BCS bowl game berth in three seasons within its grasp

STILLWATER, Okla. -- Oklahoma State appeared to have its second Big 12 Conference championship and BCS bowl game berth in three seasons within its grasp, thanks to a late rally. Instead, the No. 6 Cowboys (10-2, 7-2 Big 12) were left in a state of last-second shock after rival Oklahoma answered with a rally of its own in the closing minutes of a 33-24 win on Saturday. Desmond Roland, who finished with 144 yards rushing and accounted for three touchdowns, appeared to put Oklahoma State up for good with his 1-yard touchdown with 1:46 remaining. His score put the Cowboys a 24-20 lead and appeared to secure an eighth-straight win as well as the Big 12 title and BCS bowl game berth. Oklahoma (10-2, 7-2) quarterback Blake Bell, however, had other plans. The junior, who started earlier this season before losing the job to Trevor Knight, rallied the No. 18 Sooners down the field and capped the drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass with 19 seconds remaining to Jalen Saunders in the corner of the end zone. Saunders touchdown came just five plays after Oklahoma States Justin Gilbert briefly appeared to intercept a pass from Bell, but the cornerback was unable to keep the ball from hitting the turf. Following Bells touchdown pass to Saunders, Eric Striker then ended the game for Oklahoma by recovering a fumble and scoring during a desperation series of laterals. The Sooners were then pelted with snow balls from the rival crowd. Oklahoma has now won at least 10 games in four straight seasons, and Sooners coach Bob Stoops is 8-1 in his career against Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy. "That was a heck of a football game," Gundy said. "Its unfortunate that we came up short. What the game really came down to was that Oklahoma made some key plays on fourth down, and we didnt." The win set off a frenzied celebration in a frigid Boone Pickens Stadium for visiting Oklahoma, while leaving Oklahoma State once again suffering a bitter defeat at the hands of its fiercest rival. This level of disappointment was higher than most for the Cowboys, whose hopes of a second Big 12 championship and BCS bowl game berth in three years were lost after Bells touchdown pass to Saunders. "You just love it to see a guy whos a competitor like that, whos been sitting on the bench all game, to come in and play so well," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said of Bell. "He played great." The shakeup in the BCS bowl picture, however, was the last thing on the mind of Bell -- the Oklahoma junior who replaced injured starter Trevor Knight in the second half. After starting eight games earlier this season for the Sooners, including a win at Notre Dame, Bell began Saturday as Oklahomas third option at quarterback. He ended the game by leading the Sooners on a game-winning 66-yard drive in the closing minutes, going 5 of 8 for 57 yards on the drive and finishing 10-of-16 passing for 140 yards in relief of Knight and backup quarterback Kendal Thompson "I was just thinking that whenever I got my opportunity, I wanted to do the best I could with Trevor going down and Kendal coming in," Bell said. "... Once I got into the rhythm of the play, I felt like everything was clicking." Oklahoma State led for much of the game, only falling behind for the first time early in the fourth quarter when Oklahomas Michael Hunnicutt kicked a 39-yard field goal to put the Sooners up 20-17. Facing a late-game deficit, quarterback Clint Chelf appeared to rally the Cowboys for the win with a 7-play, 89-yard drive on which he completed five straight passes for first downs. Oklahoma stayed close for much of the game thanks to the play of its special teams, doing so with Knight on the bench in the second half with a shoulder injury. Saunders returned a punt 64 yards for a touchdown in the first half and Hunnicutt -- who also kicked a pair of field goals -- also caught a touchdown pass on a fake field goal attempt. Hunnicutts 8-yard touchdown catch from holder Grant Bothun tied the game at 17-17 late in the third quarter, and it came after Bothum darted to the left following the snap before finding a wide-open Hunnicutt. Stoops said the Sooners didnt put the fake in their gameplan until Thursday. "They called it in about 15 seconds before, so we didnt have too much time to think about it," Hunnicutt said. "I was just super excited." Wholesale China Jerseys . 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In mens doubles, Vancouvers Vasek Pospisil and American Jack Sock reached the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (3), 7-6 (3), 6-4 win over Croatian Mate Pavic and Andre Sa of Brazil. Cheap Adidas NHL Jerseys . Bryant underwent an operation in December to correct an irregular heartbeat. His season ended with four games left because of a rapid heartbeat, a condition he has known about for several years and had been treated for in the past.RALEIGH, N.C. - Jaromir Jagr almost missed out on reaching a milestone Monday night.The New Jersey Devils are certainly glad he managed to play.Jagr had a goal and an assist in his 1,500th NHL game to help the Devils defeat the Carolina Hurricanes 2-1.I didnt feel very well, Jagr said, describing tiredness and a lack of energy. I told (coach Peter DeBoer) at 4 oclock, Dont play me. I feel strange. One hour to go (before the game), I started feeling better.Jagr also moved into fifth place on the NHLs career points list with 1,772, passing Marcel Dionne.I play a lot of games, Jagr said. I try to stay healthy. Thats what it takes.Devils goalie Cory Schneider made 39 saves, including 17 in the third period.Adam Henrique scored the go-ahead goal on a power play with 13.4 seconds remaining in the second period for the Devils, who won for only the second time in eight games.Jagrs fifth of the season tied the score with 5:15 left in the second when he took a pass from Scott Gomez, who finished with two assists in his fourth game of the season.The guy knows how to get open and he can dominate a hockey game, Gomez said. Its kind of easy when you try to find that guy and he knows what to do with it.The 42-year-old Jagr set up Henriques goal, moving the puck around the back of the net and hitting his teammate with a pass.Jagr has 710 career goals and 1,062 assists.I remind myself daily being around him that this is all special, DeBoer said. We might never see this again. I dont think Ill see it in my lifetime, a guy playing this long at the level hes playing at.Carolina defenceman Justin Faulk opened the scoring with a second-periodd goal.dddddddddddd. Cam Ward made 14 saves for the Hurricanes.Carolina registered the first 13 shots on goal in the third and ended up with a 17-1 edge in the period.Hanging on, but I dont care at this point, DeBoer said. Were not looking for pretty. We just need points.New Jersey killed off a Carolina power play in the third period when former Hurricanes forward Tuomo Ruutu was in the penalty box for boarding. That contributed to a busy stretch for Schneider.They were coming at all different angles, he said. I had to be sharp at all times.Faulks goal came on the 13th shot of the game for the Hurricanes, who failed to score more than twice in any of the five games on their homestand. The defenceman took a pass in the slot from Andrej Nestrasil before firing a shot past Schneider.Thats all they managed.I dont even know if it was a hot goaltender, Hurricanes coach Bill Peters said. I think its just self-inflicted wounds.On a total of 75 shots across the last two games, Carolina has two goals.It wasnt good enough, obviously, forward Jeff Skinner said. I dont think we worked hard enough to be rewarded tonight. We had a fair amount of shots, but I dont think we have enough drive.NOTES: RW Martin Havlat was in the New Jersey lineup after missing three games with an injury, but LW Mike Cammalleri, the teams top goal scorer, was out with a muscle pull. ... Hurricanes RW Alexander Semin, a healthy scratch for a few games last month, sat out again. ... Carolina finished a 1-4 homestand. Were going to look back and regret it, for sure, Peters said. ... Gomez moved into fifth place in team history with 336 assists. ' ' '