LUBBOCK, Texas – This was the test. No other way to slice it. Oklahoma’s game at Texas Tech was going to determine what real differences have been made in the Sooners defense since the dismissal of former defensive coordinator Mike Stoops.
Under interim coordinator Ruffin McNeill, OU had posted back-to-back quality outings, but the Red Raiders are in another league compared to TCU and Kansas State.
Those problems that were clear to see in the 48-45 loss to Texas? They’re still there, and OU is still a work in progress with big holes to plug in a 51-46 victory Saturday evening.
“Yea, night didn’t go the way we wanted it to. But you know it’s not new around here,” linebacker Curtis Bolton said. “It’s back to work on Monday, try to fix what we can fix. We’ve got a lot of things to fix.
“I think there’s some facets to the game we did really well, but we’ve got to kill out the penalties and big plays. They’re not easy fixes but they’re manageable. We’re gonna get back on the film, get back into Norman and go back.”
The first half did nothing to inspire confidence that the Sooners (8-1 overall, 5-1 Big 12) are worthy to be mentioned in the college football playoff picture. OU allowed 31 points, 289 yards, and it looked like it could be another long, strange night in Lubbock.
The Sooners, however, did create their own break. True freshman quarterback Alan Bowman, who had completed 21 of 26 passes for 227 yards with two touchdowns, was injured in the final minutes of the first half on a jarring hit by Bolton.
With Jett Duffey in for Bowman in the second half, the game changed dramatically. It wasn’t always pretty, but OU only allowed 184 yards and 15 points in the second half.
“FIDO – Forget It and Drive On,” sophomore safety Robert Barnes said. “Everybody says defense wins championships. We have our offense’s back. I go into our locker room before every game and tell every player on offense that we got your back. We got your back. Just forget it and drive on. Let’s do it.”
Barnes had arguably the biggest play of the game midway through the fourth quarter. Texas Tech had scored to make it 42-40 for the Sooners when Barnes intercepted the two-point conversion and took it all the way back to give OU a 44-40 advantage.
A win is a win and keeps the Sooners relevant, but it’s clear that not all the warts just went away by changing coordinators. Tech was still able to have success with its tall receivers with Antoine Wesley and T.J. Vasher combining for 18 catches for 231 yards and a touchdown.
On a night where No. 1 Alabama blanked No. 3 LSU, the Sooners showed they still have a ways to go defensively to be mentioned in that same breath.
But head coach Lincoln Riley believes, hey, there’s still time, and this group is getting better with each week.
“It had a different feel out there on the field to me,” Riley said. “They got some things, Kliff's a great mind, play caller. They had some really good stuff that gave us trouble, especially in the screen game that we got to be better with. But I thought we zeroed in and obviously played better than the score looks.”
