Don’t get us wrong, we are not saying that TCU didn’t earn the win or deserve the win – they did both, in spades. OU did not play well enough overall to win, and so they didn’t. But there were so many chances that went begging.
Sooner defenders dropped at least two potential pick-sixes, one of which would have certainly gone for a score and marked a 14-point swing in the game, since TCU would go on to score on that possession. A poor decision by Trevor Knight to hold on to a ball too long resulted in a sack right before the half that forced the Sooners to settle for a field goal instead of a touchdown. We could go on, but you saw the game.
Frankly, as much as Trevone Boykin and the much-improved TCU offense carved up the Sooner defense, the defense really played well enough to win. They gave up 31 points, but much like last time out against West Virginia, pretty much locked the Frogs’ offense down after a 24-24 halftime score. The Frogs pulled out every trick play in the book, including a trick kickoff return where one guy laid down in the end zone then took a cross-field lateral. And even with all that, it was only the Sooners’ gaffes that cost them the game.
After the Sooners scored a TD on the opening possession of the second half to take their first lead of the day at 31-24, TCU answered, but that would be all their offense would get. The problem was that the Sooners’ offense wouldn’t get any more either.
Indeed, the only scoring after the first two possessions of the second half came on defense. TCU’s Paul Dawson picked off a Knight pass less than a minute into the fourth quarter and returned it 41 yards for a TD to give the Frogs a 37-31 lead. The extra point was blocked by Jordan Phillips, though, and he swatted it 30 yards upfield where Zack Sanchez picked it up and ran it in for two points the other way to make it 37-33.
The Sooners got nothing going on their next two possessions, and TCU took over after a Sooner punt on its own 20 with 7:02 to go in the game and a chance to run clock. However, Boykin was hammered on a first down play by Quentin Hayes and the ball came loose and Eric Striker recovered. The Sooners were in business at the TCU 21. But OU lost three yards on first down, and Knight threw his second pick on the next play, and things looked bleak.
However, Geneo Grissom forced and recovered a Frog fumble on the very next play, and OU was again given a lifeline with the ball at the Frog 46 with 5:56 to play. The Sooners moved it down to the TCU 22, where they faced fourth and one. Along the way, they had squandered their last time out because of overly cute pre-snap play changing, then came out of the time out two players short and nearly had a second delay penalty on the day. This, after previously squandering the other two times out for similar communication reasons.
Ultimately, Perine was stopped on fourth and one, and the Sooners were left with no times out and TCU with the ball and 3:08 to play. The defense did its job again, though, and forced a three and out that gave the Sooners the ball back after a TCU punt at their own 29 and 51 seconds to play. After a short gain that went out of bounds and an incomplete pass, an ill-advised QB draw on third and four resulted in a two-yard loss and, more importantly, most of the remaining time running off the clock. Knight was able to hit Shepard for 21 yards on fourth down and then spike the ball to set up a Hail Mary play. And while those are working more frequently these days than they used to, it seems, this one didn’t. The ball was actually caught, but Knight threw it well out of bounds, and the game was over.
Knight was hot and cold. His completion percentage was atrocious, as he connected on only 14 of 35 throws, although he did end up with 309 yards and a TD. The worse problem was two picks, without either one of which the Sooners likely pull out this game. He made several brilliant plays with his legs, and dropped several beautiful deep passes into receivers’ hands, including a 75-yarder to Sterling Shepard that tied the game at 14 in the second quarter. For the first time, though, Knight did what we couldn’t afford him to do – make the kinds of mistakes that cost games.
Samaje Perine was again the Sooners’ leading rusher, punching in three TDs, tallying 87 yards on 25 carries. The Sooners’ running game was not nearly as potent as it had been all season, though, as the tough Frog defensive front limited OU to 152 yards rushing total on the day.
The officiating in this one was atrocious, to put it mildly. From a horrible offensive pass interference call on Blake Bell to phantom personal fouls to obvious plays being called incorrectly and having to be overturned on review, this one had all that Big 12 officiating had to offer.
There wasn’t much to this road trip. We drove down, ate at Joe T. Garcia’s, then headed to the stadium. We paid $50 to park, but we were only about a block from the stadium and got out fairly quickly afterwards.
The Sooners are going to have to fix the problems that showed up against TCU if they want to stay in the national title picture. Their margin for error is gone. But with most of the top 25 losing on Saturday, we’re not out of anything. The only thing that’s lost is the chance to go undefeated, and that’s rare enough that, despite what everyone always thinks, it’s not a realistic expectation for anyone. Looking at the list of teams still unbeaten, the odds that more than one or two of them will remain that way by the end of this month is very slim. TCU goes to Baylor next week, and the Sooners still get the Bears at home. Nothing is lost. Nothing.
One team that is just playing out the string, though, is Texas. They are 2-3 and going nowhere fast. Which means nothing for this weekend at the Cotton Bowl. We don’t think the Horns can score anywhere near enough to beat us, but their defense is salty, and we all remember what happened down there last year. Beating us will make their horrible year a little better, and we can’t have that at all.
Believe it or not, the Sooners haven’t won a game in the State of Texas in almost exactly two calendar years. Not since beating Texas in 2012. Time for that to change.
Remember – it’s when they quit rushing the field after they beat you that you know you really have a problem. See you at the Cotton Bowl. BEAT THE HELL OUTTA TEXAS!
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