The Oklahoma Sooners look to be in the midst of a downward spiral two weeks into Big 12 play. After Kansas State had one of the more impressive performances against a Sooners team, TCU effectively said, “hold my beer” and put on a clinic against the Sooners from start to finish.
The Horned Frogs compiled 668 yards of offense and 55 points in a game that was only close during the coin toss and player introductions. Before you could even get your in-game snacks together, TCU led by seven. Before the first quarter had come to an end, the Frogs led 27-10, which felt like, and was, an insurmountable lead on Saturday.
These last two games aren’t how anyone envisioned the season going for Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners. There were high expectations for Oklahoma despite the turnover on the coaching staff and the roster: The Sooners were a preseason top-10 team and were still ranked No. 6 two weeks. Of course, maybe those were misplaced expectations.
The only thing Oklahoma took the lead in on Saturday was the lede in Paul Myerberg of USA TODAY Sports’ weekly Winners and Losers. What happened on Saturday against TCU was troubling. For a team needing a bounce-back win, it performed about as poorly as a team hoping to stay in contention could play.
Given Venables’ background as one of the top coordinators of the century, this sort of collapse is enough to raise eyebrows across the Bowl Subdivision: TCU racked up 668 yards, with an incredible 361 coming on the ground, and had four touchdowns of 60 or more yards in scoring the most points OU had allowed in a Big 12 game since a 59-56 win against West Virginia in 2018. – Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports
Oklahoma just looked lost out there, allowing big play after big play and never really threatening with the pass rush. Duggan had all kinds of time for plays to develop. The Sooners’ secondary had too many busts, letting guys run wide open for big plