OU Sports
Horning: You can play well on Mars
It was a fantastic night for the Sooner Nation. If only it had any legs.
Because of what Oklahoma did to Texas A--M Saturday night was akin to beating Patrick Roy from the blue line again and again, holding a healthy Michael Jordan to eight points or striking out Tony Gwynn four times in a game.
The moral of the story?
It's not about you.
Plenty of games played under the banner of the Big 12 Conference this season have had a First of Octember ring to them and this one's the latest.
Texas Tech 66, Kansas State 14
Kansas State 62, Texas A--M 14
Texas A--M 52, Texas Tech 30
Add a new one to the list.
Oklahoma 65, Texas A--M 10
Or maybe the lesson is this:
When the Aggies are involved, you might as well be playing on Mars. You can play well on Mars. You can dominate on Mars. But you're still on Mars.
Only in a crazy meaningless game like this one could OU roll through a trio of placekickers, finally settling on the anonymous John O'Hara, apparently out of witness relocation just in time for Saturday night. The kid didn't miss and his one field goal, from 26 yards, would have been good from 32.
Only in a crazy game like this does Adron Tennell appear to have done as much as Ryan Broyles, even though it was Broyles who produced the bridge from tight game to laugher early in the second quarter.
They caught for roughly the same yardage, Tennell with more per catch and each scored twice, but they were hardly the same.
The best Sooner standing whose first name isn't Gerald (or Jeremy) -- and even then, maybe -- OU might have lost without Broyles.
He scored the Sooners' second touchdown, a 25-yard reverse. And he scored their third, walling off space in the end zone as though blocking out for a rebound.
From 14-10, facing third-and-goal at the 4, it became 21-10 thanks to a very singular play, even if it was easy to forget about in a 55-point rout.
Even though it was Chris Brown who put OU up 28-10 the next time the Sooners had the ball, it was Broyles' 31-yard catch and his holding on despite a helmet-to-helmet hit that cost the Aggies another 15 yards that afforded Brown the opportunity.
So it was a game for a little while.
Broyles imposed himself. Then it was recess, nothing taking place on the field having anything to do with how OU might play coming up at Texas Tech, or at Bedlam, when the Pokes pay Norman a visit on the regular season's final day.
But it was kind of fun.
For a team and its nation, which could be unbeaten just as easily as it could be where it's at, it was like every good break owed the Sooners arrived at once ... which, when you think about it, might be the cruelest joke of all.
It was nuts.
DeMarco Murray led the receivers with 143 receiving yards and Jermie Calhoun led the rushers with 94.
Texas A--M seemed to go the entire second quarter without cleanly handling a punt or kick.
Landry Jones threw for 392 yards and five touchdowns, so he'll probably be Big 12 offensive player of the week yet again.
The truth is, as fine a quarterback prospect as anybody might rightfully hope, the Sooner signal-caller is also the Nuke Laloosh of the Big 12, for good or ill, forever capable of setting a new league record.
It was a wild night, full of charm.
Too bad the Sooners can't take it with them.
Clay Horning 366-3526 cfhorning@normantranscript.com
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