BCS National Championship: Notebook - OU's Chris Brown shines — except in red zone
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Published: January 9, 2009
Brown shines — except in red zone
Carrying the rushing load in the wake of
DeMarco Murray's injury, OU
tailback Chris Brown had 110 yards on 22 carries.
But Brown's night was epitomized by a wild second quarter. On four consecutive runs, spread over two possessions, Brown rushed for 16, 14, 16 and 17 yards.
The latter run put OU on the
Florida 9-yard line. But Brown carried four straight plays after that, gaining 5, 3, 0 and minus-2 yards, tripped up on fourth down by defensive tackle
Davis Torrey.
“They bit down,” Brown said. “They stopped us.”
ROBINSON STRUGGLES
OU All-American
Duke Robinson had a rough series in the first quarter. On the end of Brown's 4-yard run for a first down, Robinson was called for a late-hit personal foul that sent the
Sooners back to the OU 42-yard line. Then a long
Sam Bradford pass to
Jermaine Gresham was nullified by holding on Robinson, which effectively ended the drive.
“We had an some opportunities to make a difference in the first half,” Stoops said. “Came up short.”
INTERCEPTION CENTRAL
Bradford entered the game with six interceptions thrown in 13 games. Florida quarterback
Tim Tebow entered with just two thrown in 13 games. But both
Heisman Trophy winners threw two each.
“When you're playing against good teams, it's going to happen,” OU coach
Bob Stoops said.
Stoops talked about Major Wright's interception at the end of the first half; Wright was the fourth Gator to touch the ball on the play, which included tips and bobbles.
“Just one of those things,” Stoops said. “The ball shoots up in the air. If the ball shoots down, we're good. That's just the way it goes.”
HARRIS, TEBOW SQUABBLE
Late in the game, with Florida's victory assured barring calamity, OU safety
Nic Harris rode quarterback Tim Tebow down after a 13-yard gain.
Tebow got up celebrating, walking deeper into OU territory. Harris took exception and got in Tebow's face. Tebow responded with the Gator chomp, the exaggerated vertical clapping hands. Harris did the Gator chomp, too, but officials flagged Tebow for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Earlier in the fourth quarter, Harris drew the ire of Florida fans when he tackled gimpy-legged
Percy Harvin at the end of a 12-yard run and twisted Harvin's ankle as Harris stood up.
After the game, Harris complimented Tebow: “He's one of those guys that you give him your best shot, he's going to get back up,” Harris said.
LOW-SCORING AFFAIR
The Sooners and
Gators combined for the first scoreless
BCS championship game first quarter since
Tennessee-Florida State in 1999 and the lowest-scoring first half (7-7) since OU led Florida State 6-0 at halftime in the
2001 Orange Bowl..
Bizarre, considering the two teams combined for 392 first-quarter points this season. It was the first time this season OU was held scoreless in an opening quarter.
HARVIN TAKES UP SLACK
Florida lost tailback
Chris Rainey to a gruesome-looking leg injury in the second quarter, when he was tackled on the sideline by OU linebacker
Keenan Clayton. But slotback Percy Harvin took up the slack.
Playing at less than 100 percent after late-season injury, Harvin had 122 yards on nine carries and caught five passes for 49 yards.
“Tim Tebow and Percy Harvin sparked our offense in the second half,” Gator coach
Urban Meyer said. “Percy had several big plays and showed what a tough guy he is, coming back from the injury.”
TEBOW THE CHEERLEADER
Tebow seemed to motivate the Gator crowd much of the game with cheerleading motions.
“I was trying to get us some momentum,” Tebow said. “We needed to get the crowd excited. At that point, I just kept fighting to make plays. I love being a Gator!”
ZONE BLITZ UP AND DOWN
In the first half, the zone blitz — in which the linemen drop back into pass coverage while teammates blitz from elsewhere — both helped and hurt OU. Tebow threw a touchdown pass when he scrambled against the zone blitz and had defensive tackle
Adrian Taylor coming up trying to chase him.
But in the second quarter, defensive tackle
Gerald McCoy made an interception off a Tebow throw over the middle.
BIG DAY FOR
GRESHAM
OU tight end Jermaine Gresham had a big night, with eight catches for 62 yards and two touchdowns. But on OU's final snap of the first half, first-and-goal from the Gator 6-yard line, Gresham was not on the field.
Stoops said he didn't know if Gresham had been injured on the previous play, in which Gresham was knocked out of bounds.
CHANEY JOINS CLUB
OU senior flanker
Quentin Chaney comes to play in bowl games. Chaney had two catches for 37 yards against Florida. He joined Iglesias and
Corey Warren as the only Sooners ever to finish with more than 200 yards receiving in a bowl career.
PLEASE PUNT
A strange sequence occurred in the third quarter, with OU facing fourth-and-4 and lined up to punt. The Sooners called timeout just before the ball was snapped to
Mike Knall, who went ahead and (poorly) punted. After the timeout, OU was called for a false-start penalty in punt formation. Then just before another punt, Florida called timeout.
Finally, on the fourth attempt to have a regulation punt, we found out what all the concern was about. The Gators rushed Knall, who got the punt away and was roughed, drawing a penalty that gave OU a first down.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
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