PASADENA, Calif. — Two weeks earlier, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops bemoaned his team’s toughness.
One week earlier, the Sooners having shown plenty of toughness in a victory over Tulsa, it was the passing game, all 42 yards of it, that had Stoops deeply concerned.
Saturday, the passing game improved, but a new culprit emerged in OU’s 41-24 loss to UCLA.
“I’m just not at all pleased with our discipline, the penalties and the turnovers,” he said. “To me, that’s the whole game.”
Maybe not the whole game, but it was more than enough to doom the Sooners (1-2) against the Bruins (0-3).
The Sooners only lost two fumbles, though it seemed like more, the ball hitting the ground seven times in all. They were flagged seven times for 55 yards, less than UCLA, though OU’s calls were much more costly.
“They’re going to happen,” OU linebacker Rufus Alexander said of all the miscues. “You just can’t let them get to you.”
The problem for the Sooners was they just kept happening and happening and happening. And still, while some saw all the mistakes, others saw progress.
“We got a lot closer. Until the fourth quarter, we were there,” team captain and fullback J.D. Runnels said. “We just have to work on finishing and not making mistakes.”
OU can only hope its so easy.
The Sooners picked up 25 first downs, easily a season high, as were their 241 yards passing and 398 total yards. Defensively, at the half, OU had allowed just 19 yards rushing on 16 Bruin carries.
“I thought there were a lot of things that you can build on,” co-defensive coordinator Brent Venables said. “There’s a lot of positives you can take from it, but again, (there were) some real critical errors and we just have to be better and be smarter and have overall better awareness.”
Though he failed to complete any passes in the first quarter, Bomar came back to complete 20 of 29 in the game without any interceptions.
“I think we’re making progress,” the redshirt freshman said. “I think we’ll be all right.”
Of course, “all right” is relative.
The Sooners haven’t started a season with two losses in their first three games since 1997 and haven’t lost two games in the regular season since 2002.
Before the season began, Stoops frequently compared what approached the Sooners with what approached the Sooners in 2000, the year OU last won a national championship. While there is longer any comparison between the two campaigns, Stoops remains hopeful about this one.
“We’re a work in progress,” he said. “We’re not quitting. We’re going to push and improve. If we do that, we have a chance to be a good team.”
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