BYU LB 'Felt Bad' About Hurting Sam Bradford, But Felt 'Nothing But Love' from Oklahoma Fans

And that was the end of the Sooners’ pursuit of returning to the BCS National Championship game. BYU scored a late touchdown on a cross-country drive, then crossed their fingers as punter Tress Way’s 54-yard field goal was wide left and short.

‘Any other day,” tight end Trent Ratterree told AllSooners this week, “I think Tress Way makes that kick.”

“That just wasn’t our night,” defensive end Auston English added. “That one goes down in the memory books for sure.”

Both Ratterree, then a sophomore, and English, a senior, lamented late plays they didn’t make — English a missed tackle on a clear path to BYU quarterback Max Hall on BYU’s game-winning drive, and Ratterree a catch of a Landry Jones pass that could have gotten a first down or even resulted in a shorter field goal attempt.

“I mean, there were so many, just, your own ghosts that kind of haunt you,” English said.

Bradford’s injury — with seven seconds left in the first half — was the one that everyone remembers. But there were other setbacks that rocked the Sooners before the season even began.

Ratterree got the news the day before the game that first-team All-American and eventual first-round NFL Draft pick Jermaine Gresham had suffered torn knee cartilage in practice and Ratterree, a former walk-on, would be starting in the first football game ever played at Jerry Jones' new playground.

“It was kind of one of those moments when someone points,” Ratterree said, “and then you kind of look behind you to see if they're pointing at someone behind you.”

Ratterree wasn’t the only new face in the offensive lineup. The Sooners were breaking in four new starters on the offensive line — three of them first-time starters, one of them (Brody Eldridge) a converted tight end playing center.

“We were just coming off that national championship game (loss to Florida in 2008),” English said, “and had a lot of weapons going into the season. But then they just quickly, on offense, really just dissipated.”

Bradford threw a short touchdown pass to Ryan Broyles in the first quarter, and after Clawson bounced Bradford off the turf, Jimmy Stevens kicked a 35-yard field goal with two seconds left to put OU up 10-7 at halftime.

Stevens added a 22-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to make it 13-7, but Hall delivered a 16-play, 78-yard drive and a 7-yard touchdown pass to McKay Jacobson that gave the Cougars a 14-13 lead with 3:03 to play.

There were OU mistakes made all over the field. DeMarco Murray fumbled twice, including once inside the BYU 10-yard line. Broyles also lost a fumble. The Sooners committed 12 penalties — 10 by the rebuilt offense — including six (two declined) on one player and three false starts on the opening drive.

Also, Stevens’ short field goal came after Jones was stuffed on a quarterback sneak from the 1-yard line.

In the end, Hall was too good with his command of the offense — he completed 9-of-10 passes for 84 yards on the final drive, with four completions to All-America tight end Dennis Pitta, including a fourth-and-3 throw that popped for 23 yards — and Clawson was too precise with his blitz timing.

And Split Away Choice worked too well.

“That blitz was designed specifically for the will backer, which I played, and it seemed like it worked every time we ran it — against every team,” Clawson said. “So I was always chomping at the bit to run that blitz.”

Then-BYU coach Bronco Mendenhall’s 3-4 defense was designed to confuse blockers and quarterbacks. Based on disguised looks and unexpected pressures, the Cougars exposed the Sooners’ young offensive line and hit Bradford early and often. Split Away Choice was just the most effective pressure that night.

“We did a lot of things where we disguised the blitz and we’d run a lot of different pressures and stunts and stuff between the linebackers and the defensive line,” Clawson said. “So, several of the blitzes that that we ran that night worked — worked really well.”

Trent Williams, a junior and the eventual No. 4 pick in the 2010 NFL Draft, was the only returning starter up front from the 2008 national runner-up, and he was switching from the right side to the left. Left tackle Phil Loadholt, left guard Duke Robinson, center Jon Cooper and right guard Brandon Walker had combined for 160 career starts, and Gresham was a big part of the offensive line play as well.

BYU called Split Away Choice earlier on Bradford’s final drive, and Clawson hit Bradford clean. When they called it again two plays later, it was even cleaner.

The defensive end looped outside and the nose tackle slanted inside, creating a lane for Clawson. Willams at first slid to his left to cover the outside man, but then saw Clawson racing inside and tried to adjust. It wasn’t quick enough, as Clawson blew past Williams’ desperate stretch and drew a bead on Bradford.

Clawson threw a quick glance down at Bradford as he got off the turf and went back to the huddle, but there’s a photo that was snapped of the moment that makes it look like he was standing over Bradford and gloating. That didn’t happen.

“You don't know when you're getting up off the turf,” Clawson said, “if someone's just, you know, felt the sting, or if they're actually hurt.”

