NORMAN — The ball fell innocently to the turf, well short of freshman wide receiver Sterling Shepard’s hands. The Sooners failed to convert a crucial fourth down they desperately needed.

Turnover on downs.

Oklahoma State had already scored more points — 45 — than it had in a Bedlam game since 1945, and the Cowboys had the ball with 7:07 left and a touchdown’s lead against the Sooners.

All Oklahoma State had to do was earn a few first downs and run the ball to burn time off the clock. The Cowboys had rushed effectively against the Sooners all night, totaling 202 net yards to push the rushing total allowed by the Sooners to 912 in just three games.

First down.

OSU junior running back Joseph Randle, who had been electric with 114 yards and four touchdowns, was stuffed up the middle for a one-yard loss.

Second down.

Junior quarterback Clint Chelf, who had passed for 253 yards and rushed for 81 more, looked for freshman receiver Blake Webb on an out route but missed.

Third down.

The whole stadium was on the edge of going crazy. If OU held just one more time, the Sooners would get another shot to tie the game. Oklahoma had never led the contest after falling behind, 14-3, in the first quarter but had forced ties at 17 and 38 points.

On third and long, Chelf saw OU sophomore Julian Wilson charging at him and released the ball deep downfield for sophomore wide receiver Josh Stewart.

Incomplete. Fourth down.

The Pokes burned less than a minute off the clock and faced punting back to junior Jalen Saunders, who just moments before had returned one 81 yards for a touchdown. But senior Quinn Sharp booted it 58 yards and coverage held, forcing the Sooners to start the possession at their own 14-yard line.

Oklahoma had broken a slew of school records on offense — including receivers with 100-plus yards (three) and receivers with 10-plus receptions (two) — and was approaching new records for passing completions and passing attempts. However, OU had struggled to run the ball effectively and maintain drives all the way to the end zone.

But senior quarterback Landry Jones drove the Sooners down the field, completing 7-of-9 passes to get inside the Oklahoma State 30-yard line. The Sooners hadn’t had much luck inside the 30, letting several drives stall and settling for field goals (with one miss). This time — down, 45-38 — OU had to have a touchdown.

The Cowboys hadn’t allowed an offensive touchdown since the first half, holding OU to a pair of field goals and Saunders’ punt-return score.

Oklahoma inched its way into the red zone and called a timeout with 47 seconds left. The sell-out crowd of 85,824 wondered if the Sooners had enough left in the tank to pull off a second-straight comeback win after surviving a 50-49 scare in Morgantown seven days prior.

Jones found senior Justin Brown for an eight-yard gain to advance to the OSU 4-yard line, but his next to Shepard hit the turf. Jones, who threw 71 times for 500 yards and three touchdowns, came out and sophomore Blake Bell came in.

The Sooners hadn’t used Bell as much as previous weeks, opting to leave in Jones for short-yardage situations several times throughout the game, and the “Belldozer” was a little shaken after causing a crucial fumble inside the red zone the previous quarter, when OU only trailed by four.

Yet Bell trotted out. On fourth down with 10 seconds to go, a yard to gain and the game on the line, Bell swept around the left side. OSU junior linebacker Caleb Lavey came shooting through the line and dove at Bell’s legs. The burly 254-pounder brushed off the tackle and lunged for the end zone.

Touchdown. Bedlam would go to overtime for the first time in history.

The Sooners won the toss and elected to defend. OSU quickly made its way from the 25-yard line to the 13 before it hit a wall. Chelf missed Stewart before finding him for a four-yard gain. Nine yards from the end zone, Chelf’s pass to junior Blake Jackson was denied, and the Cowboys had to settle for a field goal.

48-45, Oklahoma State.

Junior fullback Trey Millard barreled forward for a seven-yard gain to open the Sooners’ overtime possession. A field goal would force another overtime period; a touchdown would end the game.

Prior to Bell’s rumble to force overtime, Oklahoma had only rushed 27 times for a meager 81 yards, but — as co-offensive coordinator Josh Heupel said after the game — the Sooners wanted to punch it in on the ground.

Jones got the snap, swiveled and handed it to Brennan Clay. The junior running back had been used only sparingly this season, not eclipsing 200 yards until filling in for injured starter Damien Williams against Iowa State.

