The Oklahoma Sooners give up more than 400 yards of offense and two fourth quarter touchdowns to Notre Dame as the Irish drop the Sooners to 5-2 and return to South Bend with a 30-13 win over Oklahoma.
Everett Golson threw for 177 yards and plunged in for the decisive 1-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter as Manti Te'o bolstered his Heisman Trophy candidacy with a late interception.
"I want to start off by complimenting Notre Dame for playing an excellent, tough football game,” said Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops. “They really made the key plays, in particular, down the stretch when they had to have them. What a heck of a football game. I told my players I was very proud of how they fought, how they competed, how hard they played and all of that. We just needed to be a few plays better in some areas.”
The Sooners were able to tie the ball game at 13 apiece when Blake Bell scored from one yard out with 9:10 play. The Irish we able to counter with two late touchdowns to take the final 30-13 lead.
"Like Coach Stoops was saying, tonight was a non-conference, and huge game for Oklahoma,” said Bell. “Everyone would have loved to get the victory, but we can't stop competing or stop giving everything that we have, every day at practice. All we can do is get ready for Iowa State."
Landry Jones finished the night 35-51 for 356 yards but was held without a touchdown pass.
“It was just one of those things where we moved it well,” said Oklahoma Quarterback Landry Jones. “We threw and caught it well, but we get down to that thirty-five yard line, and things kind of splinter down. But, congrats to Notre Dame. They're a good defense, and they kind of controlled this game.
"If their defense knows you're going to just drop back and throw it, it makes things a little bit tougher. That hurt us a little bit and at the end of the day you have to score points. They kind of just beat us, and they were better tonight. You can't really beat around the bush with that kind of thing when you play a game like that. They just flat out beat us."
WR Jalen Saunders was one of the few Sooner bright spots. Saunders has a career night catching 15 passes for 181 yards.
I thought I did pretty well,” said Saunders. “I have a lot to improve on. I can't just sit on this, despite everything I did tonight for my team. I feel bad for the loss, and I just hate to see it happen. We'll just have to get back on Monday, and get back to work."
The Irish improve to 8-0 while the Sooners drop to 5-2.
