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Why it's suddenly not too late for Oklahoma to save its season
The vitriol spewed from college football fans is always a sight to see, and no coach got more of it over the first few weeks of the season than Bob Stoops did. Oklahoma came into the season ranked No. 3 in the country and immediately played their way out of the Top 20, following losses to Houston and Ohio State in the first three weeks of the season.
And from there, we all know how the narrative shook out: Stoops can’t coach. He’s lost his fastball. Another season is completely wasted in Norman. The anger never stopped straight through this week, when several prominent members of the Oklahoma community continued to call out Stoops for his team’s play.
Only here we are, just a few short weeks after that 1-2 start, just days after the wagons seemed to be circled around Stoops, and Oklahoma is in a completely different situation altogether. Following a 45-40 win against arch-rival Texas, the Sooners are now in the driver’s seat to win the Big 12 title. A season which most everyone agreed was “lost” three weeks ago all of a sudden has quite a bit of meaning. For OU fans, the victory is obviously bitter-sweet (considering that the playoff is probably out of the picture), but still a good sign none the less. That’s because whether Oklahoma deserved to be No. 3 in the country in the preseason (and I’ve argued they didn’t), the Sooners showed just how good they can be on Saturday. They showed why so many liked them back in August, and why their ceiling is as high as anyone going into the second half of the year.
On offense, this was simply the best day of the season for Oklahoma and one of the best days we’ve ever seen from the Baker Mayfield-Lincoln Riley player-coach combo. Mayfield was back to his 2015 self, scrambling all over the field, making defenders miss and tossing darts downfield, to the tune of 390 yards and three touchdowns. Semaje Perine rushed for over 200 yards, and we saw what a healthy Dede Westbrook --- who has been battling injuries all year --- is capable of when he’s fully healthy. The wide receiver had 232 yards receiving and three touchdowns.
Sure part of it can be attributed to a porous Texas defense (and yes, it was bad) but if you watched closely, the final result wasn’t only because of the Longhorns. Quite a few times on Saturday afternoon --- and a bunch, when the game was on the line --- Mayfield made big plays on third down when Texas seemed to have the Sooners pinned back. Sure, the Longhorns missed plenty of opportunities Saturday. But Oklahoma created plenty as well.
Meanwhile, on defense, the 40 points allowed doesn’t look great, but if you dig a little deeper you realize there has been improvement since early season embarrassments to Houston and Ohio State. The Sooners gave up a respectable 425 yards to Texas, many coming late when the Longhorns had no choice but to rear back, and chuck the ball downfield. It’s still not a great performance, but shows that the right steps are being made, especially when you remember that Texas came into this game averaging nearly 520 yards per game.
And when you add up the explosive offense with improving defense, it does in fact mean that maybe, in a year which seemed all but over three weeks ago, Oklahoma can win the Big 12 and finish their season in a major bowl game.
The Sooners are already 2-0 with wins over two of the better teams in the league (TCU and Texas) and with Kansas State, Texas Tech, Kansas and Iowa State in the next four weeks, there’s no reason to think they won’t start 6-0 in league play. It sets up a tough final stretch against Baylor, West Virginia and Oklahoma State, but two of those games are at home. And really, what more can a fan-base ask for in mid-October than a shot at a conference title and major bowl game. Especially with Mayfield and a big core of this young group coming back next year.
It seems there’s a lot of positive things that come out of Saturday’s victory over Texas, and in a week where the criticism of Stoops came fast and furious, the win was a nice reminder.
Bob Stoops is still a darn good coach. And the Sooners still have plenty to play for.