Clay covered the ball with his arms and started forward, seeing the walls start to close around him as Oklahoma State linemen fought to get around blocks and tear him apart. Clay burst through the line, wriggling through pairs of 300-pounders fighting like huge elk locking antlers, and saw daylight.

He collided with OSU junior safety Daytawion Lowe, who had a full head of steam after recognizing the run early, but bounced off the tackle.

He had one man to beat — junior safety Shamiel Gary. Gary lunged at Clay’s legs, too far behind the back to tackle him properly but close enough that a well-timed assault would entangle and drop the California native short of the goal line.

At the last second, Clay changed direction and strayed right, leaving Gary to grasp desperately at cleats as Clay skipped into the end zone for the game-winning touchdown.

Clay threw the ball in the air as his teammates stormed the field. Junior wide receiver Kenny Stills, who caught the game-winner against West Virginia the week before, sprinted straight for Clay, one of his best friends. He screamed encouragement at his teammate as more Sooners piled into the end-zone huddle, jumping around as fireworks erupted from the stadium’s rim and the crowd lost its mind.

With the 51-48 stunning win, Oklahoma stayed in the hunt for a Big 12 title and sent its seniors out with a final victory on Owen Field.

Oklahoma State had put together one of its best games in school history against its bitter rival, yet all the Cowboys could do was walk off the field amid the biggest party in the state of Oklahoma — and it wasn’t for them.

Bedlam indeed.

Football head coach Tom O’Brien was fired Sunday, one day after the Wolfpack picked up a victory over Boston College on Senior Day, marking the dawn of a new era in N.C. State football in a whirlwind 24 hours for the program.

O’Brien is the seventh coach to have his tenure end since Athletics Director Debbie Yow has been at the helm. He is owed $1.2 million over four years in his buyout.

“I appreciate the opportunity to have coached at North Carolina State University and I feel that the program is in a better place now than when I started,” O’Brien stated in a press release. “I’m proud of the young men that I have coached here, for their accomplishments on the field and in the classroom.”

“I had high hopes this year, as did coach O’Brien,” Yow said.

According to Yow, the two met early Sunday and she made her decision that afternoon.

O’Brien led the Wolfpack to three consecutive bowl victories and three appearances in his six years at State. The Pack is bowl eligible this season and offensive coordinator Dana Bible will serve as the interim head coach for the game. Bible was also the offensive coordinator of Boston College, where O’Brien held a head coaching job prior to arriving at State in 2006.

“I know I didn’t see it coming,” Bible said. “As a coach you are focused on the now. He’s very proud of the programs we’ve built. He’s very proud of the way we’ve gone about the business of football and he’ll let his record stand as a man.”

Bible added, “We’re going to prepare ourselves and get ourselves successful to win the bowl game.”

A 40-35 overall record, including eight wins against Football Championship Division opponents, was not enough to carry his job into next season.The former head coach held a 22-26 record in the ACC and 11-19 in the Atlantic Division. His only road victory in the division came in this season’s bout with Maryland, which was decided by the Terrapins missing a last-second field goal. O’Brien had a lone winning season in the ACC in 2010. The Pack went 5-3 in the conference and finished the season with a No. 25 national ranking.

State was also a sub-500 team against other Football Bowl Subdivision opponents, posting a 32-35 record.

Yow said the program has created a search committee to find O’Brien’s successor. The program is seeking a coach with a proven track record, but is also considering coordinators as candidates.

Yow included academic integrity, citizenship, ability to recruit top players and building the program into a top-25 program as the defining factors in finding the next coach. Acquiring the best players in North Carolina will be the focus of the program’s future recruiting efforts, according to Yow.

She also said there were many factors in the decision to dismiss him, including losing 1,000 season-ticket holders this season.

The players received the news from a variety of sources, but the definitive voice came when Yow called a meeting at 3 p.m. to deliver the news to the student athletes.

“I was absolutely shocked,” senior center Camden Wentz said. “It was a crazy 24 hours of emotions. Even though he’s not going to be on the field with [us], we’re his players, so he coached us to be a certain way.”

