Final
Oklahoma-Stanford Preview
Dec 31, 2009 - 5:46 PM By ANTHONY GIORNALISTA STATS Senior WriterOklahoma (7-5) at No. 21 Stanford (8-4), 2:00 p.m. EDT
Stanford's Toby Gerhart came up just short in his Heisman Trophy bid. He may not have gotten so close, though, had Oklahoma's Sam Bradford been in the running.
Led by the country's top rusher, the Cardinal look to conclude their best season in eight years on a high note as they face the Sooners - inconsistent without their star quarterback - in the Sun Bowl at El Paso, Texas, on Thursday.
Gerhart finished second to Alabama running back Mark Ingram in the closest vote in the 75-year history of the Heisman Trophy. Gerhart got 222 first-place votes and 1,276 points while Ingram received 227 first-place votes and 1,304 points.
Ingram is the successor to Bradford, who decided to return to school this season after winning the award. He likely hurt his NFL stock, undergoing season-ending surgery on his right shoulder after playing one complete game for the Sooners (7-5) this season.
That derailed the Sooners' hopes of making the BCS championship game for the second straight year - they lost 24-14 to Florida on Jan. 8. They've dropped three straight bowl games since a 17-14 win over Oregon in the 2005 Holiday Bowl.
Stanford (8-4), ranked 19th, is coming off its first winning season since 2001 and now makes its first bowl appearance since that same year - a 24-14 loss to Georgia Tech in the Seattle Bowl. No player has been more important to the Cardinal's success than Gerhart, a unanimous first-team All-American.
The senior has rushed for more yards (1,736) and more touchdowns (26) than any other player in the nation, helping Stanford finish second in the Pac-10 after going 5-7 last season.
"I let the production and play speak for itself," Gerhart said. "There wasn't a lot of preseason hype, or no preseason hype to be exact. To be recognized for what you do on the field and not as a media baby, that makes it that much more special."
With Gerhart's help, coach Jim Harbaugh is getting a chance to continue leading Stanford, signing a three-year contract extension two weeks before this bowl.
The Cardinal upset Southern California and California in 2007, but ended up going 4-8 in what was Harbaugh's first season. They fell one win shy of a bowl bid last year, but have risen to national prominence following an impressive November that included wins over then-No. 7 Oregon and then-No. 11 USC.
Stanford won its last game, 45-38 over Notre Dame on Nov. 28, getting 205 yards and three touchdowns from Gerhart. Andrew Luck completed 14 of 20 passes for 198 yards, and the freshman might play in this game after having pins removed following surgery to repair his right index finger.
Luck has passed for 2,575 yards with 13 touchdowns and four interceptions.
Now, the Cardinal are facing one of the top rush defenses in the country in Oklahoma, which ranks seventh in that category by allowing 88.6 yards per game.
"We're going to have to gang tackle," said Sooners cornerback Dominique Franks, a second-team All-Big 12 selection. "Not just one person's going to be able to bring down that running back. But, you know, we're always up for the challenge, and we're going to face a great team. We want to go out there and get a win."
Oklahoma held then-No. 11 Oklahoma State to 62 yards on the ground in a 27-0 win Nov. 28. It was perhaps the Sooners' best performance of the season.
Oklahoma ranks seventh in total defense, surrendering 273.5 yards a contest, led by numerous pro prospects that could decide to leave school early.
The school announced Dec. 18 that defensive tackle Gerald McCoy will skip his senior season and enter the NFL draft.
Franks and defensive tackle Adrian Taylor, though, intend to return. Taylor is durable in the interior, starting the last 27 games and posting seven tackles for a loss this season.
Offensively, the Sooners rely on tackle Trent Williams, a first-team All-American. His consistency has helped freshman quarterback Landry Jones adjust after taking over for Bradford.
Jones has been sacked 12 times in 11 games, completing 58.0 percent of his passes for 2,780 yards and 23 TDs while getting picked off 13 times. He's thrown four or more touchdowns three times, but also had a five-interception game in a 10-3 loss to Nebraska on Nov. 7.
Jones hasn't gotten nearly as much production from the running game as Bradford received last season, when Oklahoma ranked 16th in that category with 3,009 yards.
DeMarco Murray had 1,038 of those yards, but missed the BCS title game due to a ruptured tendon in his left hamstring.
This will be his first bowl appearance. A dislocated knee kept Murray out of the Fiesta Bowl as a freshman in 2007.
"I'm fired up," Murray said. "It feels like the national championship game to me."
Murray has rushed for 678 yards and seven TDs, and has 38 receptions for 482 yards and four scores.
This will be Oklahoma's school-record 11th straight bowl game, but the Sooners have lost five of their last six.
Oklahoma is 3-1 against Stanford.
- NCAAF FINAL
1ST 2ND 3RD 4TH TOTAL
--- --- --- --- -----
OKLAHOMA 10 7 14 0 31
STANFORD 7 17 0 3 27 FINAL
SCORING SUMMARY
1ST QUARTER: OKLAHOMA - TD, RYAN BROYLES 30 YD PASS FROM
LANDRY JONES (PATRICK O'HARA
KICK), 2:23. OKLAHOMA 7-0
STANFORD - TD, OWEN MARECIC 1 YD RUN (NATE
WHITAKER KICK), 8:39.
STANFORD 7-7
OKLAHOMA
Dec 31 6:06 PM - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 31
STANFORD 27 0:00 LEFT, 4TH QTR
Dec 31 6:06 PM - 125
roots - 85
roots - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 31
STANFORD 27 12:43 LEFT, 4TH QTR
Oklahoma 31, Stanford(19) 27 4th - 12:43Dec 31 5:26 PM - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 31
STANFORD 24 0:00 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Dec 31 5:20 PM - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 24
STANFORD 24 13:06 LEFT, 3RD QTR
Oklahoma 24, Stanford(19) 24 3rd - 13:06Dec 31 4:39 PM - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 17
STANFORD 24 0:00 LEFT, 2ND QTR
Dec 31 4:03 PM - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 10
STANFORD 14 11:52 LEFT, 2ND QTR
Oklahoma 10, Stanford(19) 14 2nd - 11:52Dec 31 3:18 PM - NCAAF
OKLAHOMA 10
STANFORD 7 0:00 LEFT, 1ST QTR
Dec 31 2:59 PM
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