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Oklahoma's players sat down to review the Texas game Sunday and Monday. It wasn't a pleasant process.
The hurt didn't come just from having to relive a loss. It was knowing that had any one of several plays turned out differently, it might have been the difference between winning and losing.
It didn't help that it was third time this season they've gone through a very similar process.
"You see those little things, those tiny little things, that could have changed the outcome of the game," cornerback Brian Jackson said. "You see the assignment here that could have been just a little bit better or the tackle there. It gets to be devastating, but you have to learn from those mistakes because there's always another game to play."
In the Sooners' case, literally, one play in three different games is the difference between being 3-3 overall and 1-1 in the Big 12 Conference and being undefeated.
It's doubtful there's ever been a season where each tiny little mistake has been so magnified so early in the season.
"It's frustrating," said Brody Eldridge who will play guard or tight end or both Saturday against Kansas. "(We) never want to lose anything by one point in anything we do."
It's also the reason the coaching staff is doing everything it can to disprove the belief the Sooners' sky is falling.
Even after OU failed to rush for a single yard against Texas and turned the ball over five times, including twice in the final 6 minutes -- and starting quarterback Sam Bradford re-injured his right shoulder -- OU coach Bob Stoops struck an upbeat tone.
"These guys have worked hard. Yesterday's attitude was fantastic," he said. "They understand where, regardless of our circumstances, here are some ways where we give ourselves a better opportunity to win, and there are ways we can do it."
In the Texas game, Stoops harped on three third-down conversions on Texas' lone touchdown drive. There was also the handful of balls that receivers had their hands on that could have led to touchdowns or at least put OU in field-goal range.
It's why the coaching staff has said all season the Sooners are "close" to being the team they were expected to be.
"We're staying positive. We have to stay positive," Eldridge said. "We're close. We just have to piece it all together."
The Texas game marked the midway point in OU's regular season. The first six games haven't been up to Sooner standards. It's a program that isn't used to game after game being decided by a handful of plays.
But that's the way the season has gone. The Sooners have been on the cusp of winning three critical games. They just haven't made the one play to get over the hump.
It would be easy to blame it on the critical injuries (Bradford and Jermaine Gresham) and say 2009 is a lost season. To some fans, three losses after six games and one to Texas means the season is over.
"We've had some difficult circumstances, but you have to keep playing. That's what you do," Stoops said. "You try to look at the positives."
And believe the point will come when real close turns into victory.
John Shinn 366-3536 jshinn@normantranscript.com
OU Sports
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