Oklahoma vs. Oregon, 2005: Clint Ingram Saves the Holiday

With a drastically new offense and a strong performance (to a point) from their young QB, the Sooners turned around a sour season and finished strong against the Ducks.
Oklahoma vs. Oregon, 2005: Clint Ingram Saves the Holiday
Oklahoma vs. Oregon, 2005: Clint Ingram Saves the Holiday /

PART 2 OF 3

SAN ANTONIO — This year’s Alamo Bowl matchup between Oklahoma and Oregon — set for Wednesday night in the Alamodome — immediately rekindled memories of the OU-UO series in the mid-2000s.

Everyone’s first thought, of course, went to the most recent meeting, the controversial 2006 showdown in Eugene decided by inept Pac-12 officiating and incomprehensibly botched replay reviews of an onside kick.

But that was merely the third game between the Ducks and Sooners in a three-year span.

OU and UO actually met a handful of times in the past: In 1958, Bud Wilkinson’s squad took a 6-0 victory over Oregon; in 1966, Jim Mackenzie’s only OU team beat the Ducks 17-0; in 1972, Chuck Fairbanks’ final Sooner squad crushed Oregon 68-3; and in 1975, Barry Switzer’s national champions demolished the Ducks 62-7.

They didn’t play again for almost 30 years before Bob Stoops faced Oregon three straight times in 2004, 2005 and 2006.

Before covering Stoops’ fourth and presumably final matchup against the Ducks — this time in San Antonio — SI Sooners recounts Stoops’ first three meetings against Oregon:

- - - -

Dec. 29, 2005

Oklahoma 31, No. 5 Oregon 14

San Diego

The Oregon Ducks felt they had been snubbed by the Bowl Championship Series. The Oklahoma Sooners were just trying to look respectable.

Nevertheless, it was OU that took a thrilling 17-14 victory over Oregon in the 2005 Holiday Bowl at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego thanks to a new offensive coordinator, a nice game from their mercurial quarterback, and a heroic interception by their gravelly voiced linebacker in the closing seconds.

OU finished its worst season of the Bob Stoops era to date with an 8-4 record and a prideful victory that came down to the final two seconds — even after Clint Ingram’s leaping interception in the red zone.

“That's the biggest play of my life, man,” Ingram said. “This was the biggest play that I've ever made in any sport.”

With 33 seconds left and the Ducks operating from the OU 19, Oregon quarterback Brady Leaf drove the Ducks into the red zone, sidestepping pressure and sidearming completions to work the ball down the field.

“You had that feeling like, 'Geez, not again,' “ Stoops said. “We just needed a break, one play.”

After his third big throw of the drive, he stepped back and tried to float a short pass to Demetrius Williams. Williams might have scored the go-ahead touchdown easily. Instead, the Sooners’ defensive captain skied for the football and pulled it down at the OU 9-yard line. It was his team-leading fifth interception of the season.

Clint Ingram against Texas A&M in 2005 / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

“Of course, our ball magnet, Clint, came up with another interception,” Stoops said. “ … As soon as I saw him go up for the ball, I knew it wasn't going to be dropped. He doesn't drop balls.”

Still, the Sooners weren’t out of the woods yet. As Ingram’s pick set off a wild celebration, he threw the football high into the stands — an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that put the ball inside the 5.

That’s when quarterback Rhett Bomar got the snap, took a quick knee and then inexplicably spiked the football with 27 seconds to play — stopping the clock and invoking another unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that lodged the ball at the OU 2.

Rhett Bomar
Rhett Bomar / Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

In a matter of seconds, Stoops went from wildly fist-pumping after Ingram’s interception to shaking his fist at Bomar, screaming at his young QB.

Bomar then took a delay-of-game penalty, spotting the ball inside the 1, then finally took the snap and leaned forward to finish it.

Bomar, slickly operating new offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson’s new system, was named offensive MVP. He completed 17-of-30 passes for 229 yards with a 17-yard TD pass to fullback J.D. Runnels.

Under Chuck Long — who had just taken the head coaching job across town at San Diego State — the OU offense utilized Adrian Peterson in a lot of I-formation packages. But under Wilson, the Sooners featured the mobile Bomar on the move, throwing, running, operating play-action fakes, even deftly handing off to Peterson and Kejuan Jones on sprint-draws.

Adrian Peterson
Adrian Peterson / OU Athletics

Oregon led 7-3 at halftime, but Runnels’ TD made it 10-7 OU, and Jones’ 8-yard TD run put the Sooners up 17-7 late in the third.

That’s when Leaf came in for starter Dennis Dixon and gave the Ducks — also keyed by Peterson’s goal-line fumble that nearly put the game away — a late spark.

It would go down as Bomar’s final game, his one up-and-down season as the starter permanently etched by both remarkable physical gifts and confounding immaturity. Stoops kicked him off the team the following August — the day before preseason practice opened — for NCAA violations.

Hounded and pounded by massive All-American noseguard Haloti Ngata and a hard-hitting Oregon defense, Peterson finished with a hard-earned 84 yards on 23 carries — 76 in the second half, most after Ngata went out with a knee injury — as OU won for the sixth time in its last seven games to overcome a 2-3 start.

“Everybody doubted us early,” Bomar said, “but we came on strong on the end.”


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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.