NCAA FB

Sun Bowl collision coming

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Updated Dec 10, 2009 10:30 AM ET
     
 
Toby Gerhart →Position: Running back →Class: Senior →Hometown: Norco, Calif. →Height: 6-1 →Weight: 235 →Carries: 311 →Yards: 1,736 →Yards per carry: 5.6 →TDs: 26 →Noteworthy: Gerhart is also the starting center fielder for the Stanford baseball team. This past season, he batted .288 with seven homers and 36 RBIs. NORMAN - Oklahoma's defenders are about to discover what it felt like to tackle OU great Steve Owens 40 years ago. Sunday, the Sooners accepted an invite to the Sun Bowl, where Dec. 31 they will take on No. 21-ranked Stanford. And waiting for OU in El Paso will be the challenge of stopping Owens' clone, Toby Gerhart. The Stanford senior running back has emerged as a Heisman frontrunner by barreling over would-be tacklers - just the way Owens did on his way to winning the Heisman in 1969. No one figured out how to stop Owens that season. No one has figured out how to stop Gerhart, either. The 6-foot-1, 235-pound power back, who leads the nation with 1,736 rushing yards and 26 touchdowns, is expected to receive an invite today for this weekend's Heisman Trophy presentation. "I think Toby should win it," Stanford coach Jim Harbaugh said Sunday. "He put our team on his back this season." But will Gerhart be able to carry Stanford to victory over the Sooners? To do so, he'll have to manufacture running lanes against one of college football's premier rush defenses, led by All-Big 12 defensive linemen Gerald McCoy and Jeremy Beal. The Sooners rank seventh nationally in run defense, and are coming off a game in which they held the Big 12's best rush offense to 62 yards on the ground. Checking Gerhart to less than 100 yards will be tough. But to beat Stanford, the Sooners will have to at least contain Gerhart, who solidified his Heisman campaign by saving his finest performances for the toughest opponents and the biggest stages. Down the stretch, Gerhart gashed Oregon, USC, Cal and Notre Dame by averaging 186 yards rushing and totaling 14 touchdowns. While his best outings came in program-altering wins over Oregon and USC, Gerhart's Heisman moment didn't arrive until the regular-season finale against the Irish. After tossing a touchdown on a fourth-down tailback pass, Gerhart spearheaded the Cardinal to a game-winning touchdown drive on their next possession. On one memorable off-tackle carry, Gerhart smashed a Notre Dame defensive back into the turf, spun off another defender, then carried a third on his shoulders for the rest of a 13-yard, first-down run. "I got to see a decent part of the USC game and came away just incredibly impressed with Toby's toughness," OU coach Bob Stoops said. "Just everything about him, his power, his patience to see the holes. "Just a very impressive football player."
Tagged: Stanford, USC, Notre Dame, Oregon

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