Welcoming a challenge

Sooners aren't coasting in '04 -- and they may be better off as a result

Oklahoma freshman Adrian Peterson set a new personal best for rushing yards in a game with 249. AP

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Remember last year, when Oklahoma was beating people 52-9 and 65-13? Remember what happened when it finally got to the Big 12 championship game and met its first real bout of adversity? Yeah, it wasn't pretty.

The 2004 Sooners aren't beating people 52-9. They're winning by scores like 31-21, 12-0 and, on Saturday against pesky rival Oklahoma State, 38-35, a victory preserved only when the Cowboys' last-second, 49-yard field-goal attempt went wide left.

If you're Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops, you could be upset about your team's increasingly shaky secondary or its special teams gaffes. You could be worried sick headed into an even bigger game next week at Texas A&M.

Or you could be delighted that your Sooners are A) still undefeated and B) doing exactly what they didn't do those fateful nights a year ago against Kansas State and LSU: Shaking off adversity.

"I think back to last year and, I don't want to say it was easy, but we made it look easy. We weren't challenged in difficult situations," Stoops said. "This year, we have been, and it's built our character."

Saturday, the Sooners found themselves face-to-face with danger more often than Sarah Michelle Gellar. There were only about 27 instances when they either fell behind or saw their lead diminished, when momentum had shifted to the side of the Cowboys, when you could hear the words "upset alert" being uttered in every locker room and every press box of every Orange Bowl-aspiring team in the country.

And every single time, the Sooners would answer. Or, more precisely, either Jason White or Adrian Peterson would answer.

Oklahoma dominated the first half statistically, yet found itself trailing at one point 14-7 due to two special-teams blunders -- Mark Clayton muffing a punt return at his own 14 to set up one Cowboys touchdown, punter Blake Ferguson fumbling a snap that resulted in the other. How did Oklahoma respond? With White throwing a 72-yard touchdown to Mark Bradley.

That would be the first of three consecutive Oklahoma touchdowns for a 28-14 lead, but the Cowboys weren't going away anytime soon. After a miserable first half, Oklahoma State QB Donovan Woods caught fire, completing two bombs on the same drive to slice the Sooners' lead to seven, midway through the third quarter.

What happened next? First and 10 from his own 20, Peterson takes a handoff up the gut, spins, leaves three Cowboys defenders falling flat on their faces and races 80 yards for a touchdown. Time to breathe easy again, up 35-21.

But again Oklahoma State was not done. With Woods continuing to burn the OU defense deep, the Cowboys again cut the lead in half with the fourth quarter fast approaching. This time the Sooners would take over first down on their own 7. And this time, Peterson would burst for 56 yards en route to an Oklahoma field goal to put it back up 10.

The Cowboys would go to the air once again, cutting the lead to 38-35 with 10:34 remaining, and the Sooners were forced to punt on their final two possessions. The game would ultimately be decided by OU's defense, beleagured much of the afternoon, which found itself with 2:44 left on the clock needing to keep Oklahoma State from scoring. The Cowboys made it interesting, driving from their own 34 to the Sooners' 32. But this time, the defensive line got enough pressure on Woods to keep him from completing two more attempted deep balls. This time they held, albeit barely.

Afterward, no one in crimson was complaining about the outcome.

"A win is a win," said offensive lineman Jammal Brown. "We got tested, and that's good."

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So what does one take from this, appropriately labeled edition of Bedlam? That the Sooners are more vulnerable than they've been in four years, while at the same time more dangerous than ever. How do you stop an offense with both a deadly accurate, Heisman-winning quarterback (14-of-26, 221 yards, three TDs) and a once-in-a-lifetime running back who turned in his best outing yet (33 carries, 249 yards)? The Cowboys couldn't, surrendering 488 yards and getting no pressure whatsoever on White. They did manage to bottle up Peterson in the backfield on numerous occasions, but all it took were two highlight-reel plays to negate all that effort.

Defensively, Oklahoma played its worst game since its last visit to Boone Pickens Stadium two years ago, when Rashaun Woods spent much of the afternoon running his own personal track meet. His younger brother, Donovan, completed just eight passes the entire game, but the ones he made were deadly -- a 50-yarder here, a 46-yarder there. With Texas A&M and its far-more skilled QB, Reggie McNeal, looming next week, the Sooners' secondary, which is missing injured cornerback Antonio Perkins, would seem to be a huge concern. Especially since Kansas State was able to complete a couple of longballs as well two weeks earlier.

But according to OU co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables, very few of the long plays involved actual blown coverages.

"It was one of those things where, if you didn't show up to play, if you flopped all over the field, then you'd be upset," he said. "We didn't think that was the case. Other than a couple of plays, we felt we played well defensively. If anything, this builds confidence. I guarantee you, when you win a tough game on the road, and it's an all-team effort like this, it does a lot for your locker room."

That seemed to be a common theme afterward as coaches and players congregated in the lobby outside the OU locker room. While many observers around the country may be losing confidence in the Sooners, the Sooners themselves say they're gaining it. They say they welcome the challenges.

"Last year, a lot of times the first-team offense would be out in the third quarter," said White. "Now, we're playing all four quarters, and that's only going to help us down the road."

In this case, "down the road" is in seven days.

In many ways, the season comes down to next week's game in College Station, another place where OU lost the last time it visited in 2002. The Aggies are by far the best team the Sooners will face the rest of the regular season (Nebraska, Baylor and, if they get that far, whoever represents the North Division in the Big 12 title game, are the others).

But rest assured, any possible route to the Orange Bowl will force them to deal with more adversity. It always does. Ask any recent national champ -- all have had their share of close calls.

"I still think we haven't put it all together, and maybe that's good that we're still good enough to win," said Stoops. "I told the guys, our 2000 national title team -- we won 12-7 here, and we went on to win out and play in the Orange Bowl. So a lot of things are setting up similarly."

Stewart Mandel covers college sports for SI.com.