Special Sections

Backbreaker

OU extends win streak to 18, hands UT first loss

10/7/2001

By RANA L. CASH / The Dallas Morning News

So this is how you go about defending a national championship.

Run the option to perfection with your backup quarterback. Pound nails into the lid over your opponent's offense. You beat the team like a drum one year, then compound their emotional pain with yet a second convincing victory the next.

Oklahoma apparently knows exactly how to do it. The third-ranked Sooners added salt to Texas' open wound with a 14-3 win in front of a sold-out crowd of 75,587 at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday.

With the victory, OU stretched its winning streak to 18 games and handed No. 5 Texas a loss for the second straight year. This was the first time both teams entered unbeaten and ranked in the top-five since 1984.

It affected the national scene, just as the game did this time, as Oklahoma improved to 5-0 and Texas, which lost 63-14 to OU last year, dropped to 4-1.

Texas scored the fewest points it has managed since losing to UCLA, 66-3, in 1997. It was a defensive battle for both teams, but when it counted most, OU got the better end of the fight.

That was especially true nearing the two-minute mark when a flying Oklahoma safety Roy Williams landed on Chris Simms as Simms attempted to pass. The ball fluttered into the arms of linebacker Teddy Lehman, who walked into the end zone for a 14-3 lead.

The Sooners capitalized on a handful of other UT mistakes and held steady when their own starter, quarterback Nate Hybl, left the game with a left shoulder injury. His backup, Jason White, came in, even ran the option and did not make errors along the way.

"Jason showed great leadership and toughness," OU coach Bob Stoops said. "He executed exceptionally well today coming off the bench. He had a solid game all around."

So did the OU defense. The results were paralyzing for Texas, and even more so with two minutes left in the game.

Safety Nathan Vasher, who also doubles Texas' punt returner, was fooled on an OU pooch punt. Vasher, who thought it was a pass off a fake field goal try, took possession of the ball on the 3-yard line and dropped to the ground. If the ball had gone into the end zone, it would have been a touchback and UT, down 7-3, would have gained possession at the 20 with three timeouts and 2:06 left.

On the next play, Williams burst through the Texas offensive line, leaping as high as he could.

"Coach had told me before not to jump," Williams said. "When I did it before, I left a gap open."

Williams didn't listen.

"I guess it's good we're not disciplined," Stoops joked.

"With two minutes left," Texas coach Mack Brown said, "we were planning on winning the game."

Then everything changed. Simms' attempt to turn it around quickly was futile. Williams intercepted the attempt, Simms' fourth of the game, across the middle, essentially ending the Longhorns' chances.

Texas can only hope that it hasn't derailed their season, too.

"We have to force some luck into the season now," coach Mack Brown said, "because we don't control our own destiny anymore. The only thing that we can do is make sure that we win out the rest of our games."

Texas went to a 3-4 defensive alignment and was improved, but so were the Sooners. However, Oklahoma moved the ball when it had to, even without Hybl who left the game in the first half with a shoulder injury after taking a hit from linebacker Everick Rawls.

In his absence, White was solid. He ran the option three times, pitching to Quentin Griffin for a 17-yard gain on fourth-and-2 from the 30, picked up 11 on a keeper and handed to Griffin for a 2-yard score to make it 7-0. OU held steady despite the fact that its usually reliable kicker, Tim Duncan, missed two field goals.

UT's field goal attempt from Dusty Mangum was blocked by Andre Woolfolk, but he did come back to score one from 27 yards out with 14 seconds left in the first half.

That was all Texas could muster. With a running game that picked up just 27 yards, UT was going nowhere.