Oklahoma St. Cowboys quarterback Brandon Weeden passed for 399 yards and three touchdowns and Quinn Sharp connected on a 22-yard field goal to beat the Stanford Cardinal in a thrilling, 41-38 overtime win in the 2012 Fiesta Bowl.
The 79 points Oklahoma State and Stanford put on the scoreboard were a Fiesta Bowl record. Weeden and Stanford's Andrew Luck became the first quarterbacks to each throw for 300+ yards in a Fiesta Bowl.
Luck got the Cardinal off to an early lead, connecting with Ty Montgomery for a 53-yard touchdown in the first quarter. Running back Jeremy Stewart added a 24-yard touchdown in the second quarter to extend the lead to 14 points. Weeden responded with a pair of touchdowns passes to junior wide receiver Justin Blackmon, who had a game-high eight receptions for 186 yards and a Fiesta Bowl record three touchdowns on the night.
Stanford and Oklahoma State exchanged touchdown runs in the final 2:25 of the first half to go into halftime tied at 21.
A 16-yard Luck touchdown pass to tight end Zach Ertz allowed the Cardinal to enter the fourth quarter with a four-point lead, which was extended to seven points by a 30-yard field goal by Jordan Williamson. The Weeden-to-Blackmon connection tied the score at 31 with 11:53 to play.
Following a one-yard touchdown run by Stanford running back Stepfan Taylor, Weeden and Blackmon came up big on the Cowboys' final drive. Down seven points with 3:40 to play, and facing a 4th-and-4 from their own 40-yard line, Cowboys head coach Mike Gundy opted to go for it. Weeden hit Blackmon in stride on a slant pass, with Blackmon turning up field for a 21-yard gain that seized the momentum. Weeden would hit Joseph Randle for 19 yards, Michael Harrison for 16 yards before catching a confused Stanford defense off-guard and handing the ball off to Randle who tied the game with a four-yard touchdown run with 2:35 remaining.
Luck, the presumptive No. 1 overall pick of the 2012 NFL Draft, drove the Cardinal down the field and had the ball at the Oklahoma State 25-yard line over a minute to play. Despite having a Heisman Trophy winning quarterback, the Cardinal ran a pair of running plays and burned a minute of clock before having Williamson attempt a 35-yard field goal, which missed wide left to force overtime.
In overtime, Stanford ran the ball twice before Luck completed a three-yard pass to Montgomery, which would be his final pass at the college level. Williamson missed his 43-yard field goal attempt, again wide left, and the Cowboys took advantage. Weeden hit a streaking Colton Chelf for an apparent 25-yard touchdown, but Chelf was ruled down at the one-yard line, setting up Sharp's game-winning field goal.
With the win, the No. 3 Cowboys can lay claim to a share of the national title should the LSU Tigers lose to the Alabama Crimson Tide next Monday night in New Orleans.
"It played out the way it played out," said Blackmon, who announced after the game that he was leaving for the NFL. "I think we do have the best team in the nation."
After the game, Gundy dedicated the win to the four victims of a plane crash that claimed the lives of Oklahoma State's woman's basketball coaches Kurt Budke and Miranda Serna in November.
"I want to dedicate this win to the four victims of the plane crash," said Gundy. "It meant so much to the Oklahoma State people and to our team and for their families. The players wanted to do it."
For more on this game, visit Oklahoma State blog Cowboys Ride for Free and Stanford blog Rule of Tree, plus Pac-12 blog Pacific Takes and SB Nation Bay Area.