Oklahoma likes to say it never beats its chest and it doesn’t. But those chests are usually stuck out a little bit in a show of pride. Winning, and winning big, has that effect.
But how is the Sooners’ psyche after last Saturday’s 27-24 loss to Colorado? More importantly, what will it be at 2:30 p.m. Saturday when No. 10 OU (4-1, 0-1 Big 12) faces No. 19 Texas (4-1, 0-1) at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
Confidence can be a fragile thing. It only comes with success. Last Saturday’s loss certainly did give the Sooners a boost.
“It's still up there,” linebacker Lewis Baker said. “We don't feel like we should have lost that game there last week. Obviously, all along we didn't play very well and Colorado did. Coach Stoops reminded us that we're still a great team and we can't let this one loss get us down because we still have seven or eight football games left to play.”
Those seven or eight games will determine whether OU has a crisis of confidence.
The Sooners proved in the first for games, they can put on a show when they play well. Wins over North Texas and Utah State may not mean much, but Miami and Tulsa are a combined 7-1 and are likely headed to bowl games. OU beat them by a combined score of 113-34.
But Colorado offered something none of those non-conference games presented. The game still hung in the balance as the fourth quarter began. Plays needed to be made to get the win. OU didn’t make them.
“Maybe how some of those first four games went, they got to feeling that this is how we do it,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “But it's not that easy to do it, obviously. And it doesn't take much for it to go wrong.
“I think sometimes maybe overall the general public doesn't get what small margin it takes for things not to be executed properly … It's the power of momentum.”
Colorado seized it and never let go. The Sooners will try to get it back as they prepare for their annual showdown with the Longhorns.
Texas is in the exact same boat after it stumbled last Saturday against Kansas State. It brings an angle to the OU-Texas not often present.
“It feels weird,” offensive tackle Trent Williams said. “I know everybody was keyed into this game from the beginning of the season expecting us to come into this game undefeated. I think we just have to overcome that. We can’t change anything. We just have to better our season by beating Texas.”
It won’t be easy. Momentum in an OU-Texas contest usually swings around back and forth like the tilt-a-whirl ride outside the Cotton Bowl.
But whichever team manages to have it at the end usually keeps it for the duration of the season. OU got its wake-up call last Saturday.
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
A crisis of confidence?
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