Later, Sooners: Texas Tech Ends Oklahoma's BCS Title Hopes

Nov 18, 01:40 AM

Current Headlines: LUBBOCK, Texas _ Ironic that Oklahoma found itself sympathizing with Oregon on Saturday night.

In a scenario eerily similar to what happened to the second-ranked BCS team Thursday in a season-changing loss to Arizona in which quarterback and Heisman Trophy candidate Dennis Dixon was lost to injury, the Sooners lost quarterback Sam Bradford to a first-quarter concussion and saw their legitimate shot at winning their way into the BCS championship game go the way of the Ducks.

Without the nation's most efficient passer, Oklahoma fell to Texas Tech, 34-27, on a night when a victory over the Red Raiders would have clinched a berth in the Big 12 championship game.

"You can't play these guys one-handed," coach Bob Stoops said afterward.

OU (9-2, 5-2), fourth in the most recent BCS standings, can still play its way into the San Antonio title game with a victory over Oklahoma State next weekend. But with a second loss, the Sooners fell out of a tight-knit group of Big 12 contenders chasing No. 1 LSU.

Tech (8-4, 4-4) finished the regular season with a victory over its highest-ranked opponent ever.

Bradford apparently suffered a concussion on the Sooners' first play in a collision with Texas Tech linebacker Marlon Williams, who recovered running back Allen Patrick's unforced fumble, setting up a Red Raiders field goal.

Bradford returned for the next series, which lasted only three plays, but shortly after he went to the sideline following a long third-down incompletion to Malcolm Kelly. Senior backup Joey Halzle immediately began warming up and entered the game on the next series.

After a slow start, he rallied the Sooners to a pair of Garrett Hartley field goals and found slot receiver Manuel Johnson for a 65-yard TD with 7:50 to play. A 9-yard touchdown pass to Johnson pulled OU to within seven with 31 seconds left.

And OU twice got into the red zone late on drives that both died on fourth-down incompletions.

Halzle finished 21-for-41 for 291 yards, two touchdowns and an interception.

"Your backup never has the number of snaps the other guy has," Stoops said. "But Joey did a good job in that regard of hanging in there and continuing to play.

"The difference in the first half and the second is the offense is moving the ball some. Defensively, we had some plays we needed to convert to get off the field and we didn't. We didn't play well in the first half as a team. The second half, we did better."

The news went from bad to worse late when running back DeMarco Murray suffered a knee injury on the failed onside kick after the final score.

After his injury, Bradford stood on the sidelines between two members of the training staff for a while, then retreated to the bench, and with 10 minutes left in the first half was escorted off the field and did not return.

Stoops confirmed Bradford had "somewhat of a concussion" as the teams went in at the half.

In the interim, the Sooners' early 7-0 lead on Lendy Holmes' 63-yard interception return on the fifth play of the game evaporated.

Tech scored on five consecutive possessions to take a 27-7 lead and was up 27-10 at the half as quarterback Graham Harrell threw for 284 yards and two touchdowns and became the sixth player to throw for more than 5,000 yards in a season.

Without much contribution from the offense _ other than a 58-yard drive ending in a field goal shortly before the half _ OU's early, intense defensive pressure began to slack.

And with time to pick and choose, Harrell proved unstoppable for a while, leading Tech to a 34-10 lead less than three minutes into the second half.

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