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 Friday, December 13, 2002
Frozen Moment: Pitching for Oranges
By Marc Connolly
BCSfootball.com
KANSAS CITY -- That golden left arm of Josh Heupel is undoubtedly the reason Oklahoma faithful will spend their New Year's in South Beach. But on perhaps the most important play of the Sooners' dream season, he utilized his cannon in the same fashion quarterbacks of yesteryear did -- by way of a timely option pitch. A play as familiar to those in Norman as the backdoor cut is at Princeton.
Somewhere, Bud Wilkinson is smiling.
|  | | Josh Heupel completed 24 of 44 passes for 220 yards and two TDs, but it was his option pitch that helped send the Sooners to the championship game. |
On a night when his passing brilliance was shown in glimpses between missed reads, overthrows and interceptions, his best moment in Oklahoma's 27-24 victory over Kansas State on Saturday night at chilly Arrowhead Stadium came on a crucial fourth-and-1 at the K-State 39. With the back-and-forth tussle knotted at 17-17, the dilemma OU faced was whether to try and hit a coffin corner punt to pin Jonathan Beasley and the stagnant offense they'd seen for three quarters, or to go for it and risk giving up decent field position.
After letting the clock roll down to end the third quarter in order to allow for more decision time for Bob Stoops and offensive coordinator Mike Mangino, Heupel led his arsenal back onto the field to a roar of the bipartisan crowd. Faced with a fourth-and-goal from the 1 on their first foray down the field in the first quarter, Quentin Griffin was stuffed by mammoth defensive tackle Mario Fatafehi for a loss of a yard and a key change of possession. Heupel had rushed to no avail the previous play on a sneak up the middle.
Would the coaching staff on the opposite side of Arrowhead's chilled turf believe they'd try to stuff it down their throats once again?
"The defense probably thought we were going to try and run up the middle," said Griffin, the sophomore running back, who ran for 87 yards on 13 carries in addition to catching seven balls for 38 yards.
Stoops said the Sooners were discouraged by their short-yardage success, so they wanted to attack to the outside. This was apparent as soon as Heupel took off to his left with Griffin floating behind him ready to either take the pitch up the sideline or serve as the ultimate decoy for a quick dive by Heupel past the invisible first-down line.
Whether the type of expression shown on the faces of those in purple was one of complete shock depends on who you talked to.
"In retrospect, no. At the time, perhaps so," said Bill Snyder when asked if he was surprised to see the quintessential drop-back gunslinger do his best Jack Mildren impersonation. "Whoever made the call, whether it was the bench or Josh, it was a great call and we were looking for the sneak, I think. You can't do that and stop the option too."
Defensive coordinator Phil Bennett designed a brilliant game plan with a mixture of zones, all-out bull-rushes and double-teams that forced Heupel to throw a season-high three interceptions.
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They caught us with our pants down, and they exploited us.
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— Kansas State DE Chris Johnson |
"We've worked that play," said Bennett, defending his unit. "We worked it, because Texas A&M had run it successfully against it."
But there's a difference between working on such a play in the comforts of a Manhattan practice field where a missed assignment means a do-over than when it means a loss of $13.5 million in a BCS bowl. And no simulation can equal the conditions of fan noise, raw human emotion and 30-degree temperatures in a pressure-packed tie ball game.
"It was loud, communication was hard. We couldn't get everything we wanted to say out there down the line," admitted defensive end Chris Johnson. "I'm still trying to figure out what happened on that play because we were confused before the play started up."
"What happened was they motioned Seth (Littrell) out and Jon McGraw had an injured shoulder and couldn't get off the block," said Bennett.
The aforementioned confusion and blown assignment almost didn't matter as Johnson closed in on Heupel just as he released a quick flip towards Griffin.
"He almost made him fumble the pitch," said Bennett.
Griffin wasn't worried in the least bit.
"I knew he'd get rid of it in time," he said. "We've been practicing it, and that's the way you draw it up."
Though Heupel was punished like a blocking sled a split second after he released the pitch, it froze the defense just enough to open a seam.
"Our offensive line did a great job on their blocks while the receivers established a trail," said Griffin. "All I had to do was catch the pitch and run."
And run he did, some 22 yards to the Wildcat 17, leaving a trail of K-State defenders shaking their heads.
"They caught us with our pants down, and they exploited us," said Johnson.
"We didn't expect that one at all," said strong safety Jarrod Cooper. "We were set up for about three different plays and that wasn't one of them. We just really got caught in the wrong defense there."
Paydirt came just a play later when Heupel, in his usual place of business in the pocket, fired a seed to the middle of the end zone where it met Andre Woolfolk in perfect stride for a 17-yard TD. It put the top-ranked Sooners up 24-17, and they would never look back as their quest for the Orange Bowl was finally realized. Looking back, if K-State stops OU on that fourth-and-1, the entire makeup of the game would have changed.
"That was a big play," said Bennett, with a reflective pause. "There's no doubt that was a back-breaker."
Snyder, a man of few words in victory or defeat, summed it up best.
"It was a chess match and a guessing game and we guessed incorrectly."
Marc Connolly is a senior writer for ABC Sports Online.
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Josh Heupel does it on his own with this 7-yard touchdown run.
Josh Heupel talks with ABC Sports' Lynn Swann after the Sooners' championship victory.