Sooners not great, but good enough

Kansas City, Mo. ? Somebody asked Bob Stoops about cornerback D.J. Wolfe’s spectacular interception return for a touchdown, and the Oklahoma University football coach appeared puzzled.

Then he remembered.

“That was so early in the game,” Stoops said, smiling, “I forgot about it.”

Wolfe’s weaving, twisting and juking 65-yard jaunt into the end zone after stealing a Brian Luke pass occurred a minute and a half after kickoff and was all the Sooners really needed in Saturday night’s 19-3 victory over Kansas.

Then, just nine seconds after Wolfe’s interception, teammate Clint Ingram pilfered a Luke aerial, and the Sooners converted that theft into a field goal and a 10-0 lead before many of the 54,000-plus fans had taken their seats.

“It always gives you a big boost,” Stoops said, queried about the point-producing interceptions. “It gets your motor running to make big plays.”

Oklahoma snatched another Luke pass and forced a fumble by the beleaguered KU quarterback, but it wasn’t until the fourth quarter that the Sooners finally came up with big offensive plays.

Both were passes from quarterback Rhett Bomar to freshman wide receiver Malcom Kelly – the first for 40 yards, the second for 25 yards and a touchdown.

“The defense had played too good for the offense not to be producing,” said Kelly, who stands 6-foot-5 and leaped over 6-foot KU cornerback Ronnie Amadi to record the only offensive touchdown of the night.

“It was one-on-one out there,” Bomar said of the TD play. “We have a guy 6-5 out there, and they dared us to do it, and we were successful.”

Bomar, who had struggled mightily in last week’s 45-12 loss to Texas, was hardly a ball of fire in the first half. The red-shirt freshman, who went in with one of the worst pass-efficiency ratings in the Big 12 Conference, completed eight passes for only 62 yards before the break. But in the second half, his eight completions accounted for 206 yards.

“I’m going to have my struggles,” Bomar said. “I did last week. That’s a fact. But it’s how you finish, and we finished tonight.”

Meanwhile, Oklahoma’s defense started as well as finished, forcing the four Luke turnovers and holding the slumping KU offense to a mere 97 yards.

“We’ve been pretty solid all year on defense,” linebacker Rufus Alexander said. “We just haven’t been putting whole games together.”

It was Alexander who made the interception of a Luke pass in the third quarter that was initially ruled a reception by KU tight end Derek Fine. Oklahoma fans were so incensed by the call that they peppered the end zone with cups and bottles.

However, the play was reviewed, and the replay clearly showed Alexander had possession.

“I was shocked because I knew I picked it off,” Alexander said. “Good thing coach called time so they could check it.”

Stoops figured the law of averages was due to swing toward the Sooners.

“Fortunately, we got a break on that turnover,” the OU coach said. “We had a lot of those go against us lately, and we finally got one to go our way.”

Oklahoma won despite Bomar throwing a pair of interceptions to KU’s Charles Gordon, despite losing a fumble and despite being docked 94 penalty yards.

“Defensively, we were really exceptional the entire game,” Stoops said, “and we put together some nice drives in the second half.”

Oklahoma evened its record at 3-3 and has momentum going into Saturday’s home game with Baylor.

“It says a lot to me,” Stoops remarked, “that as poorly as we played in the first half, we hung in there and won one on the road.”