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OU finds White knight

Backup QB Jason White subs for the injured Nate Hybl to lead the No. 3 Sooners past No. 5 Texas 14-3.

By BOB HARIG

© St. Petersburg Times,
published October 7, 2001

DALLAS -- Young boys in Oklahoma dream of days such as this, starring for the Sooners in the annual showdown against Texas at the Cotton Bowl, bringing glory home across the Red River.

Jason White is like thousands of peers who grow up rooting for the Sooners, hoping to one day play for them.

But when White awoke Saturday morning in his Dallas hotel room, he had no idea he'd return to Norman a star.

A backup quarterback who had thrown all of six passes in his college career, White entered in the first half when starter Nate Hybl left with an injury.

All he did was complete 16 of 23 passes without an interception, run 12 times for a team-leading 38 yards, and lead No. 3 Oklahoma to a 14-3 victory over No. 5 Texas in the 96th meeting between the schools.

Talk about securing a legacy.

"I always wanted to play in the Oklahoma-Texas game, but I didn't think I'd get to today," said White, a redshirt sophomore from tiny Tuttle (pop. 8,753), who had thrown just four times this season. "I remember my freshman year in high school, just watching the game on TV. I just thought it was great competition. I thought a lot about playing at the Cotton Bowl, but I never thought it would be like this."

White didn't have time to get nervous about a swarming Texas defense that, for the most part, did its job. White directed the Sooners on one first-half scoring drive, and the defense added a late interception return for a touchdown. That was it.

Yet he outplayed his more prominent counterpart, Texas quarterback Chris Simms, who was 24-for-42 for 198 yards, but was intercepted four times, including the 2-yard return by Oklahoma's Teddy Lehman with 2:01 left.

The Sooners improved to 5-0 and the Longhorns dropped to 4-1 before 75,587 at the Cotton Bowl, which is nearly an equal distance between the campuses.

"Defensively, it was an exciting game to watch," said OU coach Bob Stoops, whose team won for the 18th straight time. "To keep them out of the end zone, to have five sacks, force four interceptions. ... It's just amazing."

So, too, is Stoops' record against top-notch competition. The former Florida defensive coordinator in his third year at Oklahoma is 8-0 in games against Top 10 opponents. (One of those victories came against Florida State in the Orange Bowl on Jan. 4 for the national championship.)

Texas coach Mack Brown still is looking for a win of that magnitude, a fact that continues to dog him. Known as one of the nation's top recruiters, he also has a reputation for being unable to win the big one, never having won a conference championship. A former running back at Florida State, his inability to defeat his alma mater while coach of the Tar Heels had him looking for other opportunities. He found Texas, long on tradition and short on recent success.

He had the Longhorns believing the glory days had returned, with a shot at a national title imminent. That's all but gone for this season. Texas drops a game behind Oklahoma in the Big 12 South, meaning the Sooners would have to lose twice for the Longhorns to have any shot at the conference title game.

"We have to force some luck into the season now because we don't control our own destiny anymore," Brown said. "The only thing that we can do is make sure that we win the rest of our games."

With a little more than two minutes left, the Longhorns still thought they had a chance to win. Simms had been intercepted in the end zone on UT's previous drive, but after the Sooners drove into scoring position, they eschewed a field-goal attempt at the UT 27 and quick-kicked. Texas' Nathan Vasher fielded the punt at the 3.

"There was 2:01 left, we were down 7-3 and we thought we'd win the game," Brown said. "We had all of our timeouts left, and we planned on winning it."

Oklahoma took care of that on the next play. Simms took a quick drop into the end zone, but OU defensive back Roy Williams hurdled the line, dived toward Simms and altered his throw. It fell into the arms of Lehman, who strolled into the end zone. "Roy made a great play on the quarterback," Lehman said. "I just happened to be in the right place at the right time."

So was White.

"It would have been hard to dream of this," he said. "I get ready for every game, but I never thought I'd play in this one. It paid off."

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