November 4 in Lincoln). The Tigers won their homecoming game against Kansas State 41–21. The Sooners also won their homecoming game against Colorado by the score of 24–3. This was the beginning of a long road stretch for Oklahoma; they played four of their last five games on the road. This was the 91st meeting between the schools with the Sooners holding the advantage 63–23–5.
In the words of Coach Bob Stoops, the Sooners played "opportunistic" football against Missouri; converting four take-aways into 19 points (and adding a touchdown on a drive that saw new life after a "roughing the kicker" penalty) to beat the Tigers in Columbia. It was the first home loss of the season for Missouri and broke an eight-game home winning streak that stretched back in to the 2005 season.
Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel
Chase Daniel
William Chase Daniel is an American football quarterback for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League. He was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2009...
was 23 for 44 with 248 yards and no touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions. Daniel rushed 20 times for 75 yards and a TD while the rest of the Tiger's offense was only able to add one rushing yard on seven carries. The Sooners' QB Paul Thompson went 11 for 19 with two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also ran for 28 yards and a score while Allen Patrick added 162 yards on 36 carries. Meanwhile Malcolm Kelly
Malcolm Kelly
Malcolm Kelly is a professional American football wide receiver who is currently a free agent. He was drafted in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. He played college football at The University of Oklahoma.-Early years:Kelly attended Longview High School in...
became the fastest player in Oklahoma history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards, after only his 19th game.
Texas A&M University
This game was Bob Stoops's 100th as head coach at Oklahoma; it was also the 25th meeting between the programs. The Sooners hold a narrow 15–10 lead in the series, though A&M has won five of the eight played in College Station. The Sooners have won their last four games while the Texas A&M Aggies came in with a four-game winning streak.The two programs are very similar in their offensive philosophies. Texas A&M came in averaging a very balanced 213.7 yards per game rushing and 209.1 passing while the Sooners averaged 178.4 yards on the ground and 204.8 through the air. Oklahoma was surrendering an average of 36 fewer yards per game on defense.
The game started well for the Sooners. Allen Patrick had 101 yards on 14 carries and Oklahoma scored two touchdowns in the first quarter to A&M's one field goal. After Oklahoma failed to recover an early surprise onside kick, however, the Aggies closed the gap to 4 points with a scoring drive capped by a one yard rumble from running back Jorvorskie Lane
Jorvorskie Lane
Jorvorskie Javion Lane is an American football running back. He played tailback/fullback for the Texas A&M Aggies college football team. He played tailback during his freshman through junior seasons, and switched to fullback his senior season. He holds the school record for career rushing touchdowns...
. The defenses stiffened in the second half and both teams had to settle for field goals in the third and fourth quarters. In his second risky call of the game, Stoops had the Sooners attempt to convert a fourth-and-inches with 1:29 left to play and the ball almost to the offense's 30 yard line. The run by Thompson was successful but unnecessary as A&M was penalized for having too many men on the field and Oklahoma was able to run out the clock.
Paul Thompson had a disappointing day as he completed only three of his twelve passing attempts for a total of 39 yards. A&M's Stephen McGee was slightly better completing 8 of 18 for 63 yards, though he was picked off by Marcus Walker in the third quarter; Garrett Hartley kicked a field goal after the Sooners offense could not advance the ball after the turnover. The Aggies forced two fumbles of their own (one from Patrick and one from Thompson), but they were forced to punt after their own offense was also stymied. The player of the game was Allen Patrick; he finished the day with a career-high 173 yards on 32 carries and one touchdown, however, he suffered a sprained ankle during the last minutes of the game. Coach Wilson questioned whether he will be 100% for the next game. Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione
Dennis Franchione
Dennis Wayne Franchione , also known as Coach Fran, is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach at Texas State University, a position he held from 1990 to 1991, when the school was known as Southwest Texas State University, and resumed in 2011...
is now 0-4 against the Sooners.
Texas Tech University
Oklahoma played its last home game of the season against Texas Tech (coached by former Oklahoma assistant Mike Leach), and bade farewell to the smallest class of seniors in Stoops's tenure as head coach. The previous smallest class was 12 in 2001; this year there were eleven (nine on scholarship). During the pre-game ceremony, all the seniors and their families were introduced and the Don Key Award was presented to quarterback Paul Thompson. The series between the two schools is now 11–3 in favor of Oklahoma and the Red Raiders have not won in Norman in 11 years.With Adrian Peterson still recovering from breaking his collar bone against Iowa State and Allen Patrick on the sideline in an ankle brace after suffering a late-game sprain the week before, many aspects of the offense were in doubt coming into this game. Paul Thompson responded by putting up a career-high 309 yards of passing, completing 24 of 31 attempts. True-freshman running back Chris Brown also stepped up to the challenge and ran for 84 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter; this was the first time in 16 games that a Sooner back did not run for over 100 yards.
