SEATTLE —If watching Oklahoma’s victory over Washington Saturday night filled you with a sense of deja vu, you’re not alone. There were a lot of things the Sooners did in the 55-14 romp that stoked familiar flames.
The easiest comparisons were a third straight blowout victory in which OU rolled up over 50 points. It was another game where it dominated defensively and most of the fourth quarter was spent with second- and third-string players on the field.
But when you look at the college football landscape, you also get the sense that OU’s been in the position before.
Sunday, the Sooners moved up to No. 2 in both the Associated Press and Coaches Tops 25s. The team that sits above is USC, and rightly so after the Trojans’ trouncing of Ohio State Saturday night.
Seeing those two powers perched atop the rankings produces the sense that, much like 2004, OU and USC are on a collision course to meet in January. Identical to that season the BCS title game is in Miami, and there’s SEC teams behind them in the rankings that will also be involved in title game discussions.
The Sooners haven’t done much boasting since the season began. This group was willing to talk about national title aspirations before preseason practices started, but has taken a very workman-like approach this season. The only specific goal mentioned has been to win every game.
Stoops, however, said he could see a difference between this season’s Sooners in the days leading up to the Washington game. The bunch that was so maligned for last season’s road performances took the lessons to task.
“You could see it in the way they approached the trip, the way they took the field, even the way they came over to the stadium today,” Stoops said following the victory. “You could tell they were invested in it, focused and ready to compete.”
The last time he talked about a team in those terms was in 2004, when OU spent the entire season at No. 2 in the polls before facing the Trojans. Both OU teams have a lot of similarities. Both had proven quarterbacks capable of spreading the ball around the field. Both could throw it 40 times a game or run it 40 and put up the same amount of points. Both could send a defense out on the field capable of matching up with just about scheme presented.
But this year’s Sooners are showing something the ’04 group didn’t. That is the ability to get better as the reason goes along.
“We’ve come out to every practice with a purpose,” center Jon Cooper said. “I don’t remember feeling that before. Each day we’ve had that little extra focus and that little discipline to help us get through some of the difficulties we’ve had.”
On the field, there haven’t any that have been noticeable ones. Saturday night’s victory showed the Sooners can take their act on the road get the same results in front of a hostile audience. They’ve left a string of three straight opponents believing they’ve lost to a national championship-caliber team.
“I think it’s obvious we played one of the best football teams we’ve played since I’ve been here,” Washington coach Tyrone Willingham said. “They were good in all aspects of the game; running it, throwing it, defending it. I thought they were, all around, as strong a football team as I’ve seen.”
It’s really been four years since OU could walk onto any field and give the public a sense of shock and awe like it has in the first three games. It’s been an impressive run and the Sooners head into their first off-week believing their building for something very big.
Stoops said it best Saturday night: “I get the feeling we’re getting stronger as team.”
John Shinn
366-3536
jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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Discussion
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