The Big D Was A Big Deal In Big D

Oklahoma's winning touchdown came early in the fourth quarter, just, said sophomore running back Pat Collins, as Switzer had said it would. "Coach kept telling us to be patient, be patient," said Collins. "Their defense looked like it was getting tired. We knew if we kept pounding on them, something had to give."

Did it ever. On the fifth play of a drive that began on the Oklahoma 40. Aikman faked to Carr up the middle. Aikman then sprinted to his left with Collins, a 4.3 speedster, behind him. As most of the Texas defense collapsed in against Carr, cornerback Stephen Braggs went for Aikman, who flipped a pretty pitch back to Collins. "The line did a great job and [freshman running back] Leon Perry sealed everything off inside," said Collins. "I saw the strong safety [Gerard Senegal] coming for me, so I set my angle for the sideline and took off."

While Switzer screamed, "Burn! Burn!" Collins streaked 45 yards for the TD. "After we scored, they were beaten," said Migliazzo. "We ran the blitz against them anytime we wanted."

"They knew we were going to throw," said Longhorn quarterback Todd Dodge, who completed four of 13 passes with two interceptions. "They blitzed all their linebackers and we just couldn't pick them up." Dodge was dropped by Bosworth, loss of nine. By Troy Johnson, loss of 10. By Kevin Murphy twice, for losses of nine and six.

For Switzer, who called Saturday's game the greatest Oklahoma defensive performance he has seen in his 20 years in Norman, victory was sweeter than usual. Last season, the favored Sooners were tied 15-15 after several controversial calls went Texas's way. "You don't get that many chances to play Texas and know you are the better team," said Switzer. "We were better last year, but we didn't win. We proved we were better again this year, and we did it without Tony Casillas, the best defensive player in the country."

"Without Casillas?" said Dodge. "He didn't play? I didn't notice."

The Oklahoma defense will do that to you.