“Me, personally, I want to win this game for O’Brien,” junior defensive back Dontae Johnson said. “I also want to win this for this university. It’s going to be a struggle to get over the fact that the guy that recruited me to come here is no longer here.”

Johnson also said that he will stay with the program despite the coaching change.

Amid a college football landscape of academic dishonesty and players receiving improper benefits, the program will receive an Academic Progress Rate score of 990 in the spring.

During post-production of “Red Dawn,” MGM’s execs changed the nationality of the invading Chinese army to North Korean by digitally altering flags and other national symbols, and dubbing over the original Chinese dialogue with Korean. The studio didn’t want to alienate Chinese audiences. And folks, therein lies the moral of the story: China’s a big cash cow, and North Korea — well, no one likes an Asian who can’t afford the price of admission, even if it’s because he or she is living under the regime of the world’s most oppressive dictatorship. No harm done. Asians do all look the same.

Had MGM left nationalities alone, “Red Dawn” would’ve just been another stupid remake, a stupid, stupid story of how Washington teenagers band together as a tight-knit group of insurgents who call themselves the Wolverines (after their high school mascot) fighting off a Chinese invasion. Now, “Red Dawn” has become an ignorant, misguided mess pandering to audiences infected with American jingoism and racial fears, bitten by Yellow Peril. It has been made into something it should’ve never been.

And yes, it’s still stupid.

Directed by newcomer Don Bradley, a well-known stunt coordinator who worked on such films as “The Bourne Supremacy,” it should be a safe assumption walking unknowingly into “Red Dawn” that its action scenes would be its saving grace. Instead, the viewer is too often lost in a jumble of shaky camerawork, hindering the action rather than augmenting it. The action lacks ease, direction and, worse yet, fun.

Lost, too, is any sense of logic. Whenever the Wolverines leave their humble home in the woods to kill some commies, they seem to waltz into their North Korean-occupied city. We have no idea how they got inside with AK-47s. Were there fences? Were there guards? The Wolverines walk in, bomb a few places, shoot up some people and walk out. They learn to kill and to be soldiers in what appears to be a couple of weeks. It’s difficult to decide what to blame for these discontinuities: Was it the terrible writing, the terrible editing or both?

It’s only when “Red Dawn” is three-quarters finished that an actual objective arises for the Wolverines. Until then, without a clear sense of setting and time, we spring from one flashy, shaky gunfight to another like an unhappy version of that slinky on an escalator from the GEICO commercial — miserable and mindless. You can’t help but think almost half of the film could’ve been lopped off.

Speaking of things that are clunky and absurd, Josh Peck (TV’s “Drake and Josh”) stars as Matt Eckhert, and he sure does try. To be fair, his moments with his Marine brother, Jed Eckhert (Chris Hemsworth, “The Avengers”), are performed with believability, though never with depth. Hemsworth is charismatic as a big brother, but his patriotic speeches often leave you burying your head in a bag of popcorn, rather than roused.

When Smith (Kenneth Choi, “Captain America: The First Avenger”) enters the picture, it’s painfully obvious what they were doing. He’s the token Asian-American character fighting for his country, for the Red, White and Blue — which is hardly consoling for any Asian-American.

While enduring this long hour-and-a-half as the lone Asian-American in the theater, there was a woman in the audience, clearly incensed by Jed’s “Go America” speech, who let out a painful, whispered “yeah!” each time she saw America’s freedom being righteously defended. As if the mightiest military superpower should feel like a victim. There is no self-referential humor or anything else to indicate filmmakers of “Red Dawn” really understood that irony.

MGM’s decision has politicized what should have been nothing but bubblegum action thrills. Still, it’d be slanderous to say the director, the writer, the actors or anyone else involved in “Red Dawn” is racist. But for pandering to the minutemen in all of us, for reviving old memories of immigration exclusion, riots, violence, war and xenophobia, the film itself is tremendously irresponsible. It makes one wonder if and how many Americans across the country reacted the same way that woman in the theater did. Do they see the North Korean/Chinese army as invaders? Or Asian invaders?

