Somebody asked Bob Stoops on Monday if Adrian Peterson had given up on the lateral pass that bounced off Peterson’s hands and was returned for the final touchdown in Texas’ 28-10 win Saturday.
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Stoops was not amused.
“Oh, c’mon, you’re kidding me,” Stoops said. “Nobody plays harder than that guy. He touched the ball and deflects it backward and that’s what he felt. He felt it was an incomplete pass.
“C’mon, nobody goes harder than that guy.”
Perception elsewhere, however, might be mixed.
Weighing in on the Heisman race, ESPN’s Dave Revsine wrote in his on-line Heisman Watch: “What will stick in voters minds from the game is his failure to pick up a pass that was ruled a lateral and brought back for a touchdown by the Longhorns’ Aaron Ross. Peterson showed a lack of awareness and a lack of hustle on the play. I dropped him from second to fourth this week.”
Peterson’s response: “Everybody’s entitled to what they want to think. Anybody that’s seen me play knows I go out there, I’m at war. I go out there and play my heart out. I feel that was a bad call, and for them to think, ‘Oh, he was giving up’ or ‘he’s not a team player that’s gonna go after the ball,’ I look at that and say it’s crazy.
“When you’re doing good, they’re all on you. And when something bad happens, they’re all trying to find the littlest and smallest thing to down-talk you or bring you down. It’s their job.”
• Questionable call: Peterson said he saw the throw from quarterback Paul Thompson as a clear forward pass.
Stoops agreed, saying he planned to seek clarification from the Big 12 office.
“I think it was a bad call,” Peterson said. “I’m pretty sure it probably won’t be the last bad call we get.
“You can’t do anything about it. Just got to go forward.”
• Homecoming time set: OU’s Oct. 21 home game against Colorado has been set for 6 p.m. and will be televised by Fox.
The homecoming game will also feature a special recognition of Prentice Gautt, OU’s first African-American player, as well as the 1956 national championship team.
• Tickets available: A limited number of tickets are available for Saturday’s meeting with Iowa State, as well as the game with Colorado.
The tickets, priced at $67, are available by calling the Athletics Ticket Office at 800-456-4668 or 405-325-2424 during regular business hours Monday-Friday between 8 a.m.- 5 p.m., or in person at the Athletics Ticket Office on the west side of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
OU also has a limited number of tickets for the game at Missouri on Oct. 28. Those tickets are $55 each.
All of these tickets are available on a first-come, first-served basis while supplies last.
• Official photo: Big 12 officials checked into reports that a member of the officiating crew for last Saturday’s OU-Texas game posed for photographs with a group of fans before the game. But Big 12 assistant commissioner Bob Burda said the league determined there wasn’t any impropriety.
Burda declined to name the official, citing Big 12 policy. But he said the group included the owner of the company the official works for. Burda said the company owner is an OU fan, and said the group included OU and Texas fans.
"We ask our people to exercise discretion," Burda said. "It’s not uncommon for officials to get that kind of request. But perception is reality so you do want them to be discreet and exercise sound judgment."
• Longhorn lashing: Texas defensive end Brian Robison declared his Longhorns as the new rulers of the Red River Shootout.
“I feel like the rivalry has turned,” Robison said.
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