Landry Jones: A+

The sophomore quarterback was night and day with his first half performance compared to his second half. In the first, Landry Jones seemed flustered and threw three picks — including an athletic tip-in from out of bounds by an Oklahoma State defender.

The third quarter was decent, but OU put up no points and even into the fourth quarter, Jones and the offense found themselves settling for three field goals instead of touchdowns.

OU coach Bob Stoops said after the game that he told Jones something in practice earlier this week that held a lot of water to the Bedlam game.

“Watch some of the great quarterbacks — the Joe Montana’s and those guys — they’ll have bad days, and then they have a fourth quarter that wins the game and that’s all anybody talks about,” Stoops said. “Sometimes they (the other team) get you or they have a good defense — they’re a good team, and they’re going to make their plays. But the thing is to stay after it. You’re still going to have the opportunities to make your plays, and maybe (Jones is) getting that. Just hang in there and keep playing with confidence. He saw a few guys break open, and he delivered some great balls.”

Ironically, the words of advice Stoops gave Jones were a picture-perfect illustration of how Bedlam occurred. Jones faced a lot of adversity with turnovers and seeing no success from the long ball, but he still had chances to make plays at the end, and he did. Two passes, 162 yards, two touchdowns in 29 seconds. Sports enthusiasts call it clutch. Jones was both clutch and a playmaker against the ninth-ranked Cowboys in Stillwater for Bedlam, and his team will now play next Saturday in the Big 12 Championship against longtime rival Nebraska for a final battle between the conference’s two most historic programs. Above all, he proved himself as not just another quarterback, but a winner with resilience and toughness down in the stretch.

Running backs: B-

Senior DeMarco Murray was in full form again, and while his stats don’t tell the story, he made tough first-down runs time and again for the Sooners on his 20 rushes for 80 yards. True freshman Roy Finch added 42 yards on an increased 16 carries after Murray went out with an injury. OU’s lone rushing touchdown came from true freshman fullback Trey Millard, who had 13 yards Saturday.

Wide receivers/Tight ends: A+

All week the media blew up the matchup of OU junior Ryan Broyles against OSU sophomore Justin Blackmon. Who would have more yards? Who is the nation’s top receiver? Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Broyles finished with nine receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown, while Blackmon had eight receptions for 105 yards and a score. However, the difference here is that Blackmon led OSU in receiving yards and shared the two receiving touchdowns with junior wide receiver Josh Cooper. Broyles was ranked third on the team in receiving yardage behind junior tight end James Hanna’s 130 and senior receiver Cameron Kenney’s 141. Hanna matched Broyles’ one touchdown and Kenney even exceeded it with two of his own. Both Hanna and Kenney emerged at the end of the game in clutch situations as go-to targets for Jones for two scores of 76 and 86 yards. If that isn’t a testament to the depth advantage OU had in the game, I don’t know what is.

Jimmy Stevens: A+

Kicking has been a sore subject around Norman for quite some time now. It seems that OU has gone through kicker after kicker without being able to find an answer for the kicking woes that have plagued the team since the departure of Southlake, Texas-native Garrett Hartley to the NFL. But Stevens has emerged recently. The last time he missed a field goal was a 36-yarder in the fourth quarter of the Texas Tech game when OU led 45-7. Since, he is 7-for-7 in field goals in both road games against Baylor and OSU — the two games that were set up to decide OU’s fate in the Big 12 South battle. On top of that, Stevens has hit all 45 extra point attempts this year after missing two last season. In the last two games, his longest field goal has been 33 yards, but Stevens has gotten the job done. His four field goals — three of which were the first nine points scored of the fourth quarter and OU’s only points of the half before the big strike to Kenney — cemented OU as the leader after heading into the fourth with a 24-24 tie, and the Sooners never gave up that lead. There is a reason he received the first game ball from Stoops after the game ended Saturday.

Defense: A

The Sooners snagged three interceptions against the Cowboys’ touted offense, ranked near the top nationally in most categories. The defense also did enough to keep OU in the game when it became a shootout in the fourth quarter, putting good pressure on OSU quarterback Brandon Weeden and holding Blackmon relatively in check most of the game.