John Shinn
SAN DIEGO — The Holiday Bowl built its reputation with high-scoring games and thrilling finishes.
Oklahoma and No. 6 Oregon maintained part of the tradition in the Sooners’ 17-14 victory over the Ducks before a record Holiday Bowl crowd of 65,416.
“It typifies our whole year,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “We had to fight and scratch our way through it all.”
Sooner quarterback Rhett Bomar, who threw for 229 yards, hit fullback J.D. Runnels for a 17-yard touchdown and reserve tailback Kejuan Jones followed it with an 8-yard run to give OU a 17-7 lead late in the third quarter.
At the time, it looked like the start of a rout and a coming-out party for OU, albeit in the season’s final game. The Sooners hadn’t beaten a ranked team all season, losing to No. 2 Texas, No. 14 TCU, No. 17 UCLA and No. 18 Texas Tech.
The Sooners also needed a victory to avoid finishing out of the Top 25 for the first time since 1999. Thursday night’s win qualified on all counts, but OU couldn’t celebrate it until the final seconds.
The Ducks were fifth in the final Bowl Championship Series standings and carried a chip on their shoulder after failing to receive an at-large bid to a BCS bowl. Their only regular-season loss was to No. 1 Southern California, but Oregon bared little resemblance to a powerhouse.
And still, with 33 seconds remaining, the Ducks had a chance to win or send the game into overtime.
But that’s when OU linebacker Clint Ingram intercepted a Brady Leaf pass at the Sooner 5-yardline to seal OU’s first bowl victory since the 2003 Rose Bowl.
“This was the biggest play that I’ve ever made in any sport,” Ingram said. “I didn’t hear the call for the blitz, so I just stuck with it and was able to make a play on the ball.”
It ended a wild night. The Sooners picked up 361 yards, getting a huge contribution from freshman wide receivers Juaquin Iglesias and Malcolm Kelly. Iglesias caught five passes for 85 yards and Kelly added seven for 79.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 84 yards with 76 coming in the second half.
In the first half, OU’s only points came on Garrett Hartley’s 34-yard field goal on the Sooners’ opening drive.
But that changed in the second half.
“We established balance in the second half,” Bomar said. “In the first half, they stopped the run, but we got that going and that opened up the passing game. Oregon is very aggressive, so we used a short passing game giving us more options. Coach (offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson) called some good plays and opened up our playbook.”
The Sooners had a chance to put the nails into Oregon’s coffin early in the fourth quarter. They marched 51 yards in eight plays down to the Oregon 2. But Peterson fumbled at the 1 to give the Ducks new life.
OU never sniffed the end zone again.
Oregon’s offense was in neutral after Demetrius Williams took a 5-yard reverse in for a touchdown late in the first quarter.
But Leaf, backing up Oregon starter Dennis Dixon, engineered a 13-play, 78-yard drive and capped it with a 3-yard touchdown pass to Tim Day that made the score 17-14.
Oregon, which fell to 10-2, kept the drive alive with a fake field-goal attempt one play earlier. Leaf, the Ducks’ holder, lofted a pass for Day from the Oklahoma 16. It fell incomplete, but Oklahoma’s Eric Bassey was called for pass interference.
Leaf completed 14-of-24 passes for 136 yards in relief of Dixon, who went 11-for-19 for 107.
Running back Terrence Whitehead rushed for 43 yards and was the Ducks’ leading receiver with six catches for 83.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent the Sooners, who finished the season 8-4, from heading back to Norman with the Holiday Bowl trophy, a big victory to end the season and huge momentum boost for 2006.
“We haven’t won a bowl game in the last two years. It’s great for us,” Ingram said. “For the young guys, it’s something they can build on and for the seniors it’s something we can leave on.”
Ingram is one of nine starters who played their final game at Qualcomm Stadium. The vast majority of OU’s impact players will be back next season.
“We have a great group of young guys that are capable of being really good,” Stoops said, “and they will just get better and better.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
