Oklahoma football: No. 12 OU wins 24-17 at TCU for Big 12 share

On the repeated third down, Boykin hit Boyce with a 7-yard completion that set up the deciding fourth down — Oklahoma's third in three weeks.

At West Virginia, Landry Jones smoothly called an audible and hit Kenny Stills for a game winning touchdown with 24 seconds left.

In Bedlam, Blake Bell rumbled into the end zone to tie the score with 4 seconds left in regulation and force overtime.

Saturday in Fort Worth, though, it was the much-maligned defense — which had allowed 97 points in consecutive weeks — that came through in the clutch.

“The play was big,” Jefferson said. “It meant I had another Big 12 championship. I was on the team in 2010, and I was excited to make the fans proud and see all the coaches and players excited. There's no better feeling.”

Now, the Sooners must wait for the result from Kansas State's regular-season finale against Texas to find out if the Big 12 title will be theirs outright or shared with KSU, which beat OU in Norman in September.

The Wildcats would earn the Big 12's automatic berth to a BCS bowl game because of their head-to-head win, but even in that scenario, Oklahoma is surely BCS-bound — heading either to the Sugar Bowl to face a likely tilt with No. 4 Florida, or the Fiesta Bowl, probably against No. 5 Oregon.

“It's kind of fitting that you win as a team,” said OU coach Bob Stoops. “The last two weeks, the offense has been on the field at the end of the game to win it. This time, it was the defense on the field to get a four downs and out to win the game.

“I would have much preferred not to give up a big pass ahead of that. But that's how we've been doing things, making things exciting, I guess.”