Published: November 26, 2006 12:53 am            

Defense holds strong

• Another big goal-line stand helps defense hold off OSUcomeback



STILLWATER — Oklahoma’s season was hanging in the balance late in third quarter Saturday. The 13-point lead it had built was down to six and Oklahoma State was 2 yards away with four plays to take the lead.

The Big 12 South title and bid to the Fiesta Bowl were all at stake after OSU tight end Brandon Pettigrew rumbled 21 yards down to the Sooner 2, sending Boone Pickens Stadium into a frenzy.

It was, as coaches and players like to say, gut-check time.

“By any means necessary,” linebacker Zach Latimer said. “We were not going to let them cross that line.”

OU didn’t, and it turned out to the be the difference in its 27-21 victory over the Cowboys.

The stand pretty much summed up the Sooners’ current seven-game winning streak. During that span, just about every stop they’ve needed they’ve gotten.

Safety Nic Harris tipped away a sure touchdown pass to Pettigrew on first down. Linebacker Curtis Lofton dragged down Julius Crosslin for a 2-yard loss on second down.

On third down, Rufus Alexander wrestled down quarterback Zac Robinson a yard short of the end zone to set the stage for what might go down as OU’s biggest play of the season.

OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables knew what was coming.

“He was yelling, ‘Watch the option! Watch the option!’” Latimer recalled.

When Robinson sprinted to his left, he saw a see of red waiting for him. He cut back inside and jumped for the end zone.

There he found Latimer, who jarred the ball loose with a hit in the back.

The ball floundered around in the end zone until Sooner linebacker Demarrio Pleasant corralled it with his cast wrapped right hand.

“Once I got my hands on it,” Pleasant said. “There wasn’t any way I was going to let it go. I pulled it in with my cast and covered it with my other hand.”

It was the stand on a day of stands by the Sooner defense. The unit spent just about the entire fourth quarter on the field. OU had three fourth-quarter possessions. It gained just 1 yard on those plays.

OU coach Bob Stoops clearly wanted his defense on the field with the game on the line. OU nearly got another goal-line stand midway through the fourth quarter, but D’Juan Woods grabbed a 2-yard touchdown pass with 6:41 left in the game.

But OSU never got any closer than the Sooner 25 the rest of the way.

“I’m proud of those stops,” Stoops said.

He has reason to be. Much has been made about all the problems OU’s offense has gone through. From the quarterback upheaval at the beginning of the year, to the injuries at running back, plenty of drama has swirled.

But the Sooner defense carried the load in Bedlam.

“The offense put us in a position where it was going to be based on us,” defensive end C.J. Ah You said. “We had to carry our team and we came out and shined.”

        

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