Sooners Destroy Miners

September 2, 2000

Gary Nord pulled out all the stops in an attempt to sway the momentum and spring an upset on a day of upsets in college football.  Nord's team had a wide array of onside kicks, fake field goals, fake punts, and fourth down tries in an effort to knock off 15th (OklahomaSports.com) ranked Oklahoma in Norman.  The Sooner offense looked sluggish in the 55-14 victory over a UTEP team that showed they have talent, just not that of a Big 12 team.

Josh Heupel (18-36, 274 yards) had two TD passes and one TD run for the Sooners while true freshman Renaldo Works had 98 yards and 3 TD's on the ground. The wide open Sooner offense was out of sync all night with dropped passes, penalties, and miscommunications from Heupel to his receivers until Works entered and gave OU a ground attack. 

The Miners had turnovers on the first play from scrimmage in the first and second halves with a fumble in the first that ended in a 1 yard TD run by Heupel and the interception by J.T. Thatcher in the second half that ended in a 31 yard TD pass to Antwone Savage.  UTEP had seven turnovers in all (five fumbles, two int.) while the Sooners had three (two fumbles, one interception.

Oklahoma survived a day of upsets in college football in the hottest game ever played at Owen Field (106 degrees at kickoff) with a little help from the 74,761 in attendance.  The attendance mark was the highest for an opener since 1988 as the Sooners won their eighth straight home game.