Oklahoma stifles Oregon 31-7 in steamy Norman
NORMAN, Okla. – A week ago Oregon gave the game away against Indiana. Second-ranked Oklahoma just went out and took it from the Ducks Saturday.
The Sooners (2-0) limited the typically high-scoring Ducks (0-2) to just one touchdown for the first time in six years and won 31-7 in front of 84,574 at Gaylord Family–Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
“We underachieved,” said Ducks quarterback Kellen Clemens. “We’re not playing to our potential.”
Potential had the Ducks ranked in the preseason Top 25. Reality has them 0-2 for the first time since 1992; reality and some untimely miscues that continue to derail the offense.
Against Oklahoma the Ducks showed the potential to move the ball. They even rolled the dice on a fake punt and got 25 yards to keep a drive alive. But that drive ended in a bobbled snap on a field goal. Another drive in the fourth quarter resulted in a blocked field goal.
“Those are points we needed,” said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti.
Especially considering at the time the Sooners were up 24-7 and the clock was slowly ticking away.
“Offensively we need to finish when we have the opportunities to score,” said Clemens, who was 24 of 35 for 179 yards with a touchdown. “The penalties and the sacks – they hurt us.”
One of the other things that hurt Oregon was the inability to stop Oklahoma running back Adrian Peterson. The true freshman went for 183 yards on 24 carries with touchdowns of 40 and 18 yards. It was Peterson’s third straight game of 100 or more rushing yards.
“He wasn’t afraid to lower his shoulder and get the extra yards,” said Oregon linebacker Jerry Matson. “He played like an Oklahoma back should.”
Which is to say Peterson went in between the tackles, bounced to the outside and ran over just about anything in his way.
“We were just going to go out there and wear them down,” said Peterson. “Just keep on pushing and pushing.”
Eventually, Peterson pushed the Ducks over the edge. At the end of the third quarter he went for a 40-yard touchdown over the left side to make the score 24-7. Late in the fourth, Peterson got through the line, executed a spin move and went 18 yards for another touchdown.
“He’s breaking tackles and he’s finding the right seams and he’s finding some things that are hard to see,” said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. “So he’s been strong that way.”
Sooners quarterback Jason White may not have played like a returning Heisman Trophy winner, but he was an efficient 17 of 23 for 213 yards and a touchdown.
“He is disciplined and efficient,” said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops. “You watch college football and not everyone has a quarterback who is that dependable and fortunately we do.”
What the Sooners didn’t have was a player on the defensive line who had been dependable for several years. All-American candidate Dusty Dvoracek was kicked off the team Friday night after an alleged string of violent incidents.
The Ducks took advantage of the lack of depth at defensive tackle – the Sooners only had three defensive tackles on a 91-degree day – to get some solid yards up the middle in the second half.
“We did some things with our offense in the first half that we started to like and when things start to work you got to stick with it,” said left tackle Adam Snyder.
It only worked for a short time, however. Oregon running back Terrence Whitehead finished with just 66 yards, 5.1 yards per carry. As a team the Ducks rushed for 140 yards, 25 of which came on the fake punt.
The Ducks will host Idaho Saturday.