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Sun October 7, 2007

OU Notebook

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Turnovers were the difference again
A year ago at the Cotton Bowl, Oklahoma committed five turnovers and lost.

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On Saturday, Texas suffered the same fate. The Longhorns only turned the ball over twice, but both came in Oklahoma territory, squelching possible scoring drives.

Oklahoma failed to turn either turnover into points, but used the momentum swing to keep control of the game.

Texas running back Jamaal Charles fumbled inside the 5-yard line and Reggie Smith intercepted Colt McCoy at the OU 28 after a high pass slipped through the fingers of Charles.

OU coach Bob Stoops downplayed the importance of Smith's interception, because his team was unable to capitalize on it.

"I guess it had a chance to be huge,” he said. "Then we had two penalties to follow it up and end up punting. So it didn't end up being all that big a deal, I guess.”

•Costly penalties: Oklahoma was penalized nine times for 87 yards Saturday, but two of those penalties cost the Sooners almost as much yardage.

In the first quarter, a 34-yard completion to tight end Jermaine Gresham was nullified by a holding call.

In the fourth quarter, DeMarco Murray zipped around the left end for a 39-yard run to the Texas 11, but a holding penalty again eliminated the gain.

While the Sooners recovered to score a touchdown after the first penalty, they could not add to their 28-21 lead after Murray's run was wiped out.

•Chiles not a factor: After using him in a variety of ways last week, Texas backup quarterback John Chiles did not make an impact Saturday, and played very little.

The freshman quarterback lined up as a running back and a wide receiver at times a week ago. On Saturday, he only registered one rush for four yards.

•Final seconds: Thanks to a late holding call on Texas, Oklahoma got out of Saturday's game without having to defend a final-second Hail Mary by the Longhorns.

McCoy completed a pass to Nate Jones to the OU 44-yard line, but by rule, a penalty in the final minute results in 10 seconds being run off the clock.

Since less than 10 seconds remained at the time of the penalty, the game was over.

•Why a field goal? Moments before Texas' last effort, Stoops ordered a 38-yard field goal attempt by Garrett Hartley with 23 seconds left and the Sooners facing fourth-and-7. Hartley missed wide left, and Texas got off two plays in the final seconds.

"If he makes it, the game's over,” Stoops said. "And I felt he would make it. And if he missed it, they're still down there on the 20-yard line.”

•Hammering away: Until Murray unleashed a 65-yard touchdown run late in the third quarter, OU's running game had been meager: 64 yards on 23 carries by the tailbacks.

"If you don't stick with it and keep hammering, you don't have that play,” Stoops said of Murray's TD. "Those are things that get to a defense.”

•Veteran play: Murray, the Sooners' freshman running back, could have gained a few extra yards had he pushed toward the sideline on a rush late in the fourth quarter.

But with less than four minutes left, Murray turned upfield and slid to the ground, allowing the clock to keep running — a heads-up play for a youngster in a big game.

•And many more: Oklahoma free safety Nic Harris couldn't have envisioned a much better 21st birthday. The Alexandria, La., native turned 21 Saturday and celebrated with the first victory over Texas in his three seasons at OU.

Harris had a team-high eight tackles and one quarterback sack.

•Nice drive: It's hard to imagine a quarterback having a better drive than OU's Sam Bradford did in the Sooners' final series of the first quarter.

The redshirt freshman was 5-of-5 passing for 95 yards and a 1-yard touchdown to Gresham. Bradford also had a 34-yard completion to Gresham nullified by a holding penalty.

By Scott Wright and Berry Tramel

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