Berry Tramel: On Tre Brown`s 55-yard mad dash.
Baylor receiver Tyquan Thornton just sort of stood there when the ball was snapped. Put his hands up a little, like Marcel Marceau.
So Tre Brown decided to sneak a peek elsewhere. And that's why the Sooners were at Peach Bowl Media Day on Thursday in the College Football Hall of Fame.
Oh, there are a thousand reasons why the Sooners are back in the national semifinals for the fourth time in five years.
But OU wouldn't be here without beating Baylor in the Big 12 Championship Game, and OU wouldn't have beaten Baylor if Brown hadn't taken his eyes off his man and placed them on the football.
Brown's chasedown of Baylor's Chris Platt, preventing a touchdown in the final minutes three weeks ago in Arlington, saved the Sooners' season.
“Definitely one of the plays of the year,” said OU fullback Jeremiah
Hall. “I don't know what would have happened if he didn't make a tackle.”
OU led Baylor 23-20 with about 5 1/2 minutes left in the game, and the Bears were pinned at their 5-yard line. Baylor quarterback Jacob Zeno faked a screen pass, then threw to a streaking Platt, who shirked safety Pat Fields and was off to JerryWorld glory.
But Brown, who ranks with receiver Charleston Rambo as the fastest Sooners, was on the case. When Thornton went all pantomime at the snap, Brown turned and deciphered the play. So he jumped into Platt's wake, about three yards behind, lost ground by having to detour around the fallen Fields and the Big 12 title game had been reduced to a track meet.
“Right when I saw who it was that caught the ball, I was like, ooh, that's their speedster,” said OU safety Brendan RadleyHiles, who had been injured and was watching from the sideline. “At the same time, when I saw who was going after him, I was, OK, we're good.”
Brown chased Platt for 55 yards, finally getting within an arm's grasp and pulling down Platt at the 17-yard line. The OU defense stiffened, Baylor settled for a field goal and the Sooners won in overtime.
“That's the fastest I've ran since I've been here,” Brown said at his corner table in the College Football Hall of Fame. “Normally, playing DB, you don't get to showcase your speed as the offensive guys do. So I was like, this is a chance to showcase my speed.”
The mathematicians among us have estimated Brown's top seed at 23 mph. That's speeding in a school zone.
“I kind of felt like Tre was going to catch him,” said linebacker DeShaun White, who also was pursuing Platt. “I didn't know how fast the other guys was, but I knew how fast Tre Brown was.”
Said Radley Hiles: “I know TB has a second gear that it doesn't really matter who he's chasing. We'll never know how fast Tre Brown really is. It just depends on who he has to go get. If he has to go get somebody that's 30 yards away, he's never really out of the race.”
The Sooners seemed to have Baylor beat, leading 23-13.
Then Zeno, a third-team quarterback inserted in the second half as a desperation measure, threw an 81-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter. Then came the play to Platt.
“Everything is really a blur when I'm out there running,” Brown said. “I'm just running. I gotta catch him.”
Few football plays allow for contemplation while they're transpiring. But it takes awhile to run 55 yards.
“As I'm running, I'm like, `Man, I guess I'm gaining on him,'” Brown said. “I was getting closer and closer. I don't think he saw me. He looked that (one) way, but he didn't look the other way. I was on the other side of him.”
Brown grabbed Platt around the shoulder pads, making sure the tackle was secured, then tried for a strip of the ball.
Platt held onto the ball, but the Sooners held onto the game and now play LSU in the Peach Bowl, because of Tre Brown's 55-yard dash.