OU football: Why the 2001 Roy Williams Superman play won't happen again

DALLAS — The most famous Oklahoma football play since the wishbone era was totally unnecessary.

Fifteen years ago this week, the Texas Longhorns were backed up at their 3-yard line, in the north end zone, needing to go 97 yards in two minutes to beat Oklahoma.

You could have given Texas two years to march across the Cotton Bowl, and it still wouldn't have happened.

So safety Roy Williams performed a mercy killing. He jumped over Texas blocking back Brett Robin, hit quarterback Chris Simms as he tried to pass and the ball fluttered into the hands of linebacker Teddy Lehman, a fellow blitzer who gleefully took two steps to score the touchdown that sealed a 14-3 victory.

“It just popped up in my face and there it was,” said Lehman, who two years later would win the Butkus Award and now is a sports radio host at KREF in Norman. “The whole thing happened just like a flash. It was crazy. Crowd goes wild.”

Lots to remember and lots to cherish about that play, which spawned the Superman nickname for Williams. But here's what's most stunning. The score. Two minutes and change left, and OU led Texas 7-3.

Saturday in the Cotton Bowl, the ancient rivals duel again. The Longhorns lost 49-31 last week in Stillwater. The Sooners won 52-46 last week in Fort Worth.

2001 doesn't seem that long ago. It was after 9/11. “The Bachelor” was on ABC and still is. “Law & Order: SVU” was on NBC and still is. Some fans Saturday will drive to Fair Park in the same vehicle they drove that Saturday in 2001.

Fifteen years ago doesn't feel long ago and far away.

Then you look at the football. See the way the game is played. With scoreboards popping light bulbs and players stretched and spread all over the field. In some ways, it's hard to recognize the sport.

“We like the points, it's fun to watch, but it's also cool to look back and see a game played a completely different way,” Lehman said.

Defense is under siege throughout college football, and that includes Norman and Austin, where both teams are a disappointing 2-2. The Sooners lost to Houston 33-23 and Ohio State 45-24. Texas lost to California 50-43 after beating Notre Dame in overtime of a game that ended 37-37 in regulation.

“The game has changed,” said OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, a message many Sooner fans don't want to hear from him. “The balance has changed. We're not in a place to dominate like we did back then, just because the space on the field has changed. Having to have so many good players across. They can eliminate some of your best players, just by spreading you out, getting rid of the ball. Just drastically different.”

Stoops is right. Think about it. Even Superman would be affected – Williams might have to play linebacker in today's football.

And Lehman turns conspiracy theorist on the issue. “This offensive craze that has swept college football, part of it, they're really not enforcing the rules like they're supposed to,” he said, pointing to substitution shenanigans and offensive linemen going downfield on passes.

But before we place total blame on the environment, let's remember that 15 years ago, Texas was held to three points because the Longhorns were facing hellacious defenders.

Tommie Harris and Dusty Dvoracek were in the defensive tackle rotation. Both made the Chicago Bears. Jimmy Wilkerson was a starting defensive end; he played eight years in the NFL. The starting linebackers were Lehman, Rocky Calmus and Brandon Moore; Calmus won the Butkus that year and all three played in the NFL, including Moore, who played seven years in the pros.

The cornerbacks were Derrick Strait and Andre Woolfolk; the former was a Thorpe Award winner, the latter a first-round draft choice. The safeties were Williams and Brandon Everage, and Everage could out-hit Superman.

The game has changed, but so has the talent level. If the Sooners want to stuff Texas and Ohio State, go recruit players like that.

Those Sooners put Texas in such a vise grip, that with OU on the Longhorn 27-yard line and the clocking winding down, Mike Stoops suggested a pooch punt out of field-goal formation. Tim Duncan soft-kicked the ball, Texas' Nathan Vasher inexplicably caught it at the 3-yard line and Simms suddenly had Superman and Friends staring him in the face and the end zone breathing down his back.

Mike Stoops called a slam dog blitz. Lehman, the middle linebacker, would crash through the gap on one side of the center, while the nose guard charged through the other gap. The Texas linemen would thus be kept busy, leaving a hole for the rampaging Williams. And defensive end Cory Heinecke not only didn't rush, he didn't get down in a stance, instead immediately flaring out into the flat to keep Simms from zipping a quick pass.

It all ended disastrously for the Longhorns. Williams had been told not to leap, since he had been hurt trying to jump over a Texas blocker earlier in the game, but Williams played on instinct. He leaped over Robin, hit Simms and “the rest is history,” said Lehman, a right-place-right-time hero.

Who knows what will happen Saturday in the Cotton Bowl? But this we know. There will be no pooch punts from the opponents' 27-yard line. There will be no 7-3 score with two minutes left in the game. And if a team needs to go 97 yards to win the game, the defense will keep its fingers crossed instead of its mouth foamed.

Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at (405) 760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok.com/berrytramel.

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