Believe it or not, OU didn't want to run the score up

NORMAN, Okla. - The significance of Oklahoma's Big 12 South-clinching victory over Nebraska on Saturday night was all but lost in a discussion of whether the Sooners gained enough style points to hold off Auburn in the BCS standings.

"I don't know [how it will be perceived nationally]," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "We'll see."

Stoops does know one thing. He does not like being in the position in which he found himself Saturday night, leading 30-0 and trying to punch in another touchdown to impress poll voters and the BCS computer.

"What we were doing at the end of the game we've never done [before this season]," Stoops said. "The other side of it is, if we don't do it -- for instance, when we did take a knee against Texas Tech -- does that then come back and haunt you? And is that the reason that maybe kept you out of something, and how do you live with that as well?

"It's really a rotten position to coach in. Now you're here playing Nebraska, and does a win over Nebraska mean something in the end? I think it does. But people will compare, because that's what the media and everybody does."

As it turned out, OU lost the shutout when Nebraska kicked a field goal on the game's last play.

"I laughed and said it was probably good for us they ended up scoring at the end when we could have taken a knee," Stoops said.

Players aren't fond of the predicament, either.

"We don't like it," running back Kejuan Jones said. "If we were on the other side, we wouldn't like another team trying to dog us out. It's just something the BCS and the computer rankings are making us do these days. It's bad toward other teams, making them think we're trying to be bullies when we're not."

Nebraska's scoring drive (against backup defensive players) started with a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty on fans who threw oranges onto the field. Safety Brodney Pool said that took some sting out of losing the shutout.

"We're not really too concerned about it," Pool said. "The oranges did get them started, so blame it on the fans."

The game was significant for both OU players who wear No. 28.

Cornerback Antonio Perkins returned from his knee injury after four games and played the entire game, while freshman Adrian Peterson's string of nine consecutive 100-yard games ended. Stoops conceded Peterson missed a small amount of practice time this week nursing a left shoulder dislocated at Texas A&M last week and started Jones -- though Peterson played significant minutes in the second half and finished with 58 yards on 15 carries.

"Adrian was kind of banged-up tonight," said Jones, who gained 48 yards rushing and caught three passes for 40 yards. "But he's OK. He's not worried about statistics."