Sooners Defeat TCU, Claim Share Of Big 12 Title

There was a lot of drama this weekend surrounding the Oklahoma Sooners and their possible bowl destination, but the most important part OU winning its regular season finale against TCU on the road.

The Sooners took care of their business Saturday, defeating the Horned Frogs 24-17 to clinch at least a share of the Big 12 title. It is the eighth conference championship for the Sooners since Bob Stoops came to Norman in 1999.

The Horned Frogs appeared to tie the score with 38 seconds left in the game when quarterback Trevone Boykin scampered 12 yards for a touchdown, but a holding penalty negated the play. Two plays later, OU cornerback Julian Wilson broke up the fourth down pass intended for Josh Boyce to seal the OU victory.

The Horned Frogs drove down to the OU 12-yard line thanks to a 46-yard completion from Boykin to Cam White with less than two minutes remaining.

Damien Williams ran for 115 yards on 18 carries for the Sooners, and had a 66-yard touchdown run on the first drive of the second half that put the Sooners up 21-7.

Landry Jones cooled off considerably from his last two performances, hitting 22-of-40 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns. Jones was picked off in the first half by Sam Carter, who returned the interception 43 yards to the Oklahoma 6-yard line, setting up the Horned Frogs first touchdown, a six-yard run by Boykin that knotted the score at seven with 3:46 remaining in the second quarter.

Boykin finished 17-of-31 passing for 231 yards with an 80-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Carter in the third quarter that made the score 21-14 in favor of OU. Boykin also ran for 36 yards on 11 carries, but the Sooners did a good job overall of containing the freshman.

Jones responded on the very next drive, hitting 6-of-7 passes, including a laser to Jalen Saunders for a 24-yard touchdown on 3rd-and-23 that put OU up 14-7 at halftime. Saunders led the Sooners with seven receptions for 108 yards.

The Sooners were put in that position thanks to a personal foul penalty on offensive lineman Tyrus Thompson, who appeared to punch a TCU player while on the ground. Thompson wasn't ejected from the game, but could face a suspension from either head coach Bob Stoops or the Big 12 conference.

Oklahoma started the scoring on the sixth drive of the game after the two teams combined to punt on each of the first five drives of the game. The Sooners were aided by a pass interference penalty on a deep pass to Kenny Stills, and some hard running by Brennan Clay. OU found the end zone on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Williams for an early 7-0 lead.

Both teams will wait to hear their bowl destinations. OU appears to be headed to the Sugar Bowl to take on Florida, unless Kansas State falls to Texas Saturday night. In that case, OU would head to the Fiesta Bowl to face Oregon. The final BCS standings will be released Sunday evening.