Sports Editor Clay Horning
DALLAS — Maybe you had to watch it on television to really see it. From high above, with the naked eye, it would only have been a guess.
It happened right after the third play of the second half, right after Paul Thompson, after lining up wide and left, had taken off too soon and immediately after the referee had explained the Sooner receiver’s false start.
The camera found Bob Stoops on the sideline in full headset, visor and incredulity. He made a sort of dismissive gesture with his arm. He said a few words. He took a few steps in no particular direction, clearly not pleased.
All of his body language seemed to say one thing.
Who are these guys?
He should know better than anybody else yet it’s still a good question.
The totality of the answer remains unknown. Because we’ll find out more at Arrowhead Stadium, more when Baylor comes to town and more when the Sooners visit Lincoln. But at the very same time, the day after Texas walked all over Oklahoma 45-12, we know enough.
These guys include a redshirt freshman quarterback who has recovered from stage fright well enough to hang on to the football, but is still getting used to the college game, especially one with all the atmosphere and pressure of the Red River Rivalry.
These guys include an offensive line that is hardly settled in, also lacking experience and, against the likes of the No. 2 Longhorns, overmatched.
These guys include a secondary still learning, especially at safety where a pair of true freshmen, Reggie Smith and Nic Harris, may have earned the job, but are still bound to take their lumps the way Smith did when Vince Young went over the top to find Billy Pittman for a 64-yard backbreaking touchdown pass 17 seconds before the half.
These guys typically include Adrian Peterson, but not Saturday when the sophomore runner carried just three times for 10 yards, the extent of his ankle injury clearly having been underplayed in the days leading up to the game.
It’s no indictment. It may not be much of an observation, it’s all so easy to see. But it is what it is and it points toward a season, almost half gone, full of uncertainty and growing pains, more of which are surely yet to come.
Indeed, what happened Saturday wasn’t so hard to predict as it was to fathom.
Oklahoma had owned Texas for so long, it was difficult to see the Sooners losing, much less being blown off the field.
“It was just a matter of execution,” said quarterback Rhett Bomar, who was no less effective than every other Sooner in the huddle, even on a day he completed just 12 of 33 passes for 94 yards.
And he was right, just as he would have been right to explain how execution means just about everything, and in just about every way, the Sooners were no match for the Longhorns.
What happened last week against Kansas State hasn’t been invalidated. OU quit hurting itself against the Wildcats and suffered few self-inflicted wounds against Texas. That’s still progress, just not near enough to compete at the level the Sooners have become accustomed.
There was another telling moment with Stoops and the question, from some guy pointing a microphone, was an interesting one.
Like he was trying to ask the coach about the staying power of OU’s program and how maybe Texas shouldn’t think it’s about to go on a five-win run of its own, the reporter inquired if the Longhorns’ “window of opportunity” might be small.
“This is one year. It doesn’t mean anything,” Stoops said, a little oddly. “I mean, we’re going to be a lot better next year, there’s no question.”
It’s the closest the coach has come to saying what’s become more and more evident, that this bunch of Sooners, compared to years past, doesn’t really, well, compare.
These guys are what they are: young and green, and with injuries and defections, maybe a little talent-deficient, too. And no match for Texas.
Saturday at the Cotton Bowl, it couldn’t have been more clear.
Clay Horning366-3526cfhorning@normantranscript.com
