1. Oklahoma is out of the national championship business for the time being. Fifteen years and three days ago, Bob Stoops unveiled a juggernaut with a molar-rattling thunder. His 10th-ranked Sooners eviscerated No. 11 Texas, 63-14, kicking off a run that would see Stoops lead Oklahoma to a national championship later that winter. Over the next eight seasons his Sooners would play for three more national championships while winning the Big 12 five times. His success in the Big 12 championship game, at awards season and in the NFL Draft spoke for itself, but what truly defined that era was what happened every October on the floor of the Cotton Bowl. More often than not, his teams played like men against a team that only thought they were.
That's all over now.
No. 10 Oklahoma lost to 1-4 Texas 24-17 on Saturday. Not only that, his charges were out-hit, out-gained, out-coached, out-prepared, out-adjusted, out-everythinged. Oklahoma fell in a 14-0 hole through one quarter, trailing 133-15 in total yards while also losing a turnover on special teams. Then, with the score at 24-17 and with a chance to send the game to overtime, Oklahoma moved to its own 38-yard line before quarterback Baker Mayfield was sacked twice in three plays. The Sooners punted and never got the ball back. Texas moved 39 yards, all on the ground, before Charlie Strong allowed the clock to run out with the ball on the Oklahoma goal line - Bret Bielema style.
It was Texas that earned a 313-67 edge on the ground, and it was Texas that sacked the opposing quarterback six times on the day. Worst of all, it wasn't an anomaly. Texas outgained Oklahoma 445-263 in a 36-20 win in 2013, and 482-232 in a 31-26 game the Sooners inexplicably won. Over the past three years, Stoops' team has gained 773 yards against Texas, and allowed 1,295. On the ground - where these games are won - that deficit stands at 100 carries for 300 yards for Oklahoma, and 716 yards on 158 carries for Texas.
“All in all, they kicked us and won the football game,” Stoops said after the game.
Saturday's loss means that, once again, Oklahoma will be an afterthought in the Big 12 and national championship pictures. For the seventh year in a row. Since 2009, Oklahoma has claimed one Big 12 championship and one more. Whereas OU registered five Top 5 finishes from 2000-08, it hasn't done so once since 2008. Oklahoma posted five zero or one-loss Big 12 campaigns from 2000-08, and only one since.
Consider the following:
- Oklahoma State has completely closed the gap, splitting the last four meetings and coming darn close in its two losses.
- TCU does what Oklahoma wants to do on offense and defense better than Oklahoma does.
- Baylor has outscored Oklahoma 89-26 over the past two seasons, and Tulsa just dropped 603 yards and 38 points on the Sooners running the same offense with less talented players.
Oklahoma has yet to play all three of them, and two of those games are on the road. Anyone taking OU to win out from here?
The natural inclination for Stoops is to make staff changes, but he's fired that bullet on both sides of the ball. He allowed Brent Venables to leave for Clemson, then watched the Tigers form a world-class defense while his own unit got worse. He pushed out Josh Heupel and installed a new scheme, then scored 24 points in regulation against Tennessee and 17 against Texas. In neither game did Oklahoma score a touchdown before halftime.
Earlier this season, Stoops called a 31-24 overtime win at Tennessee the best of his 172 wins at Oklahoma. That's up for debate, but this much is undeniable: of his 45 losses in Norman, today was his worst.
2. As for Texas? Losses to Notre Dame and TCU by a combined 83-10 were clearly the floor, and Saturday's performance was the ceiling. Or at least the ceiling for now. With an off week followed by consecutive games against Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas, there's an opportunity to build real momentum. Strong has to expunge whatever TCU was from his team's DNA and make the Texas team that bullied Oklahoma into the every-single-week version of Texas.
3. Michigan is the best team in the Big Ten... at the moment. Put last year out of your mind. It's irrelevant. Put the NFL Draft out of your mind. That's irrelevant, too. Throw away what you think will happen in November. That will matter at some point, but not yet. Through the first six weeks of the season, and especially over the past four, Michigan has been the Big Ten's best team. Following a 24-17 loss at Utah (which, one could argue, is actually more impressive than Ohio State's win over Virginia Tech or Michigan State's survival of Oregon), the Wolverines have won their last five games by a combined 160-14 and its last three 97-0. Ohio State, meanwhile, struggled with Maryland, a week after it struggled with Indiana, two weeks after it struggled with Northern Illinois. Michigan State squeaked by Rutgers a week after doing the same at Purdue. But, whatever. Talk is cheap, and prove it time arrives Saturday when the Spartans visit the Big House.
4. Florida is going to win the SEC East. The Gators thumped Missouri 21-3 on the road, a week after one a systematic destruction of Ole Miss. Florida can survive a loss at LSU next week (though I wouldn't bet on that), then use its bye week to gear up for a Georgia team that suddenly finds itself on the ropes and without Nick Chubb for the time being. Beat the Bulldogs and all Florida has to do is beat Vanderbilt and South Carolina and, voila, Jimmy Mac has a division championship in year one.
5. What do we make of Tennessee? I promise this will be the last time I harp on this... at least until next week. Butch Jones' Vols have proven they're good enough to thump a very respectable Bowling Green team, lead Oklahoma 17-0, lead Florida 27-14, lead Arkansas 14-0 and drop a 35-7 run on Georgia. And what do they have to show for it? A 3-3 record and a two-game deficit in the SEC East with Alabama in Tuscaloosa waiting in two weeks. The win over Georgia was desperately needed but, unless Tennessee stuns Alabama, the dye has already been cast on the 2015 season for the most part.