Two characters leave home and are forced to get along—the only snag is that one of them is an adult male Bengal tiger named Richard Parker. In “Life of Pi,” Pi Patel (Suraj Sharma) is the unlucky son of an Indian zookeeper who decides to move his family from India to Canada, along with all of their animals. After a disaster at sea, Pi finds himself adrift in a tiny lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and the aforementioned tiger. Though the narrative for the director Ang Lee’s adaptation of Yann Martel’s novel “Life of Pi” is at times ponderous and overly sentimental, the journey of the lifeboat unfolds in a magical, minimalistic duet of sky and sea and is interspersed with enough gripping sequences of action to keep the film interesting.

“Life of Pi” is a romanticized interpretation of Martel’s novel with Lee adding long introspective sequences, dreamy interludes, and even a superfluous love interest. This “Pi” is less concerned with the concrete reality of being stranded at sea than the novel. The tangible details of the character’s narrative voice are largely abandoned, along with the majority of the accounts of Pi’s day-to-day struggle on the lifeboat. Lee focuses instead on Pi’s spiritual journey, dwelling on his thoughts—explored through extensive voice-over and monologue—rather than the work of his hands or the various strategies for survival essential to the novel’s appeal. Indeed, religion also plays a large part in Lee’s interpretation of Pi’s journey, though it is approached with lightheartedness, such as when Pi says, “Thank you, Vishnu, for introducing me to Christ.” Martel (Rafe Spall) is given a more significant role in the film; he changes from a passive recorder of events in the novel to an obvious on-screen character. Spall offers a peaceful and calm portrayal of the character that does not overshadow Pi’s story.

Sharma’s first major role gives us a Pi of genuine innocence and desolation—a wise piece of casting on Lee’s part, as Sharma’s lack of exposure lends another layer of believability to the performance. Sharma captures Pi’s developmental arc from callow mommy’s boy to seasoned mariner through all the attendant highs, lows, and flashes of humor. However, Sharma’s skill is most clearly seen in his interactions with Richard Parker. Grounded as the story is in this journey from hell, it is easy to see Pi’s growing attachment to the tiger, though it is only really through him that the viewer develops a sense of its personality.

Richard Parker is a shining example of CGI. The 3D effects used throughout are rarely extraneous or unnecessary; indeed, they have an elegant simplicity unusual in films that use them. The landscapes, seas, and storms are at their most stunning with a washed-out palette, although Lee is tempted at times into the exaggerated psychedelic gorgeousness reminiscent of  “Avatar,” with which the film has been compared on its posters. The animal life, however, is a different story. There is a bizarre mix of beautifully lifelike creatures and jarringly obviously computer-generated ones, including an eerily smooth elephant and weirdly stoned-looking orangutan. The tiger, strangely, becomes more and more realistically rendered as the story progresses, until there are times when it reaches photographic quality; the illusion of its personality is matched only by that of its apparent reality. It is difficult to tell whether this phenomenon is intentional or not given some other crudely-created CGI characters. In any case, the creature is so expressive—whether gazing serenely at the ocean or hurling itself, roaring, across the boat—that it matches Sharma in keeping interest.

Despite the aforementioned inconsistencies present in the CGI, “Life of Pi” generally succeeds as a canvas for glorious visual effects and sweeping adventure. However, its strongest aspect is its touching story enlivened by a lead performance that may herald the beginning of a promising career for Sharma. If not, it at least solidifies Lee’s already established filmography.

General David Petraeus stepped down from his position as the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency on November 9, 2012 amidst criticism concerning his affair with his personal biographer, Paula Broadwell. This certainly is not the first time a public official has stepped down from a powerful office in response to the elucidation of an extramarital affair—Bill Clinton, arguably one of the most effective Presidents of our time and consistently ranked in the top quartile, was impeached after allegations of having a relationship with Monica Lewinsky. But, to what degree do our “extra-curricular activities” actually affect our ability to carry out our jobs?

People in Europe didn’t understand why Bill Clinton stepped down after having an affair; they largely considered extramarital affairs to have no bearing on leadership capacity. While there may be a difference in cultural norms between, generally speaking, Europe and the United States, the underlying presumption, from a European perspective, still stands—why would a leader’s personal affairs be of concern to American citizens? Even when I was in high school, I was critical of the media’s incessant hounding on Sarah Palin’s daughter, Bristol. Sarah Palin was an idiot regardless of how many pre-marital children her daughter popped out by Election Day—why should the personal life of her daughter have anything to do with Governor Palin’s capabilities, or lack thereof, of being Vice President. The personal lives of political figures, in no way, affect their ability to perform their duties.

