Oklahoma Airs It Out Against Virginia : Gator Bowl: Gundy shatters school records in 48-14 rout. He completes 25 of 31 passes, including 11 in a row, for 329 yards.

Cale Gundy kept his promise.

The Oklahoma quarterback said he would complete 25 passes if the Sooners threw 30 times against Virginia. He wound up 25 of 31 for 329 yards in leading the 20th-ranked Sooners to a 48-14 Gator Bowl victory Sunday night.

The completions and yardage were school records, and the attempts tied a school record.

The 329 yards broke his brother Mike’s Big Eight record for passing yardage in a bowl game. Mike Gundy threw for 315 yards in Oklahoma State’s 62-14 victory over Wyoming in the 1988 Holiday Bowl.

“We’ve got the type of offense that no one can stop us unless we stop ourselves,” said Gundy, who threw two touchdown passes and was named the game’s most valuable player. “We just prepared really well for the past two weeks.”

Mike Gaddis added 104 yards and three touchdowns as Oklahoma (9-3) overwhelmed No. 19 Virginia in the first half. The Sooners led 34-7 at halftime--their 27 second-quarter points were a Gator Bowl record--and had outgained the Cavaliers (8-3-1) by intermission, 387-112.

Oklahoma finished with a season-high 618 yards and 36 first downs.

“I said all week we were going to throw the ball. Nobody believed us,” Coach Gary Gibbs said.

“We felt like going in there were some things we could pursue and we did an outstanding job tonight. I think any time you go out and throw as much as we did tonight on first and 10 it’s going to disrupt any defense, especially one that’s going to be geared to stopping the run.”

The headlines before the game went to Virginia’s quarterback, Matt Blundin, who threw 224 passes without an interception during the season. But Gundy stole the show.

He had 254 yards by halftime, breaking the school’s game record of 246 set in 1962 by Monte Deere against Colorado.

He completed 11 in a row during one stretch of the first half. He threw to six receivers during that time, including twice to Corey Warren for 52 yards and three times to tight end Joey Mickey for 33 yards.

Gundy completed eight passes to the tight ends, who had caught only 17 during the regular season. He also threw to his fullbacks and halfbacks, something the Sooners did little of during the regular season.

“I couldn’t tell you why they were so open,” Gundy said. “We put in some pass plays for our receivers basically to go into the open holes and find the open spots, and they did a great job tonight.”

The defense also played superbly, holding Virginia to 243 yards and intercepting Blundin for the first time this season.

But the key was Oklahoma’s offense.

“All of a sudden you looked up and it was 28-0. I think that really hurt their offense as much as our defense did,” Gibbs said. “The way we jumped on ‘em obviously was the key to the ballgame.”

Gundy threw touchdown passes of 10 and 13 yards to Mickey and Gaddis scored on runs of two and eight yards to help Oklahoma to its 34-7 halftime lead.

Gaddis’ third touchdown came on a seven-yard run in the third quarter when Oklahoma continued to throw the ball despite leading by 41 points.

Tink Collins blocked a first-half punt for Oklahoma and teammate Russell Jones grabbed the ball in midair at the Virginia four-yard line and ran it into the end zone for a 28-0 Sooner lead.

Blundin completed 12 of 26 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns for Virginia.

Oklahoma, which hadn’t appeared in a bowl game since the 1988 season because of NCAA probation, improved to 17-1 against Atlantic Coast Conference teams.