Transcript Sports Writer
When Oklahoma returned to Norman Saturday, it had every reason to feel depressed. It had suffered a heartbreaking loss under controversial circumstances.
How long will that pain linger?
“I don’t think it will linger,” linebacker Clint Ingram said. “We know how big Bedlam is. We know how OSU will come in here and play like they’ve never played before. This is always one of the toughest games of the season. We have to let that go and let bygones be bygones.”
Texas coach Mack Brown once said after losing to OU in the Red River Shootout the key was making sure it only amounted to one loss.
OU coach Bob Stoops doesn’t believe the loss to Texas Tech will have any lasting impact on his team’s psyche.
“Through it all, we have got to be strong enough to make other plays, to not put ourselves in a position for that to happen,” Stoops said at his media luncheon Tuesday. “When it does happen, hey, in life everything isn’t always fair and sometimes the judgment doesn’t go your way. You’ve got to be strong enough to overcome it. In the situation the other day, we weren’t.
“But we still have another big game here this week. We can sit around and whine about it, complain about it all we want. It isn’t going to change. We’ve got to put it behind us, move on and try and finish in a positive way here this week.”
Reporters tried hard to get anyone in the Sooner camp to say they’d been wronged in Lubbock by the officials. It simply wasn’t going to happen.
“You’re not getting that out of me,” defensive tackle Dusty Dvoracek said.
When asked why, he looked across the room and saw Stoops answering questions and answered, “If he’s not then I’m not.”
Stoops set that tone minutes after Saturday’s loss. He took no shots at officials and made no references to his team being treated unfairly.
His team listened.
“We don’t want to sit around and mope and complain about how we should have got this and we should have got that,” Ingram said. “We have to let that go and get ready for something we can do something about and that’s the OSU game.”
The Sooners (6-4, 5-2 Big 12) face the Cowboys (4-6, 1-6) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Owen Field. It’s the regular-season finale for both teams. It also has major implications toward OU’s postseason destination.
All indications point toward a Sooner victory sending them to either the Holiday (San Diego) or Alamo Bowl (San Antonio).
In OU’s mind, defeating its in-state rival and solidifying its bowl status far outweighs what happened in Lubbock.
“That Tech game’s over,” Dvoracek said. “We’re not going to let that really make us angry or not angry. I just think that one’s behind us.
“We know what this OSU game’s all about. We know what the series is about. We know how they’re going to come and play us. We’re just focused on beating them and not really worried about that other one.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
Only Bedlam
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