Sooners Prevail, Earn Chance to Defend National Title

In a game that can be only described as physical, heated, and intense, the #2 Oklahoma Sooners used a "3 plays in the playbook" 4 WR passing attack, two key defensive stops, and a 43 yard field goal as time expired to defeat the #3 Ohio State Buckeyes 27-24 in the Big XII Championship Game.

Guiton scores on an 18 yd TD scamper

After falling behind 7-3 early, the Sooners scored back to back TDs to jump ahead 17-7 in the 2nd quarter. The Buckeyes' rushing attack, which proved to be just as dominant as the Sooners' passing game, march OSU back down the field. And, QB Kenny Guiton sprinted to the end zone for an 18 yard TD run with under a minute left in the 1st half.

With the score 17-14 Oklahoma, the Sooners were able to march inside the Ohio State 15 yard line, but an Andy Williams interception halted the drive and kept the score 17-14 at halftime. The Buckeyes defense forced two turnovers on the night, but missed out on recovering two additional Oklahoma fumbles, as well as a handful of dropped interceptions on the night.

"Landry obviously has a cannon for an arm," said Sooner Coach utvol27. "Our WRs are used to catching his passes. On several errant, 'should-have-been-intercepted' throws tonight, I think Landry's arm strength and ball velocity caused Ohio State's defenders to drop some easy balls."

Entering the 4th quarter, the score was deadlocked at 17-17, and fans were on the edge of their seats. This hard hitting game was shaping up to be one of the very best in the Coach UTVOL54/Coach utvol27 series.

Even with Ohio State's unique zone defense look, Oklahoma QB Landry Jones (27/36 passing, 386 yds) continued to prove why he is one of the nation's best QBs. With just under 5 minutes left in the game,Oklahoma RB Brennan Clay shimmied into the end zone on a 4 yard run to put the Sooners up 24-17. On the ensuing drive, Ohio State QB Kenny Guiton, who attempted only 6 passes on the night (none to WRs), hit RB Jamaal Berry for a 36 yard pass, and right away, the Buckeyes were knocking on the door.

Guiton is sacked on the game's first play by an unblocked DE

"With the exception of two drives, we moved the ball at-will on the ground all night," said OSU Coach UTVOL54. "When we picked up that first down to get into Oklahoma territory, we knew were going to score a TD and tie the game, we just needed to eat the clock and run the football."

The Buckeyes did just that, as Jamaal Berry (15 carries, 172 yards) got OSU inside the 5 yard line with 1 minute left in the game. Buckeye FB Zach Boren pounded his way into the end zone from 3 yards out, and with 59 seconds left in the game, the score was knotted at 24-24.

"Tippy Toes" Stills makes a controversial catch late in the game

With two timeouts at their disposal, Oklahoma went back to the air to try to get into FG range. On 1st down, Jones completed a pass to WR Kenny "Tippy Toes" Stills (11 rec, 142 yds) along the Buckeyes sideline. The Buckeye fans, players, coaches, and cheerleaders went irate, as Stills clearly did not have a foot in bounds on the catch. However, the booth did not challenge the catch, and Oklahoma got to the line, snapped the ball and ran the exact same play. Again, Stills caught the ball and this time had room to turn up the sideline for a 30+ yard gain before being tackled at the Ohio State 36 yard line. From there, it was a matter of setting up for a field goal.

Sooner kicker Patrick "Don't Call Me Scarlett" O'Hara drilled a 43 yard FG and the Sooners raced to midfield to celebrate. Ironically, this ending was eerily similar to Coach UTVOL54's loss to Coach utvol27's Dallas Cowboys team in RUTS2's Super Bowl II. It happened on this exact same field at Cowboys Stadium and through the same uprights...as Dallas kicker Nick Folk drilled a FG in overtime to win the Super Bowl for Dallas.

The disappointed Buckeyes sat in disbelief on the sidelines as Coach utvol27 and the Oklahoma team lead the Sooner fans in the "Hip Hop Hooray" dance.

The Bucks' physical defense wasn't enough to get the win

"We executed well, delivered big hits all game, ran the ball to perfection...but in the end, they had the ball last and made the plays to get in field goal range to win," said a dejected Coach UTVOL54. "They were who we thought they were, and we let them off the hook! We've got to find a way to get stops at the end of the half/game, that, and figure out a way to quit dropping so many #*&^%*^#*&%*&@%$*^ interceptions!"

The win sends the Sooners back to the National Championship Game to defend last season's title. Their opponent will likely be #1 Alabama, a rematch of last season's title game and a rematch from this season's Week 3 game, where Alabama defeated Okla 24-16. However, if the Tide are upset by #5 North Carolina in the SEC title game, current #4 LSU Tigers will likely vault to #2 in the BCS poll and get a shot at the title.

"Right now, we're not worried about who we play," said coach utvol27. "We're going to enjoy this win, enjoy Jaz Reynolds winning the Heisman Trophy at next week's ceremony, and relish in the thought of being able to nude sun bathe on the beaches of Miami."