Sooner soft spot
Aggies' Kyle Field a source of weakness for OU

By John Helsley

Published: November 3, 2006

Oklahoma, too, in its position of power, suffers from a source of severe vulnerability: Kyle Field.

The famed 12th Man, the saber-wielding cadets, the yells and the Aggie War Hymn and perhaps even ghosts of past Reveilles — Texas A&M's pooch mascots buried nearby — combine to create a crazed karma when the Sooners enter the gates.

Some of OU's best teams have ventured to College Station as prohibitive favorites, only to leave battered, if not beaten.

Now surging again after two earlier defeats, the Sooners head for another visit to Kyle Field on Saturday.

What sure peril lies ahead?

"Oh, no, I don't know," OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. "It's factual, sure. But I don't know; I don't like to look at it like that.

"I'm like, ‘This is the time it's not a crazy game.'"

It was wild in 2000, when the No. 1 Sooners needed Torrance Marshall's interception and 41-yard, sideline-skirting touchdown return to survive 35-31 and stay on track for a seventh national title.

"Get some luck," Venables recalled about that return. "Rocky Calmus blocked a guy right in the back, clipped him, and they didn't call it. Two hands right in the back.

"Sometimes, things go your way. Sometimes, things go against you."

Like in 2002, when an unbeaten and top-ranked OU team visited Kyle Field expected to rout a reeling Aggies team, yet lost when freshman quarterback Reggie McNeal came off the bench to throw four touchdown passes in a 30-26 upset.

And in 2004, it took a Heisman effort from Jason White (five touchdown passes) and a heroic moment from Adrian Peterson, who had his dislocated shoulder snapped back into place and returned for a key first-down run late in a 42-35 Sooner survival.

OU tight end Joe Jon Finley was there as a redshirt freshman in 2004. He remembers getting down in his stance and trying to make a line call to Jammal Brown, who was standing right beside him.

"I couldn't even hear myself," Finley said. "I thought, ‘This is pretty pointless.'"

The crowd, so loud, provides an electric atmosphere that can stun opponents and simultaneously stir the best out of their own.

"A great football environment," said Sooner assistant Bobby Jack Wright, who's visited as witness to several of A&M's biggest games, serving on the staffs of OU and Texas. "I've been there many times. Aggie fans are certainly as rabid as any in the country.

"They'll be loud. Especially at 7 o'clock."

That's an added factor this season � a kickoff built for primetime TV and prime partying.

ESPN's "College GameDay" will be there, too, whipping the Ags into a frenzy from the early morning hours on.

"My experience is that Kyle Field is at its best at night," Aggies coach Dennis Franchione said. "I don't know why that is or how to explain it. It's like the darkness keeps the enthusiasm in."

Bob Stoops downplays the Kyle Field factor and the thought of some recurring struggle.

"I don't look at it that way," Stoops said. "And we don't as a team."

Oh, but the Sooners do.

Quarterback Paul Thompson recalls a recruiting trip to Kyle Field, ironically as an Aggie prospect in to see the 2000 game against OU.

"The intensity, the noise, the fans," Thompson said, "the other side swaying back and forth and making me sick."

Said Larry Birdine: "If it's your first time, you can get caught up in all the hoopla."

Even coaches have been known to find themselves entranced in the mystique for a moment or two.

"My first year (2002), I just kind of sat back and looked at the crowd," OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. "Then I realized, ‘Hey, I'm going to think about the football game and what we're doing here.

"‘I'm not going to think about President Bush sitting over there.'"

There will be plenty to think about for both teams Saturday night.

This game's prize — continued contender status for the Big 12 South and big-time bowls.

And just the fact that the Sooners are in town should stir things up considerably.

"I will bet that I have not seen Kyle Field like we're going to see it Saturday night," Franchione said. "Not since I've been here. And I've seen it pretty good sometimes.

"But I have a feeling Saturday night is going to be special."

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