Oklahoma wins, waits

STILLWATER, Okla. – Oklahoma got all the bounces it needed to get past Oklahoma State in the highest-scoring Bedlam rivalry game ever. But did the Sooners do enough to bounce over Texas and into the Big 12 championship game?

That’s for the voters and computers to decide. The third-ranked Sooners took care of their business on the field.

Sam Bradford threw for 370 yards and four touchdowns, cashed in on a 1-yard touchdown plunge after setting it up with an end-over-end flip, and Oklahoma made a case for a BCS bump with a 61-41 win Saturday night against No. 11 Oklahoma State.

On the line was a shot at the Big 12 title next Saturday against Missouri, and also the edge in the national championship race. The Big 12 South will now be decided among Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech in a three-way tie broken by the BCS standings to be released today.

The team that comes out on top will likely be a victory away from going to the BCS championship game in Miami in January.

“I think we have a really good chance,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “You look at what we’ve done the last two weeks. We’ve played the No. 2 team in the country and won by 44. We just played the (No. 11) team in the country in their own place, where no one else has beat them, and won by 20.

“Usually it’s what you’re doing at the end of the year, and we have finished the year really pretty strong.”

Texas hopes the pollsters have a longer memory than that, specifically going back to the Longhorns’ 45-35 win against Oklahoma at the Cotton Bowl in October.

Longhorns coach Mack Brown was even pleading his case in a telephone interview with television announcers while Oklahoma was making its case on the field.

Brown suggested the Southeastern Conference’s tiebreaker was better than the Big 12’s because it eliminates the lowest-rated team in a three-team deadlock and lets head-to-head decide the winner between the top two.

Of course, that would benefit Texas. But that’s not the way his conference breaks its ties.

The Sooners (11-1, 7-1 Big 12) did the best they could to make up a minuscule eight-thousandths of a point in the BCS standings by putting up as many as they could on the scoreboard.

The problem was Oklahoma State (9-3, 5-3) was able to match them strike-for-strike as both teams scored on six straight possessions beginning at the start of the second quarter. Eventually the nation’s highest-scoring offense was just too much.

“Sometimes you do need to have a little luck to win, and I felt like there were a couple plays that luck was on our side,” Bradford said. “But I still think that we played very well tonight overall.”

Gresham ended up with nine catches for 158 yards, both career highs, and two touchdowns. Chris Brown had 98 yards on 19 carries and two scores, including one on the first play after a two-section wide swath of Oklahoma fans started chanting “B-C-S” with 32 seconds left.

“Hopefully we’ll be the No. 2 team when it’s all said and done, and we’ll go play in the championship,” Gresham said.

“If not, we’ve just got to go with what we’ve got.”