You're never as good as your best game and never as bad as your worst game. National Championship game against u$c for the '04 season. Started well. OU marched the length of the field and scored to lead 7-0. Trojans first drive, defense has them in a 3rd and long. Leinart makes a play and u$c scores to tie it up. Then let the madness begin, OU went on to turn the ball over 5 times in a row. But it was probably around the 2nd turnover mark that OU lost hope. If something could go wrong, the Sooners made it happen. On the flip side. u$c couldn't have played a better game. Go back to the season prior. OU beat a$m 77-0. OU was clearly the better team but the aggies were considered good enough to make it a challenge. Once the breaks went OU's direction and they had a 3-4 score lead, a$m could do nothing right. The following season OU is ranked #1 and playing at kyle field. OU fell behind by 14 three different times. It took a ferocious 4th quarter comeback for OU to pull it out in the end. In '86, OU beat mizzou 77-0. Another game where OU jumped all over the tigers who went belly up and soon could do nothing right. The following season OU squeaks past mizzou 17-13 that was supposed to be a blow out win.
On Saturday against the frogs, OU comes out hot on offense. But after a nice gain by Mims on a reception, he fumbles and tcu begins their first drive in OU territory. The frogs second possession, the defense has a missed assignment and a wide open receiver catches a long pass and scores. Things were bad but OU didn't go belly up yet. Gabriel is KO'ed by a cheap shot but the OU offense went on to score a TD to tighten the game. tcu, however, responds by driving down the field to score as the OU defense has LB's missing fits, defenders taking poor angles and DB's going back to poor techniques reminiscent of MS and AG defenses. The frog defense then realized what every OU fan knew, OU could not effectively throw the ball with the backup QB. They stacked the line and shut down the run game that had been effective up to that point. That's when it appeared to me that Sooner players cashed it in and considered the day a loss. Of course, things got out of hand at that point. And tcu could do no wrong. My point is, we didn't learn much about this OU team. The team I watched for the first 3 games is as good or better than the longhorns. I don't know what the past 2 losses will do to the Sooners psyche. There's a saying that "don't let today's loss get you beat next week." In other words, if you see yourself losing or not a good team, that will usually manifest itself into coming true. That is one of the two biggest question marks for the OU coaching staff this week. Get the team to believe in themselves like they did against the 'huskers. The other is just hoping that Gabriel can play against ut. I'm not sure OU can with with the #2 QB.
On Saturday against the frogs, OU comes out hot on offense. But after a nice gain by Mims on a reception, he fumbles and tcu begins their first drive in OU territory. The frogs second possession, the defense has a missed assignment and a wide open receiver catches a long pass and scores. Things were bad but OU didn't go belly up yet. Gabriel is KO'ed by a cheap shot but the OU offense went on to score a TD to tighten the game. tcu, however, responds by driving down the field to score as the OU defense has LB's missing fits, defenders taking poor angles and DB's going back to poor techniques reminiscent of MS and AG defenses. The frog defense then realized what every OU fan knew, OU could not effectively throw the ball with the backup QB. They stacked the line and shut down the run game that had been effective up to that point. That's when it appeared to me that Sooner players cashed it in and considered the day a loss. Of course, things got out of hand at that point. And tcu could do no wrong. My point is, we didn't learn much about this OU team. The team I watched for the first 3 games is as good or better than the longhorns. I don't know what the past 2 losses will do to the Sooners psyche. There's a saying that "don't let today's loss get you beat next week." In other words, if you see yourself losing or not a good team, that will usually manifest itself into coming true. That is one of the two biggest question marks for the OU coaching staff this week. Get the team to believe in themselves like they did against the 'huskers. The other is just hoping that Gabriel can play against ut. I'm not sure OU can with with the #2 QB.
