Jan 5, 2005 3 min read

MIAMI (AP) – Jason White trudged to the sideline, pulled off his helmet and put on a set of headphones. Whatever his coaches were saying to him couldn’t have been much consolation. White flopped in the BCS title game for the second straight year and freshman phenom Adrian Peterson didn’t do any better in the Orange Bowl as Oklahoma absorbed its most-lopsided loss since Bob Stoops took over as coach.

With its stars shut down, the second-ranked Sooners hardly had a chance after scoring on their opening drive Tuesday night and No. 1 Southern California romped 55-19.

White got off to a fast start, seeming to shake off an awful performance against LSU in last year’s Sugar Bowl, when the Heisman Trophy winner had his worst game of the 2003 season.

White connected with Will Peoples for an 18-yard gain on his first throw, and capped a 92-yard drive by rifling a slant pass to Travis Wilson to give the Sooners a 7-0 lead.

But White’s game fell apart from there. And by the end, his uniform covered in grass stains, he could only sit on the bench and listen the USC band blare the fight song as the Trojans scored again and again.

Under pressure early in the game, he tried to force a pass into triple coverage to his favorite target, Mark Clayton, and Jason Leach intercepted it at the USC 11. The Trojans answered by driving 89 yards for a score.

Another pass under duress was thrown down the left sideline toward a well-covered Mark Bradley and was intercepted by Eric Wright. The Trojans scored three plays later to take a commanding 28-7 lead early in the second quarter.

White headed to the sidelines and sought the headphones, but the guidance of his coaches in the suites above didn’t help much. He was 24-of-36 for 244 yards with three costly interceptions, and became the first Oklahoma quarterback to lose bowl games in consecutive seasons

He didn’t get much help from the phenom Peterson.

Despite breaking the NCAA’s freshman rushing record in the second quarter, Peterson wasn’t able to find room to run. He had only 36 yards on 15 first-half carries and didn’t have a run of 10 yards or more until the first play of the second half.

The 19-year-old All-America set Oklahoma’s season record, too, with 1,925 yards, but that didn’t matter much, either.

The Trojans were able to bottle up the Heisman runner-up at the line of scrimmage and prevent him from breaking away with his remarkable speed. Of his 15 first-half runs, 11 were for 2 yards or less. He had 82 yards on 25 carries for the game.

It wasn’t enough to keep the Trojans from pressuring White, who – unlike last season – wasn’t hampered by numerous injuries.

He was sacked only twice, but was forced into uncharacteristic mistakes on the two first-half interceptions. During one span late in the season, he’d gone 198 straight pass attempts without an interception.

Fully healed, White was able to scramble out of the pocket on several occasions, including a 20-yard completion to Wilson while ranging to his right in the first quarter. On a third-and-11 early in the third quarter, he pulled the ball down and scrambled 12 yards for a first down to keep a drive alive.

He had recovered from two devastating knee injuries for a storybook run to the Heisman Trophy, but even a sixth season couldn’t provide the ending he wanted – a national title.

AP-ES-01-05-05 0028EST