Sooner 70s Show Gets a Top Rating

Oklahoma might have gotten the whole hundred had Coach Bob Stoops not been so generous.

The top-ranked Sooners scored touchdowns on 10 of their first 11 possessions, and their defense didn’t allow a touchdown for a second consecutive week in a 77-0 rout of Texas A&M; on Saturday.

All of the Sooners’ points came in the first three quarters and they were three yards away from another touchdown midway through the fourth. But Stoops called four runs into the middle of the line -- Oklahoma’s offensive line all but fell to the ground -- to keep the score from getting even more lopsided.

“It was an odd situation to be in,” Stoops said. “I believe in being decent to people.”

The Sooners (10-0, 6-0 in the Big 12) exacted a brutal revenge against the team that derailed their national title hopes in a 30-26 upset last season, remaining on the fast track to the Big 12 title and the national championship game -- the Sugar Bowl.

The victory also put the wraps on a payback tour that included last week’s 52-9 win over Oklahoma State, the only other team to defeat the Sooners last season. Oklahoma scored more than 50 points for a school-record sixth time, a feat that would have impressed even Barry Switzer, who used to boast about “hanging half-a-hundred” on people.

“They kicked us last year, and we knew they were a good team,” Oklahoma defensive lineman Dusty Dvoracek said. “We usually don’t let people get us twice.”

It was Oklahoma’s most lopsided victory since a 77-0 win over Missouri in 1986 and was A&M;’s worst loss in 108 years of football. The margin of victory set a Big 12 record and the Sooners tied another conference mark for points scored in a game.

Jason White tied a school record with five touchdown passes -- in the first half -- as Oklahoma scored touchdowns on all but one of its possessions in the first three quarters. The Sooners got their final score of the day when cornerback Derrick Strait scooped up a fumble and returned it 17 yards to the end zone late in the third quarter.

The Sooners plugged reserves into the game and still kept churning up yards -- they averaged 7.8 yards a play -- and, in the shadow of A&M;’s goal line, finally resorted to a series of dives into the heart of the Aggies’ defense.

The crowd of 83,461 booed lustily when several A&M; defenders celebrated after stuffing Oklahoma’s Donta Hickson on fourth down.

“We’re not sitting here thumping our chests at all,” Stoops said. “That’s not our style and that’s not for us to do.”

White completed his first 15 passes and finished 16 of 18 for 263 yards.