• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Bradford, Gresham help Oklahoma crush Texas A&M

Nov 4, 2007 - 7:00 AM NORMAN, Oklahoma (Ticker) -- Sam Bradford and Jermaine Gresham were all that Oklahoma needed.

Bradford tied a school record with five touchdown passes - four to Gresham - to lead the fifth-ranked Sooners to a 42-14 victory over the Aggies in a lopsided Big 12 Conference tilt Saturday.

Bradford and Gresham made sure Oklahoma rebounded from a sub-par performance prior to its bye week.

The Sooners looked sluggish during a 17-7 win over lowly Iowa State on October 20 - the first game that Bradford failed to throw a touchdown pass.

But the redshirt freshman rebounded by throwing three first-half scores to Gresham, who entered the season with just one career touchdown.

"He is a great receiver. He is so big that he plays tight end, but he could play receiver," said Bradford, who also threw for five touchdowns in a 51-13 win over Miami on September 8.

"Tonight he did a great job of getting behind the secondary and making catches when he had the opportunity."

Bradford was 21-of-30 for 283 yards, while Chris Brown and DeMarco Murray combined for 140 yards on the ground.

"I think that is a credit to the 10 other guys that were out there," Bradford said of his impressive stat line. "I don't know if you saw, but they played really hard tonight. We had guys flying around out there. We have so many weapons out there that it really makes it easy."

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops had nothing but praise for his squad.

"It was a good game," Stoops said. "I felt really good and positive in the way we executed and played. Our offense and defense were both very productive.

"Offensively, we kept being persistent with the running game. ... I guess when we rush for 186 yards, it was a good day rushing. Sam Bradford was excellent again today. He had a huge night - five TDs and 21-of-30 - that is playing really well."

While the Sooners' (8-1, 4-1 Big 12 South) offense was in high gear, the defense was just as good. Oklahoma, which entered 11th in the country in total defense, held Texas A&M to just 58 yards and four first downs in the first half en route to a 21-0 lead.

"Well, we did struggle," Texas A&M coach Dennis Franchione said. "We didn't have very many yards in the first half, and that's a good defensive ball club, they've done that to a lot of people. We've played two very good defensive teams the last two weeks and we certainly had our struggles with both of them."

"We settled in. Early on a time or two, we didn't adjust properly and they got some yards," Stoops said. "Then we settled in and protected against the run pretty well. I think we executed well against the option early, and that might have led to them getting away from it."

After a sluggish first drive, Oklahoma got a spark from its special teams.

Murray recovered a muffed punt by true freshman Roger Holland at the Texas A&M 32 to help set up the game's first score.

Five plays later, Bradford hit Gresham for a three-yard strike that put the Sooners up 7-0 with 5:21 left in the first quarter. Bradford connected with the sophomore tight end on a 14-yard strike on the first play of the second quarter, capping an 11-play, 89-yard drive that put the Sooners up, 14-0.

The Aggies (6-4, 3-3 South) finally put together a good drive, but it was halted when Keondra Smith fumbled and Oklahoma recovered it at its own 38.

That led to a 14-yard touchdown pass from Bradford to Brown.

Already leading 28-0, the onslaught continued as Bradford and Gresham hooked up for scoring passes of 38 and 13 yards in the third.

Aggies quarterback Stephen McGee was just 15-of-28 for 155 yards with one score for Texas A&M, which has lost three of its last four games and five straight to Oklahoma.