No. 2 Oklahoma 41, Kansas 10

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ With the Kansas defense smothering Oklahoma's Heisman hopeful, the Sooner who already has the trophy took over. <br/><br/>Jason White threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns against

Saturday, October 23rd 2004, 7:13 pm

By: News On 6

NORMAN, Okla. (AP) _ With the Kansas defense smothering Oklahoma's Heisman hopeful, the Sooner who already has the trophy took over.

Jason White threw for 389 yards and four touchdowns against a defense geared up to stop Adrian Peterson, and No. 2 Oklahoma defeated Kansas 41-10 on Saturday.

White threw touchdowns of 69, 61, 41 and eight yards and the Sooners (7-0, 4-0 Big 12) held Kansas to 256 yards offense in a homecoming rout. The Heisman Trophy winner was 27-for-44.

``Kansas was determined early to take the running game away, but he (White) made some great throws, some great plays and we were just on the verge of making some others,'' Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said.

Peterson, needing 99 yards to tie Emmitt Smith and Marshall Faulk as the quickest freshmen to gain 1,000 yards, gained 126 yards on 22 carries _ all but 23 coming in the fourth quarter.

Peterson now has 1,027 yards.

``I knew they couldn't stop us both,'' Peterson said. ``The pass opened up the run game.''

Kansas (3-4, 1-3) lost its third straight to Oklahoma, this time in coach Mark Mangino's first trip back to Norman since he left Oklahoma as offensive coordinator in 2001 to take the Jayhawks' job.

Kansas' defense kept the game close for a while, but the Sooners used three Jayhawks' turnovers to score or set up touchdowns and turn the game into a blowout in the second half.

The Jayhawks held Peterson to just 21 yards on 10 carries and prevented Oklahoma from converting on a fourth-and-three at the Kansas 28 in the first half. They also blocked a field goal attempt in the first quarter and trailed just 14-10 at halftime.

But Kansas failed to contain White.

``Our defense played good, tough football,'' Mangino said. ``I thought we did a good job in the first half. We're giving up some big plays that are hurting us a little bit.''

With Peterson neutralized, White went over the defense to hit a wide-open Mark Clayton in stride for a 61-yard score and threw 41 yards later in the second quarter to Travis Wilson for a TD.

In the third quarter, White hit Brandon Jones over the middle and he raced past two Kansas defenders for a 69-yard score that put Oklahoma up 21-10. Clayton finished with five catches for 112 yards.

``You always look forward to throwing the deep ball,'' White said. ``Lots of times I caught them looking at No. 9 (Clayton), and that left the deep ball wide open.''

Lance Mitchell picked up Jason Swanson's fumble and ran 28 yards for another Oklahoma score, and Peterson finally broke through in the fourth quarter for an 11-yard TD.

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops _ possibly with the Bowl Championship Series standings in mind _ poured it on his former assistant with White's 8-yard scoring pass to Mark Bradley with 35 seconds left to make it 41-10.

Oklahoma was just close behind second-place behind Miami in the initial BCS standings earlier this week.

``I don't blame Oklahoma at all,'' Mangino said. ``With the quest of having just one national champion, there's going to be some casualties along the way.''

Two plays after Clayton's TD put the Sooners up 7-0, Adam Barmann threw just above the fingertips of Oklahoma safety Brodney Poole to Brandon Rideau along the sideline for a 78-yard score.

A bad snap on an Oklahoma punt gave Kansas the ball at the Sooners 36 with 46 seconds left in the second quarter and set up Johnny Beck's 43-yard field goal as time expired.

Barmann, spelled in the second and third quarters by Swanson, led the Jayhawks with 12-for-22 passing for 160 yards but he also threw two costly interceptions. Rideau had four receptions for 96 yards.