So Thompson tried again and hit Jermaine Gresham for 35 yards … then Juaguin Iglesias for 22 … then Kelly for 9 … then Adron Tennell — Adron Tennell! — for 15 … then Kelly for 11 with his first highlight catch of the drive … then, finally, a few plays later, Kelly for 3 as the sophomore from Longview, Texas, put on a clinic getting his left foot down to the end zone turf before his right foot landed out of bounds.

In the week leading up to the game, Bob Stoops said he wanted the Sooners to be balanced. He probably wanted to stop the run and the pass, pressure the quarterback, win the battle at the line of scrimmage and make big plays on special teams, too.

That’s great and OU must have accomplished some of it, but looking at it that way is like taking a Salvador Dali painting off the museum wall and connecting the dots.

Because the only way Stoops might ever have accurately announced just how the Sooners would bring home their fourth conference championship in eight seasons is if he would have said, “Facing third-and-10 at our own 1, Paul Thompson’s going to complete 6-of-7 passes and take us 99 yards down the field. That’s how. And then we’re going to make every huge defensive play every time it looks like Zac Taylor and Nebraska’s about to answer.”

How could he, or anybody, ever count on that?

There’s no way.

But that’s the thing about these Sooners.

Nobody in the stadium might see it coming, but there’s always a way.

Against Colorado, it was defense, pure and simple. Against Missouri, it was big game-changing plays. OU seemed to make every one. Against Texas A&M, the first time Stoops ate the playbook, the Sooners held on by their fingernails. Against Texas Tech, they rallied like Jason White was back for his eighth season. Baylor was easy. Then came Bedlam where Allen Patrick and Brown looked like Elvis Peacock and Horace Ivory.

Now this.

A 99-yard drive in the cold Kansas City night and one big defensive play after another.

Protecting a two-touchdown edge, Demarrio Pleasant stopped the Huskers by leveling Hunter Teafatiller and creating a fourth-down incompletion. Then it was Nic Harris turning a certain Husker touchdown into an interception, coming out of nowhere with a swan dive and catch. Then it was Reggie Smith with the pick.

It’s always something.

A great team?

Maybe, but not the way you might think.