Texas was about to take a touchdown lead over Oklahoma in the third quarter of Saturday’s duel in Dallas.
The venerable college football classic was about to be colored Burnt Orange, as Longhorn running back Jamaal Charles was rolling toward the end zone at the OU 5. The experienced and agile running back was the last person you’d expect to be victimized near the goal line. In that one moment, Mack Brown was on the verge of making Bob Stoops sweat bullets for a third straight season.
But then, in the blink of an eye, this neutral-site rivalry gained anything-but-neutral momentum.
While Charles held the ball loosely on his foray toward paydirt, Curtis Lofton came from the side and made a silky smooth pickpocket move to seamlessly strip the ball in one continuous motion. The Sooners pounced on the pill and denied the Longhorns on a drive that had touchdown written all over it.
Lofton’s theft defined Saturday afternoon’s Big 12 brouhaha, but in order to make that play stand up, Oklahoma quarterback Sam Bradford — so mentally frail the week before against Colorado — needed to remind the nation that he was worthy of the starting quarterback slot, and a legacy established by gunslingers such as Josh Heupel and Jason White. Sure enough, the youngster answered the call in the crucible of this intense rivalry.
Source: feeds.feedburner.com