In the case of Bill Clinton, perjury was the reason for his impeachment. Federal law declares perjury to be a felony. Clinton lied under oath and, unfortunately for the American people, was nixed for it—unlike his predecessor, which we’ll leave to another article. Petraeus’s situation, however, was quite different. He resigned amongst controversy, but not as a result of an sort of immediate conviction. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this situation is the fact that the Federal Bureau of Investigation conducted the initial investigation into supposedly harassing emails exchanged between Broadwell and an acquaintance of Petraeus, Jill Kelly. Perhaps the proximity of Broadwell to Petraeus somehow justified this awkward intrusion by the FBI, but I find it difficult to justify the FBI then ceasing a personal email account of Petraeus’s, uncovering a deeper cause for investigation, and then acting upon it, outing Petraeus’s affair.

Regardless of my opinion that the FBI should have little business in the affairs of leaders in other intelligence agencies, even if it was “accidentally stumbled upon,” an affair, in no way, affects a leader’s capacity to carry out their duties. While I am not condoning adultery, I find it disappointing that the personal lives of officials are brought under the public eye. They have a right to privacy just like everyone else and I don’t think they should have to relinquish that right in their service to the American people.

PSY officially galloped his way to the top of the YouTube world.

With more than 817 million views, the 34-year-old South Korean singer’s “Gangnam Style” music video became the most watched YouTube video of all time, the website announced on its Trends blog Saturday.

As of Sunday night, “Gangnam Style” surpassed Justin Bieber’s’ 2010 “Baby” music video by about 15 million views.

The video features PSY galloping and singing in a variety of locations, including a stable, bus, tennis court and female yoga class.

Park Jae-sang, whose stage name is PSY, wrote the song as a satirical interpretation of the Gangnam District of Seoul.

The song, which is sung mostly in Korean, has found its way into American nightclub playlists, a “Saturday Night Live” sketch and even the Pride of the Sunshine ’s gameday set list.

Following the July release of “Gangnam Style,” the video went viral in August. It continues to receive about seven to 10 million views a day, according to the blog, and the keywords “Gangnam Style” and “PSY” have been the top searches on YouTube in the last six months.

PSY’s YouTube channel has also received more than one billion collective video views — two billion shy of Bieber’s channel.

One chapter of Boston College football history was closed on Sunday, allowing a new one to begin with the hopes of reviving the fallen program.

In a meeting on Sunday between Frank Spaziani and athletic director Brad Bates, Spaziani was told that we was being relieved of his duties as head coach of the Eagles, effective immediately. Bates said that the decision was based on the season as a whole, which ended with a 2-10 record.

“[The decision] was made at the conclusion of the season yesterday,” Bates said. “It’s been an assessment that’s been ongoing since my arrival here. It’s been an evaluation of a body of work, and not a game-to-game emotional decision.”

Bates lauded Spaziani for his integrity and passion for the program, but in the end, the firing came down to wins and losses.

“Ultimately, all of us our measured on our performance,” Bates said. “When you’re working in a profession of athletics, winning is a very big factor in that performance.

“Spaz clearly is a man of integrity. He genuinely cared about his students. And the performance obviously in the last couple of years has struggled.”

The announcement ended Spaziani’s 16-year career in Chestnut Hill, one that was marked by a highly regarded 10-year tenure as defensive coordinator before he took over for four years as head coach. He leaves with an overall record of 21-29 while at the helm.

“Obviously this is a sad day for my family and me,” Spaziani said in a statement. “Boston College has been my home for more than 16 years, and I have been fortunate to work with some amazing student-athletes. I will always treasure my relationships with them and the BC staff.  Boston College is a tremendous place, and I am extremely thankful for my time there. I wish the current and future Eagles nothing but the best.”

Bates’ conversation with Spaziani was a difficult one, but said the coach handled it well.

“Just like you would expect him to—with complete class and dignity and professionalism,” Bates said. “He’s a special guy. Think about this—he gave a quarter of his life to Boston College.

