APCOLLEGE STATION, Texas - Another fast start, another easy win for Oklahoma.
Sam Bradford threw touchdown passes to four different receivers, Chris Brown ran for three scores and No. 6 Oklahoma routed Texas A&M 66-28 on Saturday.
DeMarco Murray, Matt Clapp, Ryan Broyles and Juaquin Iglesias had TD catches and Bradford had a touchdown run for the Sooners (9-1, 5-1 Big 12), who set a single-game scoring record for an opponent at Kyle Field.
Oklahoma was just as dominant as last week when it beat Nebraska 62-28 and slipped from No. 4 to No. 6 in the BCS standings.
With Texas Tech and Oklahoma State left on the schedule, the Sooners still have chances to impress the voters. They left nothing to chance against the overwhelmed Aggies (4-6, 2-4), building a 38-14 halftime lead and tacking on 28 more points in the third quarter.
“You know how the BCS is going right now,” said Brown. “You just can’t win by a nail-biter, unless it’s a very great team you’re playing against. You can get up on a team 35-0 in the first half and feel like, well, the game’s over. Not with us. We want to keep pouring it on.”
The Sooners have scored 231 points in four games since a 45-35 loss to Texas.
Oklahoma led A&M 66-21 when Joey Halzle replaced Bradford early in the fourth quarter. By then, Coach Bob Stoops felt like the Sooners had earned enough style points.
“There are still sportsmanship issues that you do your best to handle,” he said. “I just think that’s important. We played hard, let it go for three quarters. What did we have? 62 points?
“You just have to choose sportsmanship over BCS points. To me, in the end, it’s the right way to play it.”
Oklahoma’s high-scoring offense has overshadowed the second-best defense in the Big 12. Stoops said this was that unit’s best performance of the season, holding A&M 278 yards, forcing four turnovers and getting four sacks.
“Our guys were great against the run, coverage, everything was really solid,” Stoops said. “We got good pressure and we came up with big turnovers.”
Cyrus Gray scored on a 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown and set an A&M record with 261 kick return yards. But receiving lots of kickoffs was bad news for the Aggies, who mustered only 26 yards rushing and dropped to 2-5 at home.
“Going into this ballgame, I thought they were the best football team I had seen on film and they confirmed that by far,” said A&M coach Mike Sherman. “To say what the difference is, I mean, they were a hell of a lot better than we were.”
The Sooners have always struggled at Kyle Field and an unranked A&M team beat No. 1 Oklahoma 30-26 here in 2002. But Oklahoma had no problems in this one, piling up 653 total yards on 74 plays — an 8.8-yard average.
|
“His accuracy, his poise, running the whole show out there, you couldn’t ask for anything else,” Stoops said. “The guy’s as flawless as they come.”
So were the rest of the Sooners.
Oklahoma outscored its first nine opponents 180-27 in the first quarter and needed only 90 seconds to score on the Aggies.
Murray broke a 70-yard run on the Sooners’ second play from scrimmage and Bradford scrambled for a 15-yard touchdown with 13:31 left in the quarter. Oklahoma scored on its first possession for the ninth time in 10 games.
The Aggies went three-and-out on their first series and Murray caught Bradford’s 35th touchdown pass of the season with 8:05 left in the first quarter.
On Oklahoma’s next series, Bradford found Jermaine Gresham for a 23-yard gain to the A&M 22 and Brown scored with 5:44 remaining in the quarter. The 49-second possession was Oklahoma’s 13th touchdown drive this season that lasted under a minute.
“We felt everything we did was right,” Bradford said.
The Sooners outgained A&M 238-13 in the quarter. Sherman gathered his team for a fiery pep talk before the second quarter began.
“We were at a point where the game was getting out of reach,” Sherman said.
And it was — Bradford threw a 28-yard TD pass to Clapp with 14:27 left in the half to make it 28-0.
Gray returned the ensuing kickoff 67 yards to set up Jerrod Johnson’s 20-yard touchdown pass to Jamie McCoy. Johnson dived into the end zone with 5:11 left in the half to cut Oklahoma’s lead to 28-14.
CFT: Jordan Jefferson makes it clear he wasn't happy with LSU's game plan in the Tigers' BCS Championship Game loss to Alabama.
Special feature |
Images from Top 25 games No. 12 Ohio State rolled past Northwestern, No. 10 Utah remained undefeated and more from around the country. NBCSports.com |
CollegeFootballTalk headlines |
Video: Football from NBC Sports |
Memphis fulfills BCS dream Tigers officials thrilled to announce that school has been accepted to join the Big East Conference in 2013. |
Slideshow |
NBCSports.com |
Slideshow |
more photos |
Slideshow |
NBCSports.com |
Slideshow |
NBCSports.com |
Slideshow |
NBCSports.com |