Clay Horning
Good enough to beat Colorado!Good enough to score on their very first drive and play possession football the rest of the way. And why not, it’s not like Adrian Peterson was in the backfield, primed to go the distance any given snap.
Just maybe, what the Sooners offered Saturday night was their idea of a new master plan. Even if it took the crowd out of the game, even at Owen Field. You can’t say it didn’t work.
That was Oklahoma walking off with a 24-3 victory over Colorado.
And don’t tell anybody, but I’m pretty sure if the other team doesn’t score — OK, if the other team scores only three points — the Sooners can’t lose.
The wind was a gale and the crowd began leaving at the half.
It was no blizzard, yet it seemed like nobody really wanted to be there, right down to the two teams and maybe the officials, too. The game took less than three hours to put in the books, even with Sooner offensive lineman Branndon Braxton, likely out for the season, responsible for a 5-minute delay as the OU training staff administered aid to his left leg.
So who doesn’t love that kind of efficiency on a crisp autumn night?
Well, except for the thousands who left early. Then again, it was probably the crisp autumn night, not the football, that sent them packing. Because it’s hard to get upset about an easy win.
But there’s still one problem?
Other than the fact they can beat a bunch of Buffaloes who entered with only one win in six tries, the Sooners didn’t prove a thing.
Allen Patrick ran for 115 yards, yet even allowing for the gaping discrepancy between Peterson and anybody who might try taking his place, 3.1 yards, Patrick’s average, isn’t worth much more than half a cliché.
You know the one: 3.1 yards and a cloud of dust.
Jacob Gutierrez sparked the Sooners’ third-quarter touchdown drive with a couple nice runs. Apparently the mighty mite running back has bounced back fine from reconstructive knee surgery. But only given the chance to carry five times, and still for just 18 yards, how much have we really learned?
After Peterson went down last week, Paul Thompson was one of the first to accept more responsibility and Saturday night he did nothing wrong. Nor did he light the Buffs up. He wasn’t asked to. It was just that kind of game.
“Maybe we talked ourselves in and out of some things in the second and third quarter, when we were going into the wind,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said.
But the defense was playing so well, why take a chance.
So, nice win.
But it’s going to take more next time out.
Because a few hours before OU lumbered past Colorado, Missouri ran over Kansas State 41-21. Chase Daniel completed almost 80 percent of his passes, throwing for 262 yards and four touchdowns. And it’s the Tigers the Sooners will soon have to solve next.
No question, as Bob Stoops, would say, it was one of those nights a win is a win is a win.
“The conditions weren’t the best,” he said.
And in such elements, you don’t’ sneeze at victory.
But even on a cold night, it was only a warm-up
Next time, at Columbia, the season may be defined.
Will it be A) like last season or B) something else.
The Sooners want Door A.
Remember, OU got better last season.
The Sooners finished strong last season.
At the end, nobody, Oregon, perhaps, least of all, wanted to play them.
Well, once again the Sooners have hit their low, beating themselves all over the Cotton Bowl, only to bounce back with sharp, but hardly defining victories over, let’s be honest, two North division pretenders.
But Missouri is no pretender.
The Tigers are the next biggest game of the season.
Sure, OU can keep it going.
Even if Saturday night against the Buffs yielded little evidence either way.
Clay Horning366-3526cfhorning@normantranscript.com
