Clay Horning
SAN DIEGO — Rhett Bomar was occasionally spectacular and there were times you just knew a certain portion of the Sooner Nation, watching at home or in person at what used to be called Jack Murphy Stadium, the only major league stadium ever named after a sports writer, were celebrating Chuck Long’s departure to run the show at nearby San Diego State.
Because, for a while there, it was fun.
You kind of got the feeling Kevin Wilson, all season long, had been begging Long to direct more passes to Juaquin Iglesias; and for that matter, maybe even use the pass to set up the run.
But as great as that sounds and as beautiful as it looked for a moment here and a moment there at Thursday night’s Holiday Bowl, here’s what it yielded.
Three points.
It was anything but vanilla and still OU was limited to one measly Garrett Hartley field goal before the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl Presented by the San Diego Union Tribune was momentarily turned over to the North Island Credit Union Halftime Show.
And when the Sooners came back out, it looked like Wilson might produce a Second Half sponsored by Running It Up The Middle. It was almost like he got a good talking to from Bob Stoops at the half, who told him eight carries were nowhere near enough for Adrian Peterson.
It even seemed to work when Peterson’s long run and fumble appeared to turn into a Chris Messner touchdown before it was called back on Davin Joseph’s hold.
The Sooners didn’t respond by abandoning the run, but they quit trying to force it. And just like that, OU was off to the races.
You know what it looked like?
It looked like just the thing Wilson must have envisioned from the start. It looked great and fun and exciting.
Seven more and a lot less heartache if Peterson had only held onto the ball.
Long might have directed the two greatest back-to-back seasons of offense in Sooner history, and still, what Wilson came up with between the end of the regular season and what became Thursday night’s convincing but scary-as-all-get-out 17-14 victory over No. 6 Oregon, will only drive the Sooners and their fans bonkers waiting for next season to arrive.
Bomar might not have played his best game, but he still looked so comfortable, in the pocket and on the run, hitting receivers in stride and time and again on third down the way Jason White used to do it. And darned if the patterns the Sooners were running didn’t appear more aggressive, too.
And it’s not like OU got very far away from college football’s best running back. One busted play cost Peterson 17 yards the wrong way, so his numbers were a little skewed. As it happened, his best running came only after the Sooners quit trying to force him through the Duck line.
But there’s no getting away from Wilson.
Bomar was relaxed and Peterson’s best runs came on these funky misdirections that seemed to have been drawn up over the last three weeks.
And after dinking passes off to Peterson and his wide receivers, no play was called any better than the one that saw Bomar finally throw to J.D. Runnels after the he got behind the Duck secondary for a 17-yard touchdown pass, giving OU its first lead. It was like they were saving it.
Of course, OU played fantastic defense, too.
And Clint Ingram saved the day.
But that’s another story.
