Oklahoma Gains 523 Yards in 63-0 Win : No. 1 Sooners Blast Minnesota in Tuneup for No. 2 Miami Next Week

The college football national championship is most often decided around New Year’s Day. This year, says Oklahoma fullback Lydell Carr, it will be decided next week when the No. 1-ranked Sooners play No. 2 Miami.

“I believe when we play Miami it will be like a national championship game,” Carr said Saturday after scoring two touchdowns in Oklahoma’s 63-0 victory over Minnesota.

“It’s going to be our national championship ballgame. If we beat Miami, there’s not a team on our schedule that can beat us if we play like we should,” Carr said.

Oklahoma (2-0) tuned up for its meeting with the Hurricanes by rolling up 523 total yards, 458 on the ground. The Sooners scored on their first possession and never looked back.

“Oklahoma played 80 players. I’m satisfied they didn’t try to run up the score,” said Minnesota Coach John Gutekunst, who watched his Big Ten team fall to 1-1.

“They’re every bit as good as we thought they would be coming into the game,” he said. “But I don’t know that we gave them enough of a test to tell how good they really are.”

Carr scored on runs of 40 and 3 yards in the first quarter, and quarterback Jamelle Holieway scored from 5 and 12 yards out as the Sooners took a 35-0 halftime lead.

Among Oklahoma’s other scores were a 66-yard tight end reverse by Keith Jackson, a punt return and an interception return.

“It was the speed and quickness of our offensive backs that made the difference,” Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer said. “I don’t like scores to get like this . . . but when talented players like these get a chance to play, they try to score.”

The defending national champion Sooners suffered their only loss last year to Miami, 27-14, but Switzer said revenge will not be a factor next week.

“I just want our team to play better than we did last year,” he said. “We have a lot of experienced and talented players, and we want them to play up to their ability.”

Minnesota had a chance to keep the game close early but failed. With the score 7-0, quarterback Rickey Foggie hit wide receiver Mel Anderson in the flat, and Anderson sprinted 69 yards to the Sooner 27. But the play was wiped out by a holding penalty.

Oklahoma scored four times in the second half, when the Sooners used second- and third-string players. One touchdown came on a 78-yard punt return by Patrick Collins and another on a 31-yard interception return by Kenneth McMichel.

Minnesota crossed midfield only once, in the second quarter, after recovering an Oklahoma fumble at the Sooner 48. The Gophers started only one drive outside their 30, and started three first-half drives inside their 10.

The score was the Sooners’ largest margin of victory since they defeated Kansas State, 63-0, in 1974. Oklahoma also defeated Utah State, 72-3, that year.

All but 2 of the 13 quarterbacks or running backs used by Oklahoma finished with double-figure rushing totals, led by Holieway with 59 yards and Carr with 56. Jackson’s 66-yard touchdown run made him the Sooners’ leading ground gainer.

Minnesota got 30 yards in 12 carries from tailback Darrell Thompson, who rushed for 205 last week against Arizona.

Holieway, who did not play in the second half and alternated with Eric Mitchel throughout the first half, directed scoring drives four of the five times he took the field. The most time-consuming drive used 5:11 of the first quarter.

Mitchel led a 79-yard touchdown drive on Oklahoma’s first possession of the second half, capping it with an 18-yard scoring pass to split end Lee Morris.

Third-string quarterback Glenn Sullivan guided the Sooners 69 yards in 13 plays for a score, with Ron Counter going in from 9 yards out to make it 56-0 with 2:29 left.