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A n overflow gathering of 53,011 rabid fans was on hand at Kansas State. The monstrosity that is Kyle Field drew a crowd of 87,188 when OU came to College Station.
The game at KSU Stadium was a deafening din, and the persistently swaying “Home of the 12th Man” wasn’t much quieter.
“They smelled blood,” Stoops said of the crowds in Manhattan and College Station. “Their crowds were ready for us.”
To this day, members of the 2000 national championship team agree the loudest crowd they ever heard was in Manhattan on Oct. 14.
“When K-State blocked that punt late in the game for a touchdown to get within seven (points), you couldn’t talk to the person next to you without having your headphones on,” said Stoops, who is quite familiar with KSU home games having served as an assistant there from 1989-95 to help manufacture what remains the most impressive program turnaround in college football history.
“Manhattan, by far, was the loudest stadium I’ve ever been in,” Norman said.
“Truthfully, I had never been in an environment like that,” Burcham said.
In a span of one month, the visiting Sooners tried their best to defy outrageous decibel levels in extremely hostile territory.
Said Burcham of playing at Texas A&M, “I learned to read lips in that game just to get the plays from Josh because we huddled back then. That was just a crazy volume of noise.”
The Aggies caused quite a ruckus by taking a 24-10 lead early in the fourth quarter. Trailing 31-21 midway through the final period, the Sooners embarked on a 15-play, 77-yard scoring drive to pull within 31-28.
Just 25 seconds later came arguably OU’s most significant play in a championship season.
Sooners linebacker Torrance Marshall intercepted a pass over the middle at the 41-yard line, spun left and ran down the right sideline with a blocking escort. Aggies quarterback Mike Farris gave a half-hearted attempt to at least make contact with Marshall at the 23-yard line. With Farris headed out of bounds, Calmus nudged him in the back and Marshall dashed into the end zone to give OU a 35-31 lead.
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January 03, 2021 at 09:30PM
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20 Years Later, Still Magical - University of Oklahoma - Soonersports.com
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