The only serious injury of the game came when wide receiver Manuel Johnson was knocked unconscious after hitting helmets with Texas Tech defensive back Chris Parker. Johnson was unresponsive on the sidelines for about 35 seconds before he opened his eyes. He was taken to the hospital by ambulance, treated for "a real bad concussion," and kept overnight. According to Coach Stoops, Johnson would not play against Baylor, but he returned for the regular season finale.
Tech played well also, especially on defense where they were able to create four turnovers including Thompson's first interception in 99 pass attempts. Defensive back Antonio Huffman returned the pick 54 yards for a touchdown and put the Red Raiders up 24–10 late in the second quarter. Texas Tech was able to capitalize on the other take-aways as well, turning them into 14 more points and held the lead until the fourth quarter. Two missed field goals and a fired-up Sooner defense held the Red Raiders off, however, and the Sooners were able to put the game away with a two-yard touchdown run by Brown.
Baylor University
The Baylor game marked the beginning of a two-game stretch of road games to finish the season for Oklahoma. The Sooners traveled to Baylor in WacoWaco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
for the 16th meeting between the schools and the seventh at Floyd Casey Stadium. Oklahoma has never lost to the Bears, though the game in 2005 in Norman went into double-overtime. This was the last game of the season for Baylor; even with a win they would not be bowl-eligible.
Baylor's passing offense had been strong all year. This was the first time they had been held below 21 points in their last seven conference games and they have two wide receivers with over 50 catches each. Unfortunately for the Bears, their starting quarterback Shawn Bell suffered a season-ending injury against Texas A&M on October 28.
Paul Thompson had a career-high 309 passing yards against Texas Tech, including a string of 14 straight completions after throwing his sixth interception of the year. At the time, he was also sixth on the Oklahoma single-season touchdown passes list with 17 and eighth on the season passing yards list with 2,092.
The Sooner defense played extremely well in Waco, limiting Baylor to 148 total yards and -48 yards of rushing. That is the fewest yards Baylor has produced all season and their worst performance on the ground in the program's history; it is also the second-best performance by an Oklahoma defense ever. Defensive back Reggie Smith also pulled down two interceptions, returning the first one 42 yards for a touchdown.
Oklahoma was also unable to avoid turning the ball over, however, losing four fumbles and throwing one pick. Baylor set up a field goal on the first fumble by Smith after he failed to catch a punt return and Baylor's Braelon Davis returned a fumble by Chris Brown for a touchdown late in the game. Another fumble by Smith on a second return and one by Malcolm Kelly put premature ends to other Sooner drives.
Oklahoma State University
The Bedlam SeriesBedlam Series
The Bedlam Series refers to the athletics rivalry between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the Oklahoma State University Cowboys, of the Big 12 Conference...
between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State has been played all but two years since 1903 and is the most lopsided series between schools in the same state in the nation. Oklahoma holds a 78–16 advantage with 7 ties. This was the last game of the regular season and held major bowl implications for both programs. Head coach Mike Gundy
Mike Gundy
Mike Gundy is an American football coach and former player He is currently the head football coach at Oklahoma State University–Stillwater. Gundy played college football Oklahoma State, where he was the Cowboys quarterback from 1986 to 1989. Gundy became Oklahoma State's coach on January 3, 2005...
has managed to bring Oklahoma State to bowl-eligibility with six wins, but they were still not guaranteed a bowl berth. The Big 12 has eight contract bowl spots this year and nine bowl-eligible teams. Since teams with only six wins can only be selected for a bowl game after all available teams with seven or more have been selected, OSU needed Kansas to lose to Missouri to have any hope of a bowl game. After Missouri beat the Jayhawks 42–17, both Kansas and OSU had 6–6 records and the bowl selection committees would choose which team would be invited.
