It’s safe to say that the 2021 college football season has failed to live up to preseason expectations for the Oklahoma Sooners. Sure, they’re undefeated and remain in the top four of the USA TODAY Sports AFCA Coaches Poll as well as the AP Top 25; however, it’s been a struggle to stay there.
The Oklahoma Sooners haven’t played a complete game this season, save for the Western Carolina game. On the one hand, it’s good that they’ve learned how to win in various ways and that they’ve been good in close games. On the other hand, it’s not a recipe for success to struggle as often as the Sooners have in 2021.
They fought off a 14-14 first quarter in the Tulane game with a 23-0 second quarter to seemingly put the game away. Tulane had other ideas and rallied to outscore the Sooners 21-3 in the first half. The Sooners held on to beat a Tulane team that is now 1-6 and has been outscored by 107 points in the last five games. OU had to hang on to beat that Tulane team.
The now 3-5 Nebraska Cornhuskers played the Sooners to a 7-3 game at halftime in week three. Oklahoma scored 16 points in the second half, helped by a Pat Fields two-point conversion return and D.J. Graham’s incredible interception. But Nebraska had a shot in that game.
The Sooners needed a game-winning field goal against West Virginia when the offense struggled to get anything going and a nearly flawless offensive effort against Kansas State when the defense and special teams couldn’t get stops.
Against the Longhorns, we all remember what happened. Oklahoma got down as many as 21 points before roaring back to win the game in the final seconds on Kennedy Brooks’ touchdown run.
The Sooners got their biggest win of the season against TCU two Saturdays ago in their 52-31 win over TCU. TCU kept it close until Caleb Williams and Jadon Haselwood connected at the end of the half to make it 24-14.
Then the no-show in Lawrence happened, and the Sooners fell behind the Kansas Jayhawks 10-0 at halftime. That should have never happened.
On the bright side of all of this is that the Oklahoma Sooners are 8-0 without having played a complete game. They’re a team with room to improve. They’re a team that’s dealt with injuries this season to key personnel, and they’re a team that’s played a lot of true freshmen.
Billy Bowman, Mario Williams, Danny Stutsman, Ethan Downs, Caleb Williams, Jalil Farooq, Latrell McCutchin, and Shane Whitter have played significant roles for the Sooners. And while it hasn’t always been pretty, that experience is invaluable.
Though Texas Tech just fired head coach Matt Wells, they won’t be an easy out. With how the Sooners performed against Kansas, there isn’t a game on the schedule that OU should consider “easy.” After Texas Tech and a bye week, the Sooners get their tough stretch against Baylor, Iowa State, and Oklahoma State.
The Oklahoma Sooners won’t be able to take a half, a quarter, or even a drive off against one of those teams and expect to stay in front in the Big 12 title race. This team needs to lock in and focus on each practice rep, each snap, each drive, and each game like it’s the most important rep, snap, or drive of the game.
If the Oklahoma Sooners go into any of their remaining games on the schedule (including the College Football Playoff) the same way they did this past weekend against Kansas, they’re going to get blown out. If Kansas’ defense (ranked No. 127 in the country in scoring) was too much for the Sooners offense to overcome what will they do when they face the No. 12 (Iowa State), No. 19 (Baylor), and the No. 31 (Oklahoma State) ranked defenses in scoring to close out the season?
It’s time to lock in and prepare like every upcoming game is for the national championship. Like each game is the most important game of the season. And that starts this week with the Texas Tech Red Raiders.
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