6. Week in, week out, TCU is college football's most entertaining team. Considering the attrition TCU has suffered on defense, I'm not sure even the schematic and developmental wizardry of Gary Patterson will be enough for the Horned Frogs to navigate a Big 12 schedule unbeaten. But it'll be incredibly fun to watch them try. The Frogs fought back from a 35-17 halftime deficit to rally past Kansas State 52-45, as Trevone Boykin (301 passing yards, 124 rushing yards, four total touchdowns), Aaron Green (121 rushing yards, two touchdowns) and Josh Doctson (eight grabs, 155 yards, two touchdowns) all went berserk.
7. You can not practice your end of game situations enough. Here's how Rutgers lost to Michigan State.
ICYMI: Here's how the wild @MSU_Football at @RFootball game just ended. http://t.co/53KsFDAYu8 — BIG 10.10 (@BigTenNetwork) October 11, 2015
And here's how Boston College lost to Wake Forest.
As Rutgers interim head coach Norries Wilson steadfastly admitted in the aftermath of the Scarlet Knights' loss, that practice is as much for the coaches as the players.
ICYMI: @RFootball interim coach Norries Wilson takes blame for final play and gets emotional in postgame presser. http://t.co/MAaUYwIZOE — BIG 10.10 (@BigTenNetwork) October 11, 2015
8. Washington State is better than Oregon. How else can you slice it after Washington State exploited Oregon's lack of ability at quarterback (123 yards on 24 attempts) and defense (Wazzu quarterback Luke Falk threw for 505 yards and 5 touchdowns with no picks) in winning 45-38 in overtime in Autzen Stadium? The Ducks are now 3-3 on the year, losers of two straight at home, and still have to visit Washington (think the Huskies won't be foaming at the mouth to end their 11-game losing streak to Oregon?), Arizona State and Stanford and host USC and California. If Vernon Adams doesn't come back soon and/or the defense doesn't get a lot better immediately, last year's national runners-up could easily miss a bowl game.
9. Utah beat Cal, 30-24. Some chatter after the game suggested this result was actually a negative for Utah, because a team that forces six turnovers should win by 30. This implies forcing zero turnovers in a 30-24 win would somehow be more impressive. I question this logic. Here's one thing I know: the Utes are 5-0, and their third best win is a 40-point blowout of Oregon. Considering everyone else's resumes at this point, we shouldn't be picking any nits with Utah just yet.
10. Ugh, fine, I'll give you my College Football Playoff. 1.) Utah; 2) Clemson; 3) Florida; 4) TCU
11. There were three outstanding tweets issued on Saturday. Bronze medal:
Silver medal:
Gold medal:
12. Odds and Ends:
a. If I had a Heisman vote: 1) Leonard Fournette, LSU; 2) Trevone Boykin, TCU; 3) a coin flip between Ohio State's Ezekiel Elliott, Florida State's Dalvin Cook and Texas A&M's Myles Garrett.
c. While you're at it, don't ask Randy Edsall about shaking players' hands, either.
d. North Texas fired Dan McCarney immediately after suffering a 66-7 loss to Portland State. Time had come for a change - you can't argue otherwise when suffering the worst FCS-over-FBS loss in history, and on Homecoming night, no less - but you hate to see it happen to one of the classiest men in the business.
e. Livin' on a Prayer, Again: After using some atrocious officiating and clutch kicking to beat Texas and Kansas State the past two weeks, Oklahoma State committed four turnovers and still beat West Virginia on the road, 33-26 in overtime.
f. In Need of Prayers, Again: After losing to BYU on a Hail Mary, Miami in overtime, Illinois on a last-second touchdown, Nebraska watched Wisconsin hit a game-winning field goal to win in Lincoln, 23-21. That's four losses for Mike Riley's Huskers where the winning score came on the opponent's final offensive snap.
e. If you're going to create a rivalry trophy out of thin air, you have to go out and win it. That's what Connecticut did, claiming the coveted Civil Conflict trophy 40-13 over Central Florida.
g. Baylor beat Kansas 66-7 and Art Briles earned sportsmanship points in the process. Think about that.
h. Notre Dame may be the most underrated team in college football. The Irish faced a dangerous Navy team and thumped them 41-24. Overlook them at your own peril.
j. Georgia Tech is 2-4. Arkansas is 2-4. South Carolina is 2-4. Not a good year for coaches that spent their offseason crowing about their preseason rankings.
k. Miami suffered its sixth straight loss to Florida State, and second straight in which the 'Canes held a second half lead. Al Golden has a team capable of winning the ACC Coastal but I'm not sure the schedule (vs. Clemson, at North Carolina, at Pittsburgh) agrees with him.
l. Iowa is 6-0. Just wanted to make sure you were aware.
m. Columbia snapped a 24-game winning streak with a 26-3 triumph over Wagner.
n. If someone told you Mississippi State played Troy for the fourth time this season, would you believe them? I would. The Bulldogs' non-conference slate over the past two seasons: Southern Miss, Northwestern State, Troy, Louisiana Tech, UAB, South Alabama, UT-Martin. Sheesh.
o. Up until last week, Kansas State had won 49 straight games when leading at halftime. They've now lost two in a row.
p. And, finally, any time LaQuan McGowan side steps a defensive back like you and I might a fourth-grader, I have to post the video.
WATCH: LaQuan McGowan with his second career TD catch. Bears in control, 38-7. #SicKUhttp://t.co/kPXW627aPJ
— Baylor Football (@BUFootball) October 10, 2015