Aside from the rivalry and bowl implications, this game also decided who would represent the South Division at the Big 12 Championship Game in Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
. At the beginning of the week, Texas and Oklahoma were tied for the lead with Texas holding the tie-breaker due to their win in the Red River Shootout earlier in the year. However, since Texas lost to Texas A&M on November 24, the Sooner victory at State won the division outright and gave them the chance to play Nebraska for the Big 12 title and a spot in the Fiesta Bowl (awarded contractually to the Big 12 winner if they are not selected to play in the national championship game
BCS National Championship Game
The BCS National Championship Game, or BCS National Championship, is the final bowl game of the annual Bowl Championship Series and is intended by the organizers of the BCS to determine the U.S. national champion of the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision...
).
As with the previous five games, the absence of Adrian Peterson did not keep the Sooners from running the ball on the ground. Allen Patrick returned from missing the last two games with a sore ankle and put up 163 yards on 23 carries, including a 65-yard touchdown scamper to start the second half. Chris Brown had an additional 19 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns as Patrick's backup. At the end of the day, Paul Thompson only threw 11 passes, 7 completions for 77 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions, and Oklahoma had 238 yards of rushing.
Oklahoma State's passing attack was more active, with both Zach Robinson and Bobby Reid completing 8 passes (on 17 attempts for 149 yards for Robinson, 12 and 82 for Reid). However, they were still only able to connect for one touchdown (Reid to D'Jaun Woods in the fourth quarter) and Robinson missed high on a last-second "Hail Mary
Hail Mary pass
A Hail Mary pass or Hail Mary route in American football refers to any very long forward pass made in desperation with only a small chance of success, especially at or near the end of a half....
" that would have tied the game (the PAT
Extra Point
Extra Point is a twice-daily, two-minute segment on ESPN Radio that covers generic sports-related topical news and opinion. The AM edition airs Monday through Saturday at various times between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m. ET, and the PM edition airs Monday through Friday between 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET...
would have put the Cowboys up by one with only a few seconds left in the game). The Cowboys were also able to produce 119 yards and two touchdowns on the ground.
Big 12 Championship Game
Called "The Battle of the Big Reds", the rivalry between the University of Oklahoma and the University of Nebraska was one of the most heated contests of the old Big Eight ConferenceBig Eight Conference
The Big Eight Conference, a former NCAA-affiliated Division I-A college athletic association that sponsored football, was formed in January 1907 as the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association by its charter member schools: the University of Kansas, University of Missouri, University...
. Played every Thanksgiving weekend for 71 years (from 1927 to 1998), this contest produced many memorable games — including the Game of the Century in 1971. The rivalry has cooled somewhat since the creation of the Big 12 as Bill Callahan
Bill Callahan (football coach)
William E. Callahan is the Assistant Head Coach for the New York Jets. He was formerly the head coach of the Oakland Raiders for the 2002-2003 seasons and for the University of Nebraska for the 2004-2007 seasons....
's Nebraska Cornhuskers and Stoops's Oklahoma Sooners now split a home-and-home two of every four years.
This was only the fourth time that the teams had met at a neutral site. The last time was the 1979 Orange Bowl where the Sooners won 31–24. Oklahoma held the lead in the all-time series with 42 wins, 37 losses and 3 ties and had never lost to Nebraska on neutral turf (one 7–7 tie in 1919 in Omaha
Omaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
). Bob Stoops was 3–1 against Nebraska and had a two game winning streak; Callahan had never beaten Oklahoma.
This was the first time the two teams had met in the Big 12 Championship Game to determine the Big 12 Conference champion. Nebraska played in the championship game three of the first four years, winning in 1997 and 1999, but had not made it back since. Oklahoma missed the first four games but represented the South Division four of the next six years, topping the conference in 2000, 2002, and 2004. Oklahoma had the most appearances in the championship game (5) and conference titles (4) of any team in the Big 12.
Nebraska received the ball to start the game but Maurice Purify fumbled on the first play from scrimmage. Oklahoma recovered the ball at the Nebraska 2-yard-line and scored a touchdown to take the lead 7–0 with 48 seconds expired off the clock. It was the fastest score in Big 12 Championship Game history. With 5:35 left in the first quarter, Oklahoma's quarterback completed a touchdown pass to Malcolm Kelly to go up 14–0. With 4:37 left in the first half, Nebraska's Zach Taylor threw a touchdown pass and the extra point shaved Oklahoma's lead to 14–7, which was still the score as the game went to half-time.
