COLLEGE FOOTBALL : After Tough First Half, Oklahoma Picks Off a 44-9 Win Over Texas

DALLAS — The top-ranked Oklahoma Sooners cut off Texas at the pass with seven interceptions while rolling to a 44-9 victory Saturday in the annual intersectional grudge match between Red River rivals.

“Everybody here saw a great defensive team in the second half,” Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer said. “It was a great performance, both as a team and on an individual basis.

“The turnovers in the second half led to 31 points and, to me, that won the game.”

Sooner running back Lydell Carr, who scored two touchdowns, said: “We were upset with ourselves in the first half. And we said we were going to have a second half with some points on the board.

“We had a little huddle before the offense went onto the field and said ‘Let’s do it right.’ This is the last time for some of us here, and we wanted to walk up the tunnel with heads held high.”

Oklahoma led only 13-6 at halftime.

Switzer said he told the team at the half: “The defense is doing a good job, but the offense has to get going.”

Oklahoma has gone 17 quarters without giving up a touchdown.

The seven interceptions tied an Oklahoma record, and five of them came on passes thrown by Texas quarterback Brett Stafford.

“We played a full 60 minutes on defense,” Switzer said.

Ricky Dixon and Derrick Crudup each had two interceptions for the Sooners.

The Sooners, 5-0 and off to their best start since 1978, put the Longhorns away with three third-period touchdowns after interceptions.

With Oklahoma leading 13-6, Dixon returned an intercepted pass 50 yards to set up a 44-yard touchdown pass play, Jamelle Holieway to Carl Cabbiness.

The Sooners struck again only 76 seconds later on Carr’s 32-yard scoring run after a Troy Johnson interception.

Crudup’s interception, a 21-yard run by Holieway and Patrick Collins’ 4-yard scoring run put the Longhorns away.

Texas (2-3) went into the game as a 30-point underdog, the most in the 82-year history of the college football series.

The surprised Sooners trailed for the first time this year when Wayne Clements kicked a 52-yard field goal late in the first period for a 3-0 Texas lead.

The Sooners drove 78 yards with Carr scoring on a 7-yard run. Holieway’s 32-yard pass to tight end Keith Jackson on third down and 12 set up the score.

Holieway rushed for 70 yards in 15 carries to become the top career rusher among Oklahoma quarterbacks. He has 2,093 yards in surpassing Steve Davis’ 2,059.

Holieway left the game with a jammed shoulder but he returned with less than a minute to play.

He replaced Oklahoma’s second-string quarterback Charles Thompson, who took a hard hit but was able to walk off the field under his own power. Thompson had closed out the scoring with a 55-yard touchdown run.

The seven interceptions set a Texas record. The Longhorns had six passes intercepted in 1944 against Randolph Field and again in 1978 against Baylor.

It was the Oklahoma-Texas coaching debut of David McWilliams, a former Longhorn player and an assistant under Darrell Royal and Fred Akers.

Oklahoma trimmed Texas’ lead in the series to 47-31-4. Oklahoma Coach Barry Switzer is 8-5-2.

A 42nd consecutive sellout crowd of 75,587 watched Oklahoma’s impressive defense. The Sooners allowed only 95 yards rushing and 156 yards passing.