Photos

by Rick Eymer
Palo Alto Online Sports

In the final analysis, give Tavita Pritchard credit for his courage and give Toby Gerhart credit for his tremendous ability and desire.

The Stanford football team dropped a 31-27 decision to Oklahoma in the Brut Sun Bowl on Thursday in El Paso, Texas, to complete an improbable season of success, promise and individual accomplishment.

Pritchard made his first start since last season, his 20th overall, and he gave it everything he could. Redshirt freshman Andrew Luck, the year-long starter who suffered a right-hand injury against Notre Dame, wore headsets all game long as his mentor led the 19th-ranked Cardinal (8-5) into its first bowl game in eight years.

"We were going with Tavita all the way," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said. "I talked with Andrew last night and we thought the best thing was for him not to dress. We thought about using him in an emergency situation but it wasn't worth it."

The seniors may have been disappointed about losing to the Sooners, but there are at least four groups of seniors who graduated without even getting the chance to lose a bowl game.

"I thought our guys did everything they could today and this season," Harbaugh said. "We'll build from this. This is where we want to be. We'll see where we go from here and that's getting bigger, stronger and faster."

Pritchard threw for 117 yards, completing eight of 19 attempts, and also threw two interceptions. He had plenty of time to prepare for the contest, but didn't have enough game experience. Pritchard attempted just three passes in four appearances during the regular season.

"I felt alright. I would have liked a different result," Pritchard said. "I loved the way these guys, my teammates, fought. The coach and this program are going in the right direction. There are a couple of plays I want back personally."

Gerhart went up against the seventh-best rushing defense in the nation and turned in another All-American effort with 135 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He finished the year with 1,871 yards and 28 touchdowns, both tops in the nation.

Gerhart, the Heisman Trophy runnerup, likely will be running the ball in the NFL next year and the Sun Bowl was probably his last athletic competition at Stanford. He'll need to take time off before even thinking about trying to play baseball in the spring while also getting ready for the NFL combine, which goes a long way in determining a player's draft status.

Unless something extraordinary occurs over the next few months, Gerhart finishes his career with 3,522 rushing yards -- second only to Darrin Nelson's 4,033 yards. Gerhart increased his school record in touchdowns to 44. The memory of what he accomplished, of course, will live forever.

"We had our chances," Gerhart said. "We had the ball with two minutes and something to go. We didn't capitalize."

Sophomore fullback Owen Marecic scored Stanford's first touchdown on a one-yard plunge in the first quarter. Nate Whitaker also kicked a 35-yard field goal.

"We were trying to run the ball and mix in the pass," Harbaugh said. "Our defense completely shut down their running game. They beat us in the passing game."

Ryan Broyles set a Sun Bowl record with three touchdown receptions and Landry Jones passed for a career-high 418 yards, the best in school history, to lead Oklahoma. Broyles finished with 156 yards receiving and set Oklahoma's single-game record with 13 receptions in front of a Sun Bowl record crowd of 53,713. Jones completed 30-of-51 and connected with Broyles on scoring tosses of 30, 13 and 6 yards.

"I thought Tavita played an outstanding game," Harbaugh said. "His preparation was very good all week going into this. Our passing game wasn't as good as Oklahoma's. That was the difference, but I didn't think that was on Tavita."

The Cardinal pulled to 31-27 on a 22-yard field goal by Nate Whitaker in the fourth quarter. Stanford got a final opportunity but turned it over on downs deep in its own territory and slowing the Sooners to run out the clock.

Jones took over for former Heisman Trophy winner Sam Bradford, who was injured in an opening loss to BYU.

Bo McNally's 10th career interception moved the senior into seventh place all-time, tying him with John Guillory. He returned it a career-best 55 yards, eclipsing the 49-yard touchdown return he made at Washington in 2006.

Richard Sherman recorded his first career blocked punt, the second of the season for Stanford. Chase Thomas accomplished the feat in the first quarter against Cal.

"I thought we played hard and I know we're going to look back on this game and see the plays that we should have made," Stanford's Thomas Keiser said.

The bowl season did not go well for the Pac-10. Conference teams went 3-4 following Oregon's loss to Ohio State in Friday's Rose Bowl.

Stanford fell to 9-11-1 in bowl games overall, and lost its third straight. The Cardinal lost to Georgia in the 2001 Seattle Bowl and to Wisconsin in the 2000 Rose Bowl after beating Michigan State in the 1996 Sun Bowl.

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