John Shinn
COLUMBIA, Mo. — When it comes to breaks, Oklahoma has been catching them like a clueless fisherman, with nothing left to talk about but the ones that got away. But something funny happened at Faurot Field.
Missouri’s Chase Coffman was streaking downfield uncovered as Chase Daniel lofted a perfectly thrown pass his direction. A certain touchdown, Coffman dropped it, and the breaks never stopped coming for the 19th-ranked Sooners on their way to a 26-10 victory over the No. 23 Tigers Saturday afternoon.
“Sometimes you get lucky,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “We got lucky on that play for sure. All those things that happen in games. Sometimes you just get a break.”
Luck has been non-existent for the Sooners over most of the last two seasons. The bad breaks that have gone against them are almost too numerous to count. But that one dropped pass seemed to turn everything around.
One play later, Zach Latimer, intercepted a Daniel pass. The pick was the start of a tidal wave of Missouri miscues OU (6-2, 3-1 Big 12) feasted upon.
Two interceptions, a fumble, a blocked punt and a roughing the punter penalty set up all of the Sooners’ points.
“There are all kinds of momentum plays out there and unfortunately most of them didn’t go our way,” Missouri coach Gary Pinkel said. “We had our opportunities. It’s not complex.”
It wasn’t.
Missouri (7-2, 3-2) actually took the first lead on Jeff Wolfert’s 39-yard field goal less than 4 minutes into the game.
Every time the Sooners caught a break Saturday, they ran with it.
Paul Thompson, who was 11-for-19 for 127 yards, turned Latimer’s pick into a 3-yard touchdown run midway through the first quarter.
Minutes later, OU got the ball back when Tony Temple fumbled and Lendy Holmes recovered at the Sooner 42. The drive ended with Thompson’s 18-yard scoring pass to Joe Jon Finley on the first play of the second quarter.
But after OU took a 14-3 lead, the Sooners appeared more interested in running the clock than lighting up the scoreboard.
Allen Patrick, who was making his second start in place of Adrian Peterson, continued to put up Peterson-like numbers.
He rushed for 162 yards on 36 carries. The totes were a season-high for a Sooner ball-carrier and matched the most since Peterson had 36 against Kansas State in 2004.
“They’re putting the load on me and I’m out there trying to grind it out,” Patrick said. “They can keep giving me the load. I like it.”
The Sooners’ fortunes brightened even more when Jason Carter blocked an Adam Crossett punt from the Missouri 12 that turned into a safety and a 16-3 halftime lead.
Most of the 62,045 in attendance were stunned by the events. Missouri had won its previous nine games at Faurot Field and entered Saturday’s contest averaging over 33 points a game.
“Coach Stoops told us you have to have a certain attitude on the road,” Sooner linebacker Rufus Alexander said after making seven tackles, including the Sooners’ only sack. “We knew that it would be hostile and we’d have to make plays. We did that today.”
Temple, the Tigers’ leading rusher, suffered a separated shoulder in the first half. He and tailback Earl Goldsmith netted just 1 yard on seven carries.
Missouri put its entire offense in Daniel’s hands. He rushed for 75 yards and was 23-for-44 for 284 yards through the air. He also threw three interceptions.
“I didn’t play too well, obviously,” Daniel said.
One of OU’s only mistakes of the day, a Patrick fumble early in the third quarter, gave the impression a Missouri comeback might be in the works.
Daniel engineered an eight-play, 66-yard drive and capped it with a 13-yard touchdown run to cut the gap to 16-10.
But that was all the Tigers could muster. They forced OU to punt from its own 18 on the following series. William Moore was called for roughing OU punter Michael Cohen.
Seven plays later, Thompson hit Quentin Chaney for a 15-yard touchdown and a 23-10 lead.
“We moved the ball and took it in,” Thompson said. “We had a lot of guys step up and make plays when we needed it.”
The defense added a goal-line stand late in the third quarter to seal the win. The Sooners stopped Missouri four times inside the 2-yard line.
“I think it was the turning point in the game,” Latimer said. “Keeping them out of the end zone was real big. It was the turning point for us.”
Or the stopping point for the Tigers.
Garrett Hartley added a 30-yard field goal set up by a Lendy Holmes’ interception. A little earlier, Marcus Walker stopped a Missouri drive with his own pick.
Stoops was asked if he was surprised how well things came together.
“We’ve been playing well,” he said. “I don’t know that this should be surprising. We’ve been playing this way for several weeks now.”
But for the first time in a long time, the Sooners weren’t simply good. They were lucky, too.
