John Shinn
EUGENE, Ore. — Oklahoma and Oregon rode a roller coaster ride Six Flags would pay millions to patent Saturday.
But the 15th-ranked Sooners weren’t feeling any joy when they left Autzen Stadium. Not after coming up on the short end of a controversial 34-33 loss to 18th-ranked Ducks.
“We’re not supposed to lose that game; that’s the way the whole team feels and the coaches feel,” linebacker Rufus Alexander said.
He’s right.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 211 yards and Paul Thompson threw for another 174 and another score.
But it was overshadowed by the Sooners’ defensive meltdown in the final 72 seconds that allowed OU’s 13-point lead evaporate into a head-scratching loss.
Oregon quarterback Dennis Dixon and a controversial on-side kick recovery doomed the Sooners to their first loss of the season.
Dixon threw for 341 yards and ran for 34 more. The last of his two touchdown passes — a 23-yard toss to Brain Paysinger — gave the Ducks the win.
“I always think we have a chance,” Dixon said. “There’s no doubt in my mind that our offense can drive the ball down.”
The Sooner defense provided little debate to that notion. It allowed 501 yards and were hit for big play after big play.
“In the end, you have to be able to make some plays,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “We have to be smarter finishing.”
Oregon had jumped out to an early lead, but Peterson’s 17-yard touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter put OU up 27-20. The Sooner workhorse ran it 34 times and gained 145 yards in the fourth quarter. It was his fifth career game with more than 200 yards.
And OU appeared to be pulling away at that point. The defense tightened and Garrett Hartley connected on field goals of 20 and 22 yards with the last one giving the Sooners a 33-20 lead with 3:12 left.
But that’s when OU’s fortunes changed in a very bad way and very quickly to boot.
Dixon engineered an eight-play, 65-yard drive that he finished with a 16-yard run to cut it to 33-27.
Then the controversy began.
The Ducks (3-0) recovered the bouncing kick on their own 48, but Oklahoma (2-1) argued that an Oregon player touched the ball before it went the required 10 yards, which would have given the Sooners possession.
But the call stood.
After a pass interference call on OU Darien Williams again had Sooners coach Bob Stoops shaking his head on the sideline, Dixon threw a 23-yard TD pass to Brian Paysinger with 46 seconds to give Oregon the lead.
However, the Sooners’ Reggie Smith returned the ensuing kick 55 yards to the Ducks’ 27.
With no timeouts the Sooners ran one play, a run into the line by Peterson, then spiked the ball with two seconds left.
But Garrett Hartley’s 44-yard field-goal attempt was blocked by Blair Phillips and bedlam ensued.
That’s when the thrill ride finally came to a stop.
And the Sooners were left pondering one of the oddest games they’ve played.
“That’s the way it goes some times,” Stoops said. “They made the plays in the end that mattered. We had more opportunities and didn’t make them.”
Particularly in the first half.
The Sooners got to the Oregon 2 late in the first half, but they were charged with a pair of false start penalties and holding call. They had to settle for Hartley’s 20-yard field goal to narrow it to 10-6.
A 38-yard field-goal attempt by Paul Martinez hit the crossbar and bounced good between the uprights to make it 13-6 at the half.
Thompson’s 1-yard keeper tied it at 13 in the third quarter and OU had momentum on its side.
Thompson found Kelly for a 31-yard touchdown pass to make it 20-13.
The Ducks re-tied it early in the fourth quarter with Dixon’s 30-yard scoring pass to Jaison Williams, who finished with nine catches for 177 yards.
Hartley added field goals from 20 and 22 yard in the final quarter before the Ducks staged their comeback.
“We did a lot of good things, but, obviously, not enough,” Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. “We came up one point short.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
