MIAMI (AP) — Frank Alexander’s career at Oklahoma nearly ended before it got started.

Hours after making his debut for the Sooners on Aug. 30, Alexander was stabbed in the right arm during a private party at a nightclub east of campus. In a flash, he was hospitalized.

“I had high expectations about playing this year. I just wanted to go out there and just have a smooth season. It got took away from me after the first game,” said Alexander, a 6-foot-4 defensive end from Baton Rouge, La. “The whole time I was down, I was just thinking about, ‘Maybe if I wouldn’t have went, I would have still been playing.’

“That had just been beating me down and beating me down. And then when I got back and got the opportunity, I just wanted to go out and do something with it.”

After a month of healing, Alexander did more than just salvage the rest of his season. He made his first career start against Texas A&M, which came a month after he had returned to the field against Texas. As injuries depleted the Oklahoma front line, he became a pivotal player for the second-ranked Sooners (12-1) in their run to the BCS title game tonight against No. 1 Florida (12-1).

“He gets in there and does a couple of knucklehead things, but he’ll fall into some things and really make some good things happen. I think he’s got a tremendous, tremendous future if he keeps progressing like he has,” defensive coordinator Brent Venables said.

“He’s been a real blessing for us, having some injuries there and not being real deep.”

Venables compared Alexander’s start to former middle linebacker Curtis Lofton’s string of game-changing takeaways for Oklahoma last season en route to the Big 12 championship.

Alexander had a fumble recovery against Texas Tech and then returned a fumble for a rare defensive 2-point conversion against Oklahoma State that kept the Cowboys from tying the game. He followed that up with a career-best six tackles and 1 1/2 sacks in the Big 12 championship win against Missouri that sent the Sooners to Miami.

“I didn’t ever think I’d be in this situation,” Alexander said. “It’s just like a dream come true, getting the chance to play for a national championship.”

The dream became a nightmare early on Aug. 31. Police reported that guns, knives and tire irons were used in a brawl at the Sooner Knights club around 2:30 a.m., about four hours after the Sooners’ season-opening 57-2 blowout of Chattanooga. Alexander, who made his first career tackle in that game, and Ray Willis, a freshman guard on the Oklahoma basketball team, were stabbed in the melee.

“It’s kind of scary a little bit when a player’s like that and they’re in a hospital, when you get stabbed like that,” defensive end Jeremy Beal said.

Alexander felt he had been granted a second chance and set out to make the most of it. He continued to do work in the weight room and kept himself in playing shape at the urging of his teammates.

As it turned out, the Sooners needed him. Auston English, the Big 12’s sacks leader a season ago, sprained his knee and missed the last two games of the regular season and the Big 12 title game. Backup Alan Davis also was sidelined by a knee injury.

That left the Sooners, already shorthanded after senior John Williams decided to end his career following a series of injuries, without many options at defensive end.