OKLAHOMA SOONERS
2009 FOOTBALL SCHEDULE

(by John E. Hoover) EL PASO, Texas — As endless refrains of "Boomer Sooner" played on and the seconds on the clock ticked away, Oklahoma's New Year's Eve party unfurled.

Quinton Carter hopped up and down, with no one and with everyone. Travis Lewis slapped hands with Brian Simmons over and over. Chris Brown embraced DeMarco Murray.

"Finally won this thing," Simmons said with a smile....read more from the Tulsa World

More from the Tulsa World:

• Sooners face questions after '09 season
• Ronnell Lewis woke up just in time to drop 'The Hammer'

(by Jake Trotter) EL PASO, Texas — While Oklahoma was playing Stanford, Cameron Newton was signing his letter of intent to play for Auburn.

Perhaps the top junior-college quarterback in the country, who at one point was considering the Sooners, caught a glimpse of the Sun Bowl and thought, "Forget this!”

Landry Jones sure looked like OU’s quarterback of the future Thursday, leading the Sooners to a 31-27 win and effectively ending the quarterback derby of 2010....read more from The Oklahoman

More from The Oklahoman:

• Surgery goes as planned for OU defensive tackle Adrian Taylor
• OU quarterback recruit Blake Bell on TV today

EL PASO -- Much has been made about quarterback Landry Jones' struggles away from home, but playing near his hometown of Artesia, N.M., he had a special day.

It would have been even more special if he had one more passing yard, but his total of 418 was second best in Sun Bowl history behind Purdue's Kyle Orton, who had 419 in 2001.

Jones did throw for more yards in a bowl game than any Sooner ever, topping the 390 Josh Heupel had in the 1999 Independence Bowl....read more from the El Paso Times

(by J. Robert Byrom) LUBBOCK, TX -- Murphy's Law has been in full effect For the Oklahoma Sooners in Lubbock, Texas. Everything that could go wrong has gone wrong. Bad play, Bad Blowouts, Bad injuries and questionable calls among many other things.

The Sooners have not won in Lubbock since 2003....read more from SoonersNews.com

(by Bill Knight) Adrian Taylor was where no player wants to be -- on the back of a cart, his ankle a mess, being driven off the Sun Bowl turf.

Still, even in his toughest moment, he yelled to his teammates, "Hold it down."

And that is what his Oklahoma teammates did ... especially in the second half, holding down the Stanford offense....read more from the El Paso Times

Berry Tramel has highlights and interviews with OU's players.

(by Guerin Emig) Oklahoma defensive tackle Adrian Taylor sustained a gruesome broken ankle on Stanford's fourth play. As Sooners unpiled and realized the Joe Theismann nature of the injury, they all started jumping up and down and signaling their sideline for help. As trainers rushed to Taylor's aid, players from both teams knelt in prayer.

Some, like teary-eyed fellow defensive tackle Gerald McCoy, handled it with heavier emotions than others....read more from the Tulsa World

Remember where this team was not very long ago, coming off a 41-13 loss at Texas Tech, 6-5 on the season with maybe the best Oklahoma State team in a long time on its way to Owen Field, the offensive line already a shambles and all preseason dreams dashed.

Still, strangely, it will be the most satisfying Sooner offseason of recent memory....read more from The Norman Transcript

(by Allen Kenney) In a season in which mindless mistakes and bad luck often did in the Oklahoma Sooners, OU's 31-27 win over Stanford in the 2009 Brut Sun Bowl provided a refreshing change of pace.

Oh, the stupid mental errors–Landry Jones' downright awful interception, Gerald McCoy's boneheaded personal foul in the third quarter–were there. Same with the bad luck, such as Adrian Taylor's gruesome leg injury.

This time, though, OU refused to fold, and much of the credit for the Sooners' success against the Cardinal should go to OU's D....read more from Blatant Homerism

(by Bryan Waters) Perennially wounded and facing both a strong team and a string of bad officiating calls, the Oklahoma Sooners isolated the exorcism gene today in the Sun Bowl, and, for now, radiated the hell out of it.

Sooner Nation had begun to wonder if a victory in a close game wasn't some myth created by the school administration to appease a highly vocal alumni and fan base incessantly clamoring for OU's return to greatness. If not greatness, a tight victory would have to suffice here at the end of an agonizing season....read more from the Oklahoma Sooners Examiner

(by Jake Trotter) EL PASO, Texas — Turned out, the only thing that could stop freshman linebacker Ronnell Lewis was a hypnotist.

Earlier in the week, the Oklahoma team saw a hypnotist, and Lewis, nicknamed "The Hammer” by coach Bob Stoops, accidentally became part of the act.

"He was in the crowd and wasn’t supposed to be hypnotized,” Stoops said....read more from The Oklahoman

(by Dave Sittler) EL PASO, Texas — It was altogether fitting that Landry Jones picked this west Texas town to do something Saturday that he needs to do well for a long time.

The English translation for El Paso is “the pass.” And that’s the tactic Jones used to lead Oklahoma to a 31-27 win over No. 21 Stanford in the 76th annual Sun Bowl....read more from the Tulsa World

(by Jake Trotter) OU senior cornerback Brian Jackson missed the game due to a concussion suffered earlier in the week.

The Sooners regrouped by inserting Jonathan Nelson at cornerback, moving Keenan Clayton from strongside linebacker to strong safety and inserting Ronnell Lewis at linebacker. When the Sooners shifted to a five-defensive back set, Nelson went back to safety and Demontre Hurst played cornerback....read more from The Oklahoman

(by AP) EL PASO, Texas - The combination of Landry Jones and Ryan Broyles was almost unstoppable for Oklahoma.

And while the Sooners’ steely defense couldn’t quite stop Toby Gerhart, yards were hard to come by for the Heisman Trophy runner-up.

Broyles set a Sun Bowl record with three touchdown receptions, Jones passed for 418 yards and Oklahoma slowed Gerhart just enough to beat No. 19 Stanford 31-27 on Thursday....read more from NBC Sports

(by wmorin) I know y'all are probably thinking that I must be celebrating New Year's a bit early and/or that I've really lost my mind, especially knowing my love for and loyalty to the UT Longhorns, and my total dislike for all things OU -- but you'd be wrong.

I simply believe, considering what the Sooners had at the start of this season, a Heisman QB and high hopes for a national championship, and where they ended their season, their victory over an upstart, Harbaugh-coached, red-hot Stanford Cardinal team today in the Sun Bowl is something that should be acknowledged....read more from Sporting News