Hurricanes’ surge outlasts No. 8 Sooners

MIAMI -- After Jacory Harris threw his second interception of the opening minutes, Miami's sophomore quarterback went to the sideline with a most unusual reaction.

He laughed.

Rattled? Not in the slightest.

Harris settled down, the Miami defense got rolling -- and the result was the Hurricanes' biggest win in years. Javarris James ran for a career-best 150 yards, Harris threw for three scores and No. 17 Miami knocked off No. 8 Oklahoma 21-20 on Saturday -- in what will join some games from the 1980s as another Hurricanes-Sooners classic.

"Big, huge win for us," Miami coach Randy Shannon said. "It's huge."

With Oklahoma's Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Sam Bradford watching from the sideline, still out with a right shoulder injury, Miami (3-1) scored 21 straight points to take control.

And then the Hurricanes held on, running out the final 4 minutes because James churned up 38 yards against an Oklahoma defense that came into the game as the nation's best against the run.

Not anymore.

"It's our time," linebacker Jordan Futch said. "We are back. We are still The U."

Oklahoma's last trip to the Hurricanes' home field was last January, when it lost the BCS national championship game to Florida.

This one almost certainly ended any Sooners national title hopes, too. Landry Jones threw for 188 yards and DeMarco Murray and Chris Brown combined to rush for 151 more for Oklahoma (2-2).

"They made the plays down the stretch that made the difference," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said.

Harris threw interceptions on Miami's first two drives, the first so easy for Oklahoma's Dominique Franks to grab that it wasn't even clear who was the intended receiver. Oklahoma turned that one into a 16-yard TD pass from Jones to Cameron Kenney, and stretched the lead to 10-0 in the second quarter on Jimmy Stevens' 21-yard field goal.

It was the ground game that gave Miami a spark.

James ripped off his longest run since his freshman season in 2006, a 50-yarder midway through the second quarter. Two plays later, Jimmy Graham caught an 18-yard touchdown pass to help Miami claw within 10-7 at the half.

Barely a half-minute into the third quarter, the Hurricanes took the lead on an 11-yard pass from Harris to Dedrick Epps. Miami then made it 21-10 on Harris' 38-yard TD pass to Travis Benjamin.