EL PASO, Texas — Although it was freshman quarterback Landry Jones’ aerial assault that lifted the Sooners past the No. 19 Stanford Cardinal 31-27 in the 2009 Brut Sun Bowl Thursday, it was his three slides in the final minutes that ended OU’s three-game bowl skid.
“I thought I made some smart decisions,” said Jones, who threw for three touchdowns and 418 passing yards, which was one shy of tying a Sun Bowl record. “I got a lot of help from my teammates out there.”
Jones consistently found receivers underneath and over the middle to pick up good chunks of yards and convert on multiple third down conversions.
“It was good,” head coach Bob Stoops said. “I think — of course — [sophomore wide receiver] Ryan [Broyles] had a huge day catching the ball, and [sophomore wide receiver] Dejuan Miller, [freshman wide receiver] Jaz Reynolds caught some nice slants and intermediate stuff. I thought they worked it really well.”
And did he get some help from his supporting cast, especially from Broyles, Jones’ right-hand man and the Sun Bowl and Special Teams Most Valuable Player.
Broyles set both team and Sun Bowl records Thursday by catching 13 passes, a Sun Bowl record, for 156 yards and three touchdowns and returned a 42-yard punt that set up the game-winning touchdown.
“I’m just proud for the opportunity to be put in this situation,” the Sun Bowl Most Valuable Player said. “I’m blessed by God.”
Broyles’ big day Thursday set or tied seven different OU or Sun Bowl records, and put him at 86 catches, a single season team record, with 1,120 yards and 15 touchdowns on the season, which ties the Sooners’ single season record.
“Ryan Broyles, outstanding,” Stoops said succinctly.
The offense’s 31 points put to rest any doubt of how the Sooners could not play on the road or could not win a bowl game, and it received a lot of help from the Sooners’ stingy defense.
The defense held Stanford’s offense to 262 yards and 13 touchdowns Thursday and limited Cardinal’s senior running back Toby Gerhart to 135 yards, which is a number he had eclipsed five times this season.
“A lot of the stuff they got we gave to them,” junior defensive tackle Gerald McCoy said following his final game at OU. “We came out; we made the adjustments we needed to get the win.”
The Sooners’ defense forced two turnovers, both interceptions, one of which OU’s offense turned into points.
But, the most important thing the defense did was force Stanford’s offense to become one-dimensional at the end of the game.
With 3:21 left in the game, the Cardinal had a chance to put together a game-winning drive, but following a first-down false start and a short run play Stanford was forced to take the ball out of Gerhart’s hands and have senior quarterback Tavita Pritchard make a play.
The defense tightened up and held Stanford to third and fourth-down pass plays that ended with the game-clinching turnover on downs.
The defense had the opportunity to win the game at the end, and for the first time this season they took it.
“We were still like ‘give [Gerhart] another dime, let’s go,’” sophomore linebacker Travis Lewis said. “We were fired up.”
Now that the bowl drought is over, a lot of pressure was taken off Stoops’ and the players’ backs; and nobody seemed as happy to win the first bowl game of his career as McCoy.
“We did it,” McCoy said in celebration.
Lewis said the win was big for the players, but if anyone deserved the victory it was Stoops.
“This game was for coach Stoops,” Lewis said. “We don’t want the media to be talking about him not being able to win games.”
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TheJR 2 years, 4 months ago
It's a real shame that Adrian Taylor was hurt so badly. Great player and a great person. Congrats to OU on the win!
AtascosaSooner 2 years, 4 months ago
Great win, ending the season on a high note. I was just glad to see that the Sooners didn't show up in those retro uniforms/helmets from the Tt game.