OU better believe it!

Steve Guiremand

Thursday, Jan. 4, 2001 | 10:29 a.m.

MIAMI -- As he accepted the Sears National Championship Trophy on the damp field at drizzly Pro Player Stadium here early this morning, second-year Oklahoma head coach Bob Stoops couldn't help but shout out three words.

"Oklahoma is back!" Stoops declared to the cheers of about 40,000 red-clad Sooner faithful.

He certainly won't get any argument from the Florida State Seminoles on that account.

The Sooners, who at times were as much as two touchdown underdogs to Bobby Bowden's squad leading up to the game, put the finishing touches on a memorable 13-0 season with a convincing 13-2 whipping of the Seminoles in the 67th annual Orange Bowl on Wednesday night.

The win gave Oklahoma its seventh national championship in the school's rich football history and the first since 1985.

The Big 12 champs completely shut down Florida State's high-powered offensive attack with a quick, aggressive and at-times confusing defense that seemed to have Chris Weinke, the Seminoles' Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, baffled much of the night.

Florida State (11-2) came into the game rated No. 1 in the nation in total offense (549.0 yards per game) and third in scoring offense (42.4). But the only points the Seminoles could muster were a safety with 55 seconds left in the game when Sooner punter Jeff Ferguson chased down a high snap and wisely fell in the nearby end zone for the safety.

Weinke completed 25-of-51 passes for 274 yards, but was intercepted twice. FSU's only really scoring opportunity of the night came on a 31-yard field goal try by freshman Brett Cimorelli that barely got off the ground and missed badly.

"I am shocked," the 71-year-old Bowden said. "They whipped us up front on the running game and they whipped us so bad.

"We just simply couldn't get anything going. No consistency whatsoever. ... My feeling on the sideline is like when you are having a nightmare. In the normal nightmare, you wake up and nothing happened. This was a true nightmare."

"Our defensive coaches did a great job," Stoops agreed. "Our guys just executed an excellent game plan, and they just closed so well on the ball."

Senior linebacker Torrance Marshall, a Miami prep product who had a very happy homecoming and was named the game's MVP, led the way for the Sooners with six tackles and a first quarter interception that seemed to set the tone for the night and also set the stage for what proved to be the game-winning points, a 27-yard field goal by Tim Duncan.

Oklahoma, behind the patient short passing of Josh Heupel (25-of-39, 214 yards, 0 TDs, 1 interception), led 3-0 halftime and made it 6-0 midway through the third quarter on a 42-yard field goal by Duncan.

Florida State's best chance at pulling ahead came early in the fourth quarter when the Seminoles drove to the Oklahoma 35.

On second down, Weinke fired a pass to slotback Robert Morgan in the end zone. Morgan made a valient attempt at a diving catch but couldn't hold on.

Then on fourth down, Weinke appeared to have Anquan Boldin open over the middle for a touchdown when redshirt freshman cornerback Derrick Strait jumped up at the last moment to deflect the pass away.

A few minutes later, Weinke fumbled on his own 15 at the end of a scramble and sophomore safety Roy Williams recovered. Two plays later, sophomore running back Quentin Griffin scooted 10 yards up the middle for the game's only touchdown to make it 13-0 and seal the victory for the Sooners.

Oklahoma limited Florida State to just 27 yards rushing in the game and held a huge 36:33 to 23:27 edge in time of possession.

"We just couldn't get the train on the tracks," Weinke said. "We would make one or two big plays and then get derailed again. We couldn't give our defense a rest."

"To be number one, you have to prove it and we didn't do that today," Florida State All-American defensive end Jamal Reynolds said.

Stoops, who at times during the week seemed agitated when asked about his team being such a large underdog even though it went into the contest rated No. 1 in both polls, got the last laugh on Wednesday night.

"You look at what we have done this season, the teams we have played ... (Florida State) didn't play the schedule that we did," Stoops said. "I think people now will look back and realize the type of schedule that we did play. For whatever reasons (Oklahoma was a big underdog), it never bothered us. We never made an issue of it."

"It's a dream come true," said Heupel, who finished a close second to Weinke in Heisman balloting last month. "We didn't care what the media or the oddsmakers thought. We believed in ourselves. This team knew who and what we are."

Today, that team, Oklahoma, is national champions.