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Sooners Stumble to Blowout by Justin Waganer Senior Sports Writer August 31, 2002
In front of a Skelly Stadium sellout crowd the Oklahoma Sooners won a game August style over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane 37-0. It was a performance that you could never mistake for being polished, but got the job done, the Sooners won and won comfortably.
Shades of the Bedlam debacle of 2001 were fresh in the minds of Sooner fans as they held a 3-0 halftime lead over lowly Tulsa on Friday evening. The differences were very obvious, this was not an offense incapable of moving the ball, just the receivers incapable of holding on.
Quentin Griffin churned out a career-high 237 yards on 17 carries, a near 14 yards-per-carry average. As a team Oklahoma produced 378 yards on the ground (509 total yards) for a nine yards-per-carry average.
Mistakes were the name of the game for the Sooners, however, with three red-zone turnovers and a punt return for a touchdown was also called back. Several drops by the receivers were the reason for stalled first-half drives.
"The thing about it is, it's correctable and we are going to correct it next week,'' said offensive coordinator Chuck Long. "We executed well, but we turned it over in the red zone. We have over 500 yards and we're struggling.''
Tulsa started with a bang on a 33 yard run by Eric Richardson, but managed only 180 yards the rest of the way. Ten punts and two late fumbles later the Hurricane went to the locker room with a 37-0 loss, their 11th in a row.
The OU defensive effort was led by Lance Mitchell with 13 tackles, Teddy Lehman with 12, and Jonathon Jackson had the only Sooner sack. On special teams Oklahoma found a new threat in Antonio Perkins returning four punts for 112 yards with one touchdown that went for 91 yards and a 58 yard TD return called back on a penalty.
"He's just what we thought he would be," said OU coach Bob Stoops. "He's so explosive, he's going to be a big help all year."
Oklahoma opens their home schedule next Saturday on ABC against Alabama at 2:30 on national television.
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