Bradford was actually hurt, a separation of the acromioclavicular joint, a tear in the soft tissue on the corner of the shoulder. Widely projected as a first-round pick, Bradford missed three games before returning to throw for 300-plus yards against Baylor and then seemed fine. But then the following week against No. 3-ranked Texas, the o-line collapsed again, another blitzer came free and Bradford was dumped once more on his shoulder, aggravating the injury and ending his season.

“That was just, you know, it was kind of devastating,” Ratterree said. “That was kind of the year where a bunch of us young guys — we had to learn how to play.”

"Literally a game of inches," then-defensive coordinator Brent Venables said on Tuesday. "But I remember our team didn’t flinch. That was pretty devastating and our guys responded."

The Sooner defense, led by Gerald McCoy and Ryan Reynolds and Jeremy Beal and Auston English and others, put together one of the best season-long performances in a decade at OU — one that still stands as Venables’ last great Sooner defense — but the offense struggled with a rebuilt o-line and a freshman quarterback. OU lost five one-score games that year before beating Stanford in the Sun Bowl to finish 8-5.

“Yeah, there was a lot of games that we hung around in, stayed around in and kept it close and had opportunities to win because of the defensive performance out there,” English said. “It was a battle from then on every week, man. It was a tough season.”

BYU, meanwhile, rode the momentum of that night in Arlington to another strong season, 11-2. The Cougars were coming off three straight 10-win seasons and had all the confidence in the world going into the ’09 opener.

“I think we had a good team, a lot of veterans on that team that year and a lot of good players that went on to play in the NFL,” Clawson said. “So yeah, we were a good cohesive group and I think we were really, really confident going in.”

Bradford was taken No. 1 overall by the St. Louis Rams the following spring and his NFL career was cut short by injuries — but not to the shoulder. He landed an NFL rookie-record contract, including $50 million guaranteed, and went on to play for a handful of teams before quietly retiring.

“Happy to see him get drafted No. 1, and then get a good payout,” Clawson said. “And happy to see he had a good career after college.”

Clawson himself went from wrecking quarterbacks to fixing them. He developed a passion for sports medicine and athletic performance, became a doctor of physical therapy and got his Ph. D in human and sport performance.

He’s now BYU’s Director of Football Athletic Performance, and he’ll be on the sideline Saturday.

“So, my job is to oversee all of sports medicine, strength and conditioning, nutrition, physical therapy, mental health, mental performance and sport science for BYU football,” he said.

“I’ve always loved strength and conditioning, and I've always loved learning about the human body and learning about how you can improve your performance.”

Ratterree lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and stepson and is going to law school. English lives in Oklahoma City with his wife and three kids (and a fourth on the way) and is a licensed counselor who works with children, families and adults in the mental health field.

They all remember the 2009 season opener, and the whole season itself, for different reasons.

“It was a shocker to start the season,” English said. “It was my senior year, so obviously not the way we wanted to start out. But we battled throughout that season to do what we can. Yeah.”

“I think we had pretty high hopes, I remember,” Ratterree said. “The defense that year was definitely tough — they had to be. They had to do us a lot of favors on the offense. … And I think by the end of the season, you know, we were doing a little bit better.”

"We had three losses that year by one point," Venables said. " ... Kind of started that season off in a rough way, but man, that’s one of my favorite years in coaching. It’s one of those seasons where it was all about what we had to overcome. Didn’t win a quote-unquote championship, but beat Stanford in the bowl game that year. ... 

"That was kind of a year where we had to overcome a lot, but our guys fought. That’s what I remember about that team. And they had fun fighting. And grew."

OU is 0-2 all-time against BYU, with a 31-6 loss in the 1994 Copper Bowl in Arizona and the 2009 defeat in Texas. That could change Saturday, as Oklahoma is a 24-point favorite at Lavell Edwards Stadium. BYU is on a three-game losing streak, with three blowouts.

This is it, of course, their only shot at a conference matchup. It’s BYU’s first season in the Big 12, and OU’s last. The Sooners are off to the SEC next year, while the Cougars will relish Power 5 membership in a restructured Big 12.

Clawson said BYU’s major conference membership “has been a long time coming,” but for him, he’ll enjoy one more battle against the Sooners with a fondness for Oklahoma that goes well beyond his fateful hit on the Heisman winner.

“That night when we played Oklahoma, we got nothing but love from those Oklahoma fans,” Clawson said. “And you know, my wife — I was married at the time — and my wife was wearing a T- shirt that had my name and number on it. And she had many Oklahoma fans come up and congratulate her after the game. They just treated my family really well. So that was — that's awesome. That’s always stuck with me.” 

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