At the start of the half, Oklahoma started with the ball but were unable to advance, as Nebraska recorded their first quarterback sack
Quarterback sack
In American football and Canadian football, a sack occurs when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage before he can throw a forward pass, or when the quarterback is tackled behind the line of scrimmage in the "pocket" and the intent of what he was going to do is unclear...
of the game and caused Oklahoma to go three-and-out and punt
Punt (football)
In some codes of football, a punt is a play in which a player drops the ball and kicks it before it touches the ground. A punt is in contrast to a drop kick, in which the ball touches the ground before being kicked....
. Later in the third quarter, Oklahoma used eleven plays, three minutes and 21 seconds, to go 99 yards and score a touchdown with 1:25 left in the third quarter. It was the longest scoring drive in Big 12 Championship history.
With 8:53 left in the game, Nebraska threw what was almost a touchdown pass, but Nic Harris
Nic Harris
Nic Harris is an American football linebacker for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the fifth round of the 2009 NFL Draft...
made a diving catch to intercept the ball in the end-zone for a touchback
Touchback
In American football, a touchback is a ruling which is made and signaled by an official when the ball becomes dead behind or above a goal line and the team who is attacking that goal line is responsible for the ball being there. Responsibility is determined by which team gave the ball the impetus...
. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter, so Oklahoma won the game 21–7. It was their fourth Big 12 Conference football championship, which is the most for any team in the conference (Nebraska and Texas each have two).
Fiesta Bowl
Since Oklahoma won the Big 12 Championship game, they represented the Big 12 Conference in the Fiesta Bowl
Fiesta Bowl
The Fiesta Bowl, now sponsored by Frito-Lay and named with their Tostitos brand, is a United States college football bowl game played annually at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Between its origination in 1971 and 2006, the game was hosted in Tempe, Arizona at Sun Devil...
in Glendale, Arizona
Glendale, Arizona
Glendale is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, located about nine miles northwest from Downtown Phoenix. According to 2010 Census Bureau, the population of the city is 226,721....
. Contractually, the Fiesta Bowl hosts the Big 12 Champion and then picks, from among the BCS eligible teams, the opponent. For 2007, the Fiesta Bowl picked Boise State
2006 Boise State Broncos football team
The 2006 Boise State Broncos football team represented Boise State University in the 2006 college football season. The Broncos won the Western Athletic Conference championship with an undefeated 12–0 regular-season record , their second unbeaten regular season in the past three years...
as Oklahoma's opponent for the Fiesta Bowl. The game took place on New Year's Day in the then-new University of Phoenix Stadium
University of Phoenix Stadium
University of Phoenix Stadium, opened August 1, 2006, is a multipurpose football stadium located in Glendale, Arizona. It is the home of the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League and the annual Fiesta Bowl...
, home of the Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
. The Broncos led the Sooners the majority of the game, but the Sooners made up an 18 point deficit late in the game and led by a touchdown with a minute left in regulation. With 18 seconds left, the Sooners had the Broncos in a fourth-and-18 situation from midfield, but were stunned when the Broncos executed a hook and lateral for the tying score. This would be only the first of three Boise State trick plays that helped elevate this game to epic status.
The Sooners had the ball first in overtime, with Peterson scoring on their first play. Boise State then drove the ball toward the goal line, but faced fourth-and-goal from the 2. They then sent quarterback Jared Zabransky
Jared Zabransky
Jared Zabransky is a former professional football player, a quarterback in the National Football League and the Canadian Football League. He was signed by the Houston Texans of the NFL as an undrafted free agent in 2007, and played two seasons for the Edmonton Eskimos of the CFL in 2009 and 2010...
into motion and snapped to backup wide receiver Vinny Peretta, who ran an option pass and found Derek Schouman in the end zone. The Broncos chose to go for the two-point conversion and the win instead of kicking for the tie. They then ran a Statue of Liberty play
Statue of Liberty play
The Statue of Liberty is a trick play in American football, occasionally seen in high school football, college football and the NFL.-Execution of the play:...
, with Zabransky faking a pass to the right side and handing the ball behind his back to Ian Johnson
Ian Johnson (American football)
-Minnesota Vikings:He ran the fastest 40 yard dash time for a running back at the 2009 NFL Combine with a 4.46. He was signed as a free agent with the Minnesota Vikings. In Week 4 of the Preseason Johnson ran for 2 touchdowns in 17 carries against the Dallas Cowboys...
, who ran left and entered the end zone untouched, giving the Broncos a stunning 43–42 win.
