Stoops, Oklahoma gamble and Texas A&M; blinks first

Facing fourth and inches from his own 29-yard line with 1:29 left, Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops wanted to punt to protect a one-point lead against Texas A&M.;

“The second I said punt it, I looked at all the offensive guys in their eyes, then I thought, ‘I can’t punt it,’ ” Stoops said.

The gamble paid off for the No. 18 Sooners, who got the first down they needed to wrap up a 17-16 victory over the No. 21 Aggies in a Big 12 Conference game on Saturday night.

Paul Thompson’s second effort on a sneak gave Oklahoma, 7-2 overall and 4-1 in the conference, the first down, but the play ended up being moot. Texas A&M; (8-2, 4-2) -- home of the 12th man -- was called for having 12 men on the field, giving the Sooners a first down and the ability to run out the clock.

“That’s what we wanted,” Thompson said of the call. “We didn’t want to give the ball back and allow them to score.”

The Sooners won their fourth straight game in Stoops’ 100th game at Oklahoma while breaking a four-game winning streak by the Aggies.

Allen Patrick continued to show he’s a capable replacement for the injured Adrian Peterson. Patrick ran for a career-high 173 yards and a touchdown and now has 440 yards in the three games since replacing Peterson, who is sidelined because of a broken collarbone.

The Aggies got two late field goals to close the gap but were foiled by their inability to convert two second-half turnovers by Oklahoma into any points. Texas A&M;’s defense forced fumbles by Patrick and Thompson on consecutive possessions, but the offense stalled both times and had to punt it away.

“I thought our defense played a great second half and we just need one more little stop there and we might have ... had a chance to win the football game,” Texas A&M; Coach Dennis Franchione said.

The Aggies cut the lead to 17-13 on a field goal by 19-yard field goal by Layne Neumann with 7:45 left and got within a point on a 39-yarder with less than four minutes to go.