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Oct. 10, 2000

NORMAN, Okla. - The eighth-ranked Oklahoma Sooners face their first true road test of the 2000 season as they venture to Manhattan, Kan., and a date with the second-ranked Wildcats of Kansas State. The game will mark the first meeting between the two programs since 1997.

The contest, which will be part of an ABC regional telecast, is slated to kick off at 2:35 p.m. inside KSU Stadium (50,000). Oklahoma leads the all-time series, 63-16-4.

The Sooners moved to 5-0 on the season with an impressive 63-14 win over longtime rival Texas last Saturday afternoon in Dallas. The win gave OU it's first 5-0 start since 1993 and moved the Sooners up to eighth in both national polls. It's the highest regular season ranking for the Sooners since standing at eighth (CNN/USA Today) prior to the 1993 Colorado game.

With more than 75,000 fans packed into the historic Cotton Bowl, the Sooners were looking to not only achieve national recognition by beating a nationally ranked team, but also snap the three-game series winning streak by the Longhorns. They did both!

Offensively, the Sooners amassed 534 yards of total offense and finished the game with 63 points -- the largest number of points ever scored by OU against the Longhorns. It also marked just the fourth time in its history that Texas had allowed more than 60 points.

On a day that the Sooners did little wrong, OU was paced by the one-two punch of senior quarterback Josh Heupel and sophomore running back Quentin Griffin. Heupel, who has now completed 54 straight passes without an interception, connected on 17-of-27 pass attempts for 275 yards and one touchdown.

Griffin ended the game as the leading rusher for both teams with 87 yards and an OU-record six touchdowns on 23 carries. The 5-6 running back crossed the goal line from one, two, four, three, eight and one yards. He broke the school single-game scoring record of five touchdowns which was shared by Steve Owens (vs. Nebraska in 1968) and Jerald Moore (vs. Oklahoma State in 1994).

Defensively, the Sooners completely shut down a Texas offense that entered the contest averaging 421 yards and 41.5 points per outing. When the day was finished, OU had allowed Texas just 154 yards of total offense, including minus seven yards rushing, and just 14 points. How dominant was the OU defense on the day? The UT offense only crossed the 50-yard line three times on 14 possessions the entire afternoon.

Individually, the Sooners were led by cornerback Derrick Strait (career-high 10 tackles), linebacker Torrance Marshall (seven tackles, two tackles for loss and one sack) and linebacker Rocky Calmus (four tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack and an interception he returned 41 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter).

Following this weekend's game versus Kansas State, the Sooners will take next Saturday off before hosting top-ranked Nebraska on Oct. 28.