Post season
Several players for the Sooners were also honored. Oklahoma junior kicker Garrett Hartley was named a finalist for the Lou Groza Award
Lou Groza Award
The Lou Groza Award is presented annually to the top college football placekicker in the United States by the Palm Beach County Sports Commission. The award is named after former Ohio State Buckeyes and Cleveland Browns player Lou Groza.-Winners:...
. Oklahoma senior linebacker Rufus Alexander was named the AT&T All-Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year. He is the third Oklahoma player to earn this honor, following Teddy Lehman
Teddy Lehman
Teddy Lehman is an American football linebacker for the Las Vegas Locomotives of the United Football League. He was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the second round of the 2004 NFL Draft...
in 2003 and Roy Williams
Roy Williams (safety)
Roy Lee Williams is a retired American football safety. He played college football at Oklahoma before he was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys eighth overall in the 2002 NFL Draft. He spent seven seasons with the Cowboys and earned five straight Pro Bowl selections from 2003–2007...
in 2001. Many of Oklahoma's players were also named to the All-Big 12 First and Second Team:
|
|
|
Oklahoma's lone All-American this year was linebacker Rufus Alexander. He was given first team All-American status by the American Football Coaches Association.
The 2007 NFL Draft
2007 NFL Draft
The 2007 National Football League Draft took place at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on April 28 and April 29, 2007. The draft was televised for the 28th consecutive year on ESPN and ESPN2. The NFL Network also broadcast coverage of the event, its second year doing so...
took place in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on April 29 and April 30, 2007. Three players from the team were selected during the two day draft. Adrian Peterson was the first to go. He was the seventh selection of the draft and was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
. Peterson was the highest Sooner drafted since Cedric Jones
Cedric Jones (defensive lineman)
Cedric Lewis Jones is a former American football defensive end in the National Football League for the New York Giants, who played in Super Bowl XXXV. He played college football at the University of Oklahoma and was drafted in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft...
was drafted as the fifth pick in 1996. There was a long wait between Oklahoma's first player to go and the second. Rufus Alexander was also picked by the Vikings as their sixth round selection (pick 176). In the seventh and last round, C.J. Ah You was selected by the Buffalo Bills
Buffalo Bills
The Buffalo Bills are a professional football team based in Buffalo, New York. They are currently members of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
(pick 239).
Season notes
- The Sooners adopted a different jersey design in 2006, which included the removal of the players' last names from the back of the jersey due to the design of the uniform's shoulders and back, and a darker crimson color for the jersey and helmet.
- Adrian Peterson finished his last season at Oklahoma with 1,012 yards. This brought his career total to 4,045 which places him third all-time at Oklahoma. He will remain 26 yards behind Joe WashingtonJoe WashingtonJoe Dan Washington, Jr is a former American football running back in the National Football League for the San Diego Chargers, Baltimore Colts, Washington Redskins, and Atlanta Falcons.-Early career:...
and 73 yards behind Billy SimsBilly SimsBilly Sims is a former college football and NFL running back. He won the Heisman Trophy in 1978.-Early years:...
.
| Poll | Pre | Wk 1 | Wk 2 | Wk 3 | Wk 4 | Wk 5 | Wk 6 | Wk 7 | Wk 8 | Wk 9 | Wk 10 | Wk 11 | Wk 12 | Wk 13 | Wk 14 | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AP | #10 | #15 | #15 | #17 | #16 | #14 | #23 | #20 | #19 | #18 | #17 | #16 | #13 | #8(t) | #7 | #11 |
| Coaches | #5 | #10 | #11 | #16 | #16 | #13 | #22 | #20 | #19 | #18 | #16(t) | #16 | #14 | #10 | #8 | #11 |
| BCS | Not released | #22 | #19 | #18 | #17 | #17 | #15 | #12 | #10 | |||||||
Statistics
