Head coach Lincoln Riley said after the TCU game that you obviously don’t want to have the turnovers that have been in the red zone, although a guy like Hurts that has the ball in his hands as much as he does is more susceptible to the fumbles and interceptions.
What has happened the last four games to Oklahoma?
Riley had a long, thoughtful answer for that.
“I think in a lot of ways we’re moving forward, especially the last couple weeks,” he said Monday. “We’ve done some things much better than we could have even dreamt of doing the first seven games. We’ve played, I think, better competition. And then also we have made some critical errors that have held us back from being able to separate in those games. You can’t do that. It’s part of the game.
“I think 90 percent of what we’re doing right now is drastically improved from where we were at any point early or midseason. We can’t let that 10 percent just kill us. The 10 percent the last couple of weeks, especially the turnovers, has been so devastating that it’s either put us in a hole like it did against Baylor or kept the game close the other night that, in our opinion, shouldn’t have been very close. We can’t do that. We’ve got to get better. We’ve got to play better on that 10 percent. But when you go back and watch the film and we study it, there’s a lot that we’re doing better overall as a football team that makes us pretty excited about these next ones coming up.”
There’s no telling if the Sooners have found the answer to its turnover problems. Or the lack of delivering big blows in the forms of explosive touchdown passes and runs.
But, Oklahoma does look to be close to becoming the dominant force it once was this season prior to the Kansas State game.
The Sooners have dominated the stat sheet. They just haven’t dominated the games.
If they want a chance to bring Oklahoma its eighth national championship, the time is now.
In Bedlam.
Against its in-state rival in a top-25 matchup.
On national television in primetime.
The Oklahoma defense has been far from disastrous, no matter what anyone will tell you, and its now Oklahoma’s offense turn to finally hit its stride.
“I think it’s all on us and how we execute,” Hurts said. “Regardless of what the opposition does, we have to go out there and execute our scheme and execute our plays and play our type of football on offense. We’re doing a great job of doing that. We can’t leave any money on the table. I say that all the time, we can’t leave any money on the table.”
[lawrence-auto-related count=3]