“Frank’s fingerprints will be felt around this University for many years to come. He’s influenced people who will go out and influence others. The values that he taught those young men will continue to live on for perpetuity.”

While he did not talk to any of the players to consider their opinions on the matter before making the decision, Bates was the first to tell them of the announcement. He gathered the team into a room in the Yawkey Center and notified them of the decision. Bates said that he and Spaziani felt that this was the best way to deliver the news, and that Spaziani would meet with players, likely on a one-on-one basis throughout the coming week.

Now, Bates will begin a search for Spaziani’s replacement, and he is looking for three main factors in the process while considering candidates.

“One is we want someone that oozes with integrity,” Bates said. “Secondly, we want somebody who genuinely and sincerely cares about the students, particularly their intellectual development and will engage in facilitating their maximum development as scholars, as athletes, as leaders, as servers. The third thing is we want someone who is going to win.”

While he won’t limit the list of candidates to coaches who have head coaching experience, Bates said that factor could play a role in the final decision.

“There are a lot of very talented coaches out there that have not had head coaching experience,” he said. “Having said that, if all else is equal, that would clearly distinguish them.”

Bates does not have a specific timetable for the new hiring, but wants to move as quickly as possible while being sure to make the best decision.

“We’ll move as quickly as possible, but we will be very, very deliberate,” Bates said. “This is an incredibly significant hire, relative to the leadership of our department and our program. So we’ve got to make absolute sure we get the best fit for what this program needs right now.”

While many were concerned about BC falling behind in the head coach hiring race, with other schools making midseason firings, and now a solid list of schools with openings—Auburn, NC State, Tennessee, Arkansas, Kentucky, California—Bates said an AD is always prepared, and he already has a list of candidates.

“Any athletic director in the country is prepared for any change that takes place,” Bates said. “Does it mean that people on the list will ultimately be the ones that are hired or interviewed? Of course not. But we’ve got to perpetually be prepared for any attrition that takes place.”

While there is plenty of competition out there for head coaches, Bates said that he thought BC would stand out to the right kind of candidate that he is looking for.

“There may be candidate competition, but I think you’ll see that BC is a very unique place,” Bates said. “The types of people that will be very attracted to this situation, because of its uniqueness, will stand out.”

“There are a lot of great coaches out there, but not every great coach is a perfect fit for Boston College. We’ve got to identify who that person is that brings those three characteristics and fits within our current context of needs for the program.”

No matter who takes over as head coach, there will be a certain adjustment that will need to take place among the entire team. The biggest thing will be the new mentality the coach will instill in his players, but the new coach also usually comes with a new staff.

The offense has been through four offensive coordinators in the past three years, and it could see its fifth in four years if current offensive coordinator Doug Martin is not retained by the incoming head coach. Bates said that was a concern, but that a good head coach could make up for that instability.

“It’s always a concern,” Bates said. “Whenever you have a lack of continuity, then that presents a challenge for the next staff to try and connect the dots on that inconsistency in terms of scheme vocabulary. At the same time, if you get the right coach, and they can connect the dots, you’ve been exposed to multiple ways of viewing that football field that not everyone gets a chance to experience. I think the potential can be a great opportunity in the hands of a very talented coach.”

Concerning the current coaching staff and all of the assistants, Bates said as of right now they will play out their full contracts, but a new coach could come in and change that.

“They’re still employed by Boston College and will be so until the end of their contracts,” Bates said. “The new staff will have autonomy on who they would want to retain beyond the contracts’ expiration dates. I suspect there will be some that will stay on and some that will move on.”

No current assistant coach will be considered for the head coaching job, Bates said.

As far as the details of working out Spaziani’s contract, which has three years remaining on it, Bates would not go into the details of what a possible buyout might be, but said he’d do what is in the best interest of the students, the program, and the team.

Though Bates has only been the AD at BC for just over a month, he knew this was a decision he had to make, though it wasn’t about making his stamp on the athletic department and University.

“It’s not really about me,” Bates said. “It’s not about my stamp. This is about a football program that has a storied history and tradition. It’s about the players that have come here in the past and the level of achievement and standards that they have set for us to live by daily, and it’s about our current and future students that are in this program. I’m really a caretaker of the great things that have happened in the past of this program and hopefully a catalyst to returning to the high standards.”