The Sooners led the conference in many defense statistics, including pass efficiency defense, scoring defense, total defense, and sacks allowed. They finished second in rushing defense. They also ranked in the top 20 nationally in all the above categories. The Sooners' weakness came on offense where they finished in the middle of the pack in the conference. The Sooners' rushing offense ranked third in the conference but passing offense ranked tenth, total offense eighth and passing efficiency sixth.Team
| class="wikitable" style="white-space:nowrap;"> | OU | Opp | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scoring | 424 | 242 | |
| Points per Game | 30.3(19th)* | 17.3 (19th)* | |
| First Downs | 257 | 209 | |
| Rushing | 110 | 85 | |
| Passing | 131 | 116 | |
| Penalty | 16 | 8 | |
| Total Offense | 5162 | 4020 | |
| Avg per Play | 5.8 | 4.7 | |
| Avg per Game | 368.7 | 287.1 (16th)* | |
| Fumbles-Lost | 33-22 | 23-14 | |
| Penalties-Yards | 69-521 | 77-579 | |
| Avg per Game | 37.2 | 41.4 |
Scores by quarter
Offense
| Name | GP | Att | Gain | Loss | Net | Avg | TD | Long | Avg/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peterson, Adrian | 7 | 188 | 1071 | 59 | 1012 | 5.4 | 12 | 53 | 144.6 |
| Patrick, Allen | 12 | 169 | 789 | 28 | 761 | 4.5 | 4 | 65 | 63.4 |
| Brown, Chris | 5 | 70 | 355 | 12 | 343 | 4.9 | 6 | 40 | 68.6 |
| Gutierrez, Jacob | 13 | 46 | 226 | 7 | 219 | 4.8 | 0 | 15 | 16.8 |
| Thompson, Paul | 14 | 71 | 275 | 124 | 151 | 2.1 | 3 | 27 | 10.8 |
| Johnson, Manuel | 12 | 2 | 13 | 0 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 | 9 | 1.1 |
| Iglesias, Jauquin | 14 | 2 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 3.0 | 0 | 4 | 0.4 |
| Strong, Fred | 9 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 5.0 | 0 | 5 | 0.6 |
| TEAM | 10 | 8 | 0 | 30 | |||||
| 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Total | 14 | 557 | 2740 | 260 | 2480 | 4.5 | 25 | 65 | 177.1 (17th)* |
| Name | GP | Effic | Cmp | Att | Int | Pct | Yds | TD | Lng | Avg/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thompson, Paul | 14 | 142.45 | 204 | 336 | 11 | 60.7 | 2667 | 22 | 73 | 190.5 |
| Halzle, Joey | 2 | 113.00 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 50.0 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 7.5 |
| McEachern, Hays | 13 | 0.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| TEAM | 10 | 0.00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 14 | 141.44 | 205 | 340 | 11 | 60.3 | 2682 | 22 | 73 | 191.6 |
| Name | GP | No. | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | Avg/G |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kelly, Malcolm | 14 | 62 | 993 | 16.0 | 10 | 73 | 70.9 |
| Iglesias, Juaquin | 14 | 41 | 514 | 12.5 | 2 | 37 | 36.7 |
| Johnson, Manuel | 12 | 36 | 378 | 10.5 | 3 | 32 | 31.5 |
| Finley, Joe Jon | 14 | 19 | 241 | 12.7 | 3 | 36 | 17.1 |
| Peterson, Adrian | 7 | 10 | 136 | 13.6 | 1 | 69 | 19.4 |
| Strong, Fred | 9 | 9 | 73 | 8.1 | 0 | 25 | 8.1 |
| Gresham, Jermaine | 13 | 8 | 161 | 20.1 | 1 | 41 | 12.4 |
| Zaslaw, Dane | 9 | 6 | 68 | 11.3 | 0 | 17 | 7.6 |
| Chaney, Quentin | 10 | 5 | 52 | 10.4 | 2 | 15 | 5.2 |
| Eldridge, Brody | 14 | 3 | 18 | 6.0 | 0 | 10 | 1.3 |
| Tennell, Adron | 12 | 2 | 26 | 13.0 | 0 | 15 | 2.2 |
| Pleasant, Ian | 12 | 2 | 13 | 6.5 | 0 | 11 | 1.1 |
| Smith, Reggie | 14 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 12 | 0.9 |
| Gutierrez, Jacob | 13 | 1 | |||||
| 0 | 0 | ||||||
| Total | 14 | 205 | 2682 | 13.1 | 22 | 73 | 191.6 |
Defense
| Name | GP | Tackles | Sacks | Pass Defense | Interceptions | Fumbles | Blkd Kick |
||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | Ast | Total | TFL-Yds | No-Yds | BrUp | QBH | No.-Yds | Avg | TD | Long | Rcv-Yds | FF | |||
| Alexander, Rufus | 14 | 75 | 43 | 118 | 12.0-43 | 3.5-25 | 3 | 3 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2-0 | 4 | 0 |
| Latimer, Zach | 14 | 44 | 40 | 84 | 10.0-33 | 2.0-18 | 6 | 3 | 3-23 | 7.7 | 1 | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Harris, Nic | 14 | 40 | 28 | 68 | 7.0-42 | 2.5-11 | 8 | 5 | 4-11 | 2.8 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Williams, Darien | 13 | 40 | 27 | 67 | 4.5-24 | 2.0-18 | 6 | 2 | 1-35 | 35.0 | 0 | 35 | 1-0 | 2 | 0 |
