By John Shinn
Transcript Sports Writer
Maybe it was clear from Oklahoma’s first offensive snap when starting quarterback Paul Thompson dropped back seven steps on a play-action fake and eyed wide receiver Travis Wilson running down the field uncovered.
All the Sooners needed to do was connect.
They couldn’t and it was the first of many misfires and miscues that resulted in No. 7 OU’s shocking 17-10 loss to unranked TCU at Owen Field Saturday.
It was the Sooners’ first regular-season loss since 2002.
Asked the last time he felt so badly about one of his team’s peformances, Bob Stoops had to go back a ways.
“Probably, I would say since 1999,” he said. “Just the way we reacted to everything was a disappointment across the board.”
The Sooners were held to a paltry 225 yards of offense. Sophomore running back Adrian Peterson, who averaged 149 yards a game last season, ran for 63. OU finished with 97 on the ground.
TCU consistently packed the line of scrimmage with eight defenders, begging the Sooners to throw over the top.
They couldn’t.
Thompson’s first start measured out as an 11-for-26 passing performance totaling 109 yards. He mixed in a critical fumble and interception that squandered scoring opportunities.
“I think our problem was mainly our execution,” Thompson said. “We came out and knew what we had to do, but didn’t execute.”
Redshirt freshman Rhett Bomar had a golden opportunity to re-ignite the quarterback race that burned throughout the spring and preseason.
Instead, he went 2-for-5 for 19 yards and played in four series. He ran for 28 yards on his first play, but his early fourth-quarter fumble turned into TCU’s go ahead touchdown.
The Sooners were 3-for-14 on third-down conversions and struggled to get anything going against a team that was last in the nation in passing defense last season.
“That surprised me, too,” Stoops said. “I thought they both would have reacted and played better than they did. There were some opportunities there. We had some nice shots and they were overthrown and underthrown. We just couldn’t quite get it right.”
Wilson, OU’s only returning starting wide receiver, finished with five catches for 52 yards, but didn’t catch a pass until the third quarter.
At the time, the Sooners trailed 10-0.
The Horned Frogs, who picked up their first win over a Top 10 team in 46 years, used a quarterback with a hot hand and defense that forced four turnovers to get the win.
Tye Gunn threw for 226 yards on 24-for-54 passing. While the Sooners’ quarterbacks struggled, he was cool under pressure in front of 84,332 fans.
“I said going into the game that I thought there was a little bit of an advantage in having a senior quarterback,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said.
Gunn gave the Horned Frogs their first lead early in the second quarter with a 16-yard touchdown pass to Derek Moore. The toss capped an 11-play, 84-yard drive.
With 7:16 left in first half, Peter LoCoco added a 25-yard field goal, lifting the Horned Frogs’ lead to 10-0.
The Sooners got back in the game when they took the second-half kickoff and drove 72 yards in nine plays to close the gap to 10-7. The drive was capped by Peterson’s 11-yard run.
“We came out with a good drive,” Peterson said. “We thought we had it put together, After that, we just lost it.”
Garrett Hartley tied the game with a 21-yard field goal with 1:40 left in the third quarter. But the Sooners wanted more than three points.
OU’s Jason Carter tackled TCU punter Brian Cortney to give the Sooners the ball on the 16-yard line. But Peterson hurt his right ankle on the next play and, despite having three shots inside the TCU 5, OU failed to find the end zone.
The Horned Frogs took the lead for good early in the fourth quarter.
Bomar was sacked and was stripped of the ball by Jamison Newby at OU’s 17, where TCU’s David Hawthorne recovered.
Four plays later, Robert Merrill closed the scoring untouched on a 2-yard run.
OU had four more possessions, but they ended in a punt, an interception, a turnover on downs and a fumble.
The loss was complete.
“You’re expected to win and when you come out with a loss it means you’ve got a lot of work to do,” Wilson said. “We have to dig deep and find that true character and come back strong.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
