Thad Allender/Journal-World PhotoNorman, Okla. ? Jason White was more than all right. The reigning Heisman Trophy winner rained passes on Kansas University all Saturday afternoon.
But Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, as happy as he was about White’s performance in the Sooners’ 41-10 victory, made it a point to mention the defense, too.
“Except for one play, the rest of the day we played well,” Stoops said. “Our line allowed virtually no running game.”
Other than Adam Barmann’s 78-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Rideau, the Sooners allowed the Jayhawks only 178 yards on 68 plays — a minuscule 2.6 yards per play. OU also forced three turnovers — all leading directly or indirectly to touchdowns.
“There were a lot of big (defensive) plays,” Stoops said. “Outside of that one play, I really like the way we played defensively.”
Linebacker Lance Mitchell, who led the Sooners with 11 tackles, broke the game open when he showed shifty moves in carrying KU quarterback Jason Swanson’s fumble 28 yards into the end zone.
“It was really cool,” Mitchell said of the score that boosted OU’s lead to 28-10 in the third quarter. “I played running back some in high school, so it’s a little old school for me.”
White was old school, too, showing why he won the 2003 Heisman by riddling the Jayhawks’ secondary for 389 yards and touchdowns of 69, 61, 41 and eight yards. White threw an uncommon 44 times, completing 27.
“I don’t care if I throw it two times or 20,” White said. “I’m happy with whatever we’re doing to put points on the board. It doesn’t matter to me.”
With Kansas locked in on neutralizing running back sensation Adrian Peterson, the Sooners went to White’s well and found it overflowing.
“Kansas was determined early to take the running game away,” Stoops said, “but he made some great throws. He made some great plays, and we were just on the verge of making some others.”
Stoops wasn’t enamored with his team’s first-half mental approach.
“I think we really came out in the second half a little more zeroed in,” the OU coach said.
White concurred with Stoops’ slow-start assessment.
“We started out slow again, and that’s one thing we need to work on as an offense,” the senior QB said. “We’ll work on it and continue to get better at it.”
All in all, though, the Sooners played well enough to protect their lofty ranking.
“We tried to come out and prove our No. 2 national ranking,” defensive end Larry Birdline said. “We worked hard for that, and we wanted to hold that up.”
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