Ron Jenkins / MCT via Newscom

Oklahoma quarterback and Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford sprained his throwing shoulder when he was tackled to the turf on a hard, clean hit by BYU linebacker Coleby Clawson in the closing seconds of the first half Saturday night.

Oklahoma was stuck with fourth-and-14 from the 37, with 1:23 left. Rather than ask Jones to turn that into a first down, Stoops asked punter Tress Way to try a 54-yard field goal because he’d seen the freshman bang it through from 53 in warmups.

The kick died in the end zone.

“I felt comfortable going out there in the second half,” said Jones, who was 6 of 12 for 51 yards. “I thought we had a chance to win the game. We just came up short.”

Although this nearly $1.2 billion stadium was supposedly a neutral site, the Sooners enjoyed a huge home-field advantage.

The vast majority of the crowd of 75,437 were wearing OU’s crimson and made themselves heard by hollering “home of the SOONERS” at the end of the national anthem. They roared in the second quarter when former football coach Barry Switzer and current men’s basketball coach Jeff Capel were shown sitting together, but didn’t have much to cheer after that.

Actually, the Sooners never really got into a groove, even with Bradford.

He finished 10 of 14 for 96 yards and a touchdown. On the play before he was hurt, Bradford threw his longest completion of the game, an 18-yarder to Brandon Caleb. It also gave Bradford 7,937 yards passing for his career, breaking the school record held by another OU Heisman winner, Jason White.

Oklahoma’s backfield duo of incumbent 1,000-yard rushers DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown weren’t much of a factor, with Brown gaining 59 yards on 14 carries and Murray getting 58 yards on 10 tries. The Sooners were also without tight end Jermaine Gresham (knee).

BYU was missing starting running back Harvey Unga (hamstring), so backup Bryan Kariya filled in nicely with 42 yards rushing and 76 more yards on four receptions. Andrew George caught a 5-yard touchdown pass with 1:25 left in the first half that tied it at 7.

Jacobson caught four passes for 69 yards. A product of nearby Southlake who is just back from a Mormon mission, the touchdown had even more meaning because it was his muffed punt that led to Oklahoma’s only touchdown, an 8-yard pass from Bradford to Ryan Broyles.

The Sooners are 0-1 for only the second time in 11 seasons under Stoops. With Idaho State, Tulsa and an off week coming up in the next three weeks, Oklahoma should be able to get by for a while without Bradford.

But getting by was not what the Sooners had in mind this season.

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