Oklahoma Is Taking Care of Business

It was the lopsided victory No. 2 Oklahoma needed to pad its bowl championship series resume.

Adrian Peterson ran for 240 yards, including three second-half touchdowns, and Jason White threw two scoring passes Saturday in a 35-0 victory over Baylor at Waco, Texas.

Neither Peterson nor White played the final 11 minutes.

A week ago in a 30-3 victory over Nebraska, Coach Bob Stoops had his starters playing the final minute. He said he regretted that decision and wasn’t going to repeat it.

“Anyone that doesn’t see the dilemma we’re in is not being totally fair. We’re in a bad position right now,” Stoops said. “I made the wrong choice [last week]. I wish I chose sportsmanship over BCS points.”

The latest polls only proved Stoops’ point.

Oklahoma was caught by Auburn in this week’s Associated Press top 25. The Sooners remained second behind USC in the BCS rankings, but their margin over Auburn was cut in half.

“We just know all we can do is go out and win games,” said White, who completed 19 of 32 passes for 194 yards. “The rest, we can’t do anything about. We know if we stay undefeated, that’s all we can do.”

After a slow start, the Sooners, 11-0 and 8-0 in the Big 12, scored on four consecutive possessions. White threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Travis Wilson before halftime to make it 14-0, and Peterson had short scoring runs on the first three drives of the second half.

Oklahoma has never lost in 14 games against Baylor (3-8, 1-7), the previous five victories coming by an average of 38 points.

Peterson, who had 32 carries, tied the NCAA record for most 100-yard games by a freshman with his 10th. It came a week after he was held to 58 yards by Nebraska to snap his freshman record of nine consecutive 100-yard games.

Oklahoma, which completed its 19th undefeated regular season and third under Stoops, outgained Baylor, 501-156. The Sooners have won 23 regular-season games in a row.

“It is difficult to enjoy being 11-0 the way the structure is right now,” Stoops said.

The Sooners were also undefeated in the regular season last year at 12-0. They then lost the Big 12 championship game to Kansas State and the Sugar Bowl to Louisiana State.

White has thrown 17 touchdown passes -- and 183 passes -- since his last interception six games ago.

Peterson, who has run for 1,671 yards, tied the freshman record set by Wisconsin’s Anthony Davis, who ran for more than 100 yards 10 times as a freshman in 2001. Peterson has two games left, the Big 12 championship Dec. 4 in Kansas City, Mo., and then a bowl.

Kansas 31, Missouri 14 -- Brian Luke threw for 239 yards and two touchdowns at Columbia, Mo., helping the Jayhawks end a 13-game conference road losing streak.

Clark Green had 118 yards in 32 carries and a touchdown as Kansas (4-7, 2-6) won for the first time in five games. The Jayhawks beat Missouri for the second consecutive season, tying the nation’s second-oldest series at 52-52-9.

Missouri (4-6, 2-5) entered with an outside shot at advancing to the Big 12 championship game and staying alive for a bowl, but lost its fifth in a row.