| Holmes, Lendy | 14 | 24 | 18 | 42 | 6.0-19 | 1.0-9 | 7 | 1 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2-0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ah You, C.J. | 14 | 25 | 16 | 41 | 8.5-48 | 4.0-42 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Smith, Reggie | 14 | 30 | 11 | 41 | 3.5-6 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3-94 | 31.3 | 1 | 52 | 1-8 | 0 | 0 |
| Birdine, Larry | 14 | 17 | 22 | 39 | 7.5-23 | 3.0-17 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Lofton, Curtis | 14 | 20 | 17 | 37 | 4.5-10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 |
| Baker, Lewis | 14 | 24 | 10 | 34 | 1.0-2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 |
| Walker, Marcus | 14 | 19 | 13 | 32 | 0.5-2 | 0.5-2 | 9 | 0 | 3-56 | 18.7 | 1 | 33 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 |
| Thibodeaux, Calvin | 14 | 14 | 17 | 31 | 7.5-19 | 1.0-2 | 1 | 5 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-0 | 1 | 0 |
| Bennett, Cory | 14 | 14 | 15 | 29 | 2.5-7 | 0.5-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carter, Jason | 12 | 15 | 11 | 26 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| Granger, DeMarcus | 14 | 7 | 13 | 20 | 4.0-9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Wolfe, D.J. | 14 | 10 | 8 | 18 | 0.5-1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1-4 | 4.0 | 0 | 4 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 |
| Coleman, Steven | 14 | 6 | 10 | 16 | 5.0-43 | 3-38 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Clayton, Keenan | 13 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 0.5-1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pleasant, Demarrio | 13 | 6 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2-0 | 0 | 0 |
| Pendleton, Carl | 13 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 2.5-6 | 1.0-1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Dotson, Alonzo | 11 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 2.0-19 | 2.0-19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Gutierrez, Jacob | 13 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jackson, Brian | 5 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Patrick, Allen | 12 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Williams, John | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Caleb, Brandon | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Eldridge, Brody | 14 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bowers, Brett | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Carter, Quinton | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Finley, Joe Jon | 14 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0 |
| Johnson, Manuel | 12 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Kelly, Malcolm | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Peterson, Adrian | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shaw, Derek | 13 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Thompson, Paul | 14 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | 14 | 466 | 349 | 815 | 89-357 | 26-203 | 61 | 34 | 18-223 | 12.4 | 3 | 52 | 14-8 | 13 | 2 |
Special teams
| Name | Punting | Kickoffs | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Yds | Avg | Long | TB | FC | I20 | Blkd | No. | Yds | Avg | TB | OB | |
| Cohen, Michael | 51 | 2091 | 41.0 | 75 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 0 | |||||
| Knall, Mike | 11 | 369 | 33.5 | 42 | 1 | 2 | 9 | 0 | |||||
| Hartley, Garrett | 78 | 4810 | 61.7 | 31 | 3 | ||||||||
| Baublits, Blake | 6 | 304 | 50.7 | 0 | 0 | ||||||||
| Total | 62 | 2460 | 39.7 | 75 | 5 | 15 | 17 | 0 | 84 | 5114 | 60.9 | 31 | 3 |
| Name | Punt Returns | Kick Returns | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | No. | Yds | Avg | TD | Long | |
| Carter, Jason | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Iglesias, Juaquin | 14 | 363 | 25.9 | 1 | 88 | |||||
| Johnson, Manuel | 2 | 34 | 17.0 | 0 | 16 | |||||
| Peterson, Adrian | 7 | 162 | 23.1 | 0 | 59 | |||||
| Smith, Reggie | 37 | 287 | 7.8 | 1 | 62 | 12 | 271 | 22.6 | 0 | 55 |
| TEAM | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | |||||
| Total | 38 | 299 | 7.9 | 1 | 62 | 37 | 844 | 22.8 | 1 | 88 |
Statistics from:
* National rankings:
Future NFL players
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