Oklahoma football: WHO put the ball in Tavon Austin’s hands?

OU took a 50-49 lead on West Virginia with 24 seconds left in the darndest game any of us ever saw, and still the outcome seemed in doubt. Because with Tavon Austin on the field, anything seemed possible for the Mountaineers.

Austin had rushed for 344 yards, caught passes for 82 more yards and was en route to 572 all-purpose yards, just seven shy of an NCAA record. And in those final 24 seconds, a coach put the ball in Austin’s hands.

That coach was not West Virginia’s Dana Holgorsen. That coach was Bob Stoops.

West Virginia’s Tavon Austin (1) carries the ball as J.D. Woods (81) blocks Oklahoma’s Aaron Colvin (15) during the fourth quarter of their NCAA college football game against Oklahoma in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday, Nov. 17, 2012. Oklahoma won 50-49. (AP Photo/Christopher Jackson)

A wild and crazy game didn’t stop its wildness or its craziness after Landry Jones’ five-yard touchdown pass to Kenny Stills gave the Sooners the lead.

Stoops ordered a deep kickoff, which he knew would be fielded by Austin, a galloping ghost of a runner who on Saturday rarely was corralled by the Sooners. OU had kicked off eight times to that point; seven had been returned by Austin.

It seems madness to put the ball in the hands of a runner who had reeled off gains from scrimmage of 31, 74, 56, 54 and 47 yards.
But that’s what Stoops did.

“I didn’t even think about it,” Stoops said. His coaches asked him, and Stoops said he said, “Kick it deep. We’ve been covering ‘em. Gotta do it again.”

True enough. Austin had returned seven kickoffs for a total of 128 yards, an 18.3-yard average. Seven kickoffs is a lot of data. And sure enough, Austin returned that final kick 18 yards, to the West Virginia 23-yard line.