ARLINGTON, Texas — Tre Brown was stunned he had a clear shot and a running start at Texas quarterback Sam Ehlinger.
With less than nine minutes to go and Oklahoma nursing a 30-27 lead in Saturday’s Big 12 championship game at AT&T Stadium, the Sooners sophomore cornerback came off the edge untouched on a timely blitz and smothered Ehlinger for a safety, which wound up being the decisive championship winning play in No. 5 Oklahoma’s 39-27 victory over No. 14 Texas at "Jerry World."
“I just see lights, especially when I saw him (Ehlinger) do play-action pass,” said Brown, who had seven tackles. “I was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe he just faked the ball.’ I got a green light. I took my shot and delivered.”
Brown’s punishing head-on hit swallowed Ehlinger in the OU crimson-painted end zone for a loss of seven yards.
It simultaneously swallowed up any chance of a ‘Hook ‘Em Horns’ comeback for the burnt orange faithful which appeared to count for nearly two-thirds of the raucous crowd of 83,114, which set the attendance record for a conference football championship all-time, surpassing the 1992 SEC Championship (83,091).
Brown’s big time delivery — which was capped off by a beautifully thrown 18-yard touchdown pass from Kyler Murray to Grant Calcaterra on the ensuing possession to give OU a commanding 12-point lead — sealed the Sooners’ fourth straight Big 12 title.
“None of the previous three here were easy by any stretch,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “This one certainly wasn’t either, but to sit here now as the four-time defending Big 12 champion — man, that sounds good.”
As a sea of rainbow confetti began to fly through AT&T Stadium, the Sooners held up 4s on their hands as they were presented the silver shimmering Big 12 championship trophy on a postgame stage.
Now OU awaits its bowl season fate and find out whether the team will make a return trip to the College Football Playoff, which the Sooners will learn Sunday morning during the Selection Show at 11 a.m. on ESPN.
“Goal number one for us was winning the Big 12 championship for a fourth straight time and we did that,” Riley said. “No matter what happens what happens the rest of today (Saturday) and what they tell us tomorrow, there is another banner going up in our indoor and another ring going on these guys’ fingers and another championship trophy going back home to Norman, Oklahoma.
“And you can’t take that away from us. I’m proud as hell of that.”
OU (12-1) became the first Power Five program to win four straight outright conference championships since Florida (1993-96). The last time the Sooners won four consecutive conference championships was from 1984-87 under legendary head coach Barry Switzer.
“To do what this team has done is really remarkable. I think our best ball is ahead of us,” Riley said. “I think there’s no doubt we have a playoff worthy team.”
Murray — who had another impressive Heisman-worthy performance, tossing three touchdown passes and 379 yards through the air in addition to 45 yards on the ground — saved his best for last as he dropped a dime to the corner of the end zone on an over-the-shoulder fade to his tight end, Calcaterra, to make it 39-27 OU with 2:00 left.
“That catch will live on in Oklahoma history forever,” Riley said. “What a play.”
The Oakland Athletics draftee was drooling over the matchup he had with his 6-foot-4 sophomore tight end.
“I was licking my chops when I saw that matchup, and Grant made a great catch,” Murray said. “It’s a route I’ve thrown a million times — I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thrown that route since I’ve got to this school. It’s something we work on every day in one-on-one’s. With this guy, I trust him and anybody in the receiving room we got. They all uplift us.”
Calcaterra’s concentration in traffic left his helmet half ajar and led to an emphatic celebration with a Gronk-like spike, which he was penalized for.
“It’s something we do every Tuesday in one-on-one’s with the inside fade,” said Calcaterra, who also caught a 6-yard touchdown pass with 18 seconds left in the second quarter to help OU build a 20-14 halftime lead. “All I had to do is go and make the play. It was up to me to make a competitive play.”
One day after the Sooners only loss of the season — a 48-45 loss to Texas in the Cotton Bowl back in October when Ehlinger lit up the Sooners for five touchdowns — Oklahoma fired defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who was replaced by Ruffin McNeill.
While the Sooners have still struggled statistically since the switch nearly two months ago, OU came up with another timely play in Brown’s safety despite yielding 437 yards of offense and 6.3 yards per play to Texas.
“My coaches sent me (on the blitz) at the right time,” Brown said. “I got home and made it happen.”
Several upperclassmen with championship experience also made big plays throughout the game including junior defensive end Amani Bledsoe, who blocked Cameron Dicker’s potential go-ahead extra point in the waning moments of the third quarter, to keep the game tied at 27 entering the fourth.
Sooners senior kicker Austin Seibert, who made all three of his red zone field goals on drives where the OU offense uncharacteristically sputtered before hitting pay dirt, got a friendly bounce when he doinked off the upright and in for a 31-yard field goal to give the Sooners a 30-27 lead with 12:37 remaining.
Seibert was named Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Year earlier this week and is the conference’s all-time leading scorer after moving into second place in FBS kick-scoring history.
Right guard Dru Samia, a three-year starter and the Big 12 Offensive Lineman of the Year had another solid game as he and the Sooners offensive line propelled OU to 508 yards of total offense and nearly seven yards per play.
Between the veterans showing why consistency matters and the group of youngsters making plays, OU had plenty of championship experience to avenge its loss to rival Texas.
Another veteran, linebacker Curtis Bolton, who paced OU with 10 tackles, also stepped up and praised McNeill for helping the Sooners take significant strides into mending a maligned defense.
“He’s starting to understand what plays need to be called in what situations,” Bolton said of McNeill. “I thought from a coordinator perspective he called a pretty damn good game tonight.”
Despite giving up 64 third down yards to Texas on the opening drive of the game which gave the Longhorns a 7-0 lead via Ehlinger’s 16-yard touchdown run, the Sooners regrouped and held their rival scoreless in the fourth quarter as the offense pulled away for good.
Now Seibert and his fellow seniors have a fourth Big 12 championship to showcase, which is more than Texas has to its name in the history of the Longhorns’ storied program.