Sooners pick off Leaf with 33 seconds left to secure win

 

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• Oklahoma Survives Late Scare in Pacific Life Holiday Bowl

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• Pacific Life HOLIDAY BOWL

Bowl Overview

It was over when... Clint Ingram picked off Brady Leaf's pass at the Sooners' 10-yard line with 33 seconds left to finally silence Oregon's attempt at a come-"quack". Gameball goes to... Adrian Peterson. The sophomore managed just 8 yards in the first half, but wouldn't quit. He kept pounding away to spark the entire Sooners' offense in the second half and finished with 23 carries for 84 yards. Stat of the game... 5. Clint Ingram's game-saving interception was his fifth of the season for the Sooners. Complete Bowl Overview

The Fan Pick
	17.6% of Bowl Pick'em players picked Oklahoma to win the game.

Team Stat Comparison
1st Downs	17	19
Total Yards	327	361
Passing	243	229
Rushing	84	132
Penalties	3-15	10-166
3rd Down Conversions	6-18	6-16
4th Down Conversions	2-3	0-0
Turnovers	1	2
Possession	31:23	28:37

Individual Leaders

Oregon Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Leaf 14/24 136 1 1 Dixon 11/19 107 0 0	Oklahoma Passing   C/ATT YDS TD INT Bomar 17/30 229 1 1
Oregon Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Whitehead 12 43 0 11 Dragich 1 20 0 20 Stewart 2 6 0 6	Oklahoma Rushing   CAR YDS TD LG Peterson 23 84 0 20 Jones 7 30 1 11 Bomar 9 14 0 12
Oregon Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Finley 9 67 0 14 Whitehead 6 83 0 37 Williams 4 27 0 16 Day 3 14 1 8	Oklahoma Receiving   REC YDS TD LG Kelly 7 79 0 20 Iglesias 5 85 0 34 Johnson 2 32 0 18 Runnels 1 17 1 17

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER				ORE	OKLA
	FG	8:04	GARRETT HARTLEY 34 YD FG Drive info: 7 plays, 44 yards.	0	3
	TD	2:58	DEMETRIUS WILLIAMS 5 YD RUN (PAUL MARTINEZ KICK) Drive info: 12 plays, 79 yards.	7	3
THIRD QUARTER				ORE	OKLA
	TD	9:20	J.D. RUNNELS 17 YD PASS FROM RHETT BOMAR (GARRETT HARTLEY KICK) Drive info: 4 plays, 53 yards.	7	10
	TD	3:25	KEJUAN JONES 8 YD RUN (GARRETT HARTLEY KICK) Drive info: 9 plays, 74 yards.	7	17
FOURTH QUARTER				ORE	OKLA
	TD	3:30	TIM DAY 3 YD PASS FROM BRADY LEAF (PAUL MARTINEZ KICK) Drive info: 13 plays, 78 yards.	14	17

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Leave it to a Leaf.

Brady Leaf has steered clear of older brother Ryan's legacy of boorish behavior, but he couldn't evade another of his sibling's other traits -- throwing interceptions.

Oklahoma linebacker Clint Ingram made a leaping interception of Leaf's pass at the 10-yard line with 33 seconds left in the Holiday Bowl to preserve the Sooners' 17-14 upset of the No. 6 Oregon Ducks on Thursday night.

"It was a good call, I just underthrew the ball a little bit," said Leaf, who had moved the Ducks into position to win it. "There is not much more to it. Ingram made a nice play."

Ingram missed the call for a blitz on second-and-9, so he was in position to get in front of Demetrius Williams for the pickoff.

"This was the biggest play that I've ever made in any sport," Ingram said. "Everything we've gone through, everyone made plays and I just made the last one."

Leaf said he saw Ingram.

"I just tried to put it up and take some trajectory off it a little bit to try and get the ball to him quicker and I just didn't get it high enough."

Said Oregon coach Mike Bellotti: "I'm proud we came back and had a chance to win this game, not just tie it up. We just didn't make the play right there."

Leaf had thrown a 3-yard touchdown pass to tight end Tim Day with 3:30 left to pull the Ducks to 17-14.

Oregon's defense held, and Leaf began another drive at his 22 with 3:04 to play. He threw a 38-yard pass to Terrence Whitehead, who zigzagged to the Oklahoma 34. On third-and-14 from the 39, Leaf rolled right, was flushed back to the left and dodged a tackler before side-arming a pass to Jeremiah Johnson for a 19-yard gain.

The interception came two plays later.

"As soon as I saw him go up for the ball I knew it wasn't going to be dropped," coach Bob Stoops said. "He doesn't drop balls."

Leaf was booed when he came in for Oregon's third possession of the game, and again when a scoreboard graphic noted that he was Ryan Leaf's younger brother. Ryan Leaf, the bad-boy quarterback who played for the Chargers for three seasons, was perhaps the biggest bust in NFL history.

"I tried to block that stuff out," Leaf said. "I'm not trying to pay attention to the crowd too much, I'm focused on the team. I was just trying to get them a win."

Brady Leaf had helped rally the Ducks (10-2) in three of their final four regular-season games.

The Sooners (8-4) have won six of seven. They were coming off consecutive losses in BCS championship games.

It appeared the Ducks and Sooners would play the lowest-scoring Holiday Bowl ever. It turned out to be the second-lowest. The Holiday Bowl has a reputation of wild finishes and high scores, with an average of 57 points being scored in the first 27 editions. In the last five Holiday Bowls, the teams combined for an average of 67 points.

Oregon led 7-3 after the lowest-scoring first half in Holiday Bowl history, but its offense was a no-show for most of the second half.

Leaf finally got it going on a 13-play, 78-yard drive that was extended when Oklahoma's Eric Bassey was called for pass interference on a fake field goal. Leaf, the holder for placements, took the snap and threw to Day, who collided with Bassey at the three. One play later, Leaf hit Day for the 3-yard TD.

Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson heated up in the second half, finishing with 84 yards on 23 carries.

Rhett Bomar threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to fullback J.D. Runnells for a 10-7 Oklahoma lead with 9:20 to play in the third quarter.

Late in the third, Peterson's backup, Kejuan Jones, scored on an 8-yard run to make it 17-7. Peterson softened the Ducks with three bruising carries on the drive for 36 yards, including a 20-yard gain when he leveled safety J.D. Nelson.

Peterson apparently needed stitches in his forehead in the third quarter after he hit it on the back of a teammate's helmet while celebrating a big play. He was treated on the bench, and when he stood up, had a big bandage on his forehead.

Peterson fumbled on the Oregon 1 early in the fourth quarter trying to stretch for the end zone.

Oregon at least had the spirit of the Holiday Bowl on its first possession, running two trick plays and then going for it on fourth down before failing to convert. Matt Dragich gained 20 yards on a fake punt before wide receiver Garren Strong threw a pass down the left sideline to quarterback Dennis Dixon, who dropped it.

After taking over on downs, Oklahoma settled for Garrett Hartley's 34-yard field goal.

Oregon came back and made it 7-3 on Demetrius Williams' 5-yard touchdown run on an end-around.

Bomar was 17-of-30 for 229 yards, with one interception. Leaf was 14-of-24 for 136 yards. Oregon starter Dennis Dixon was 11-of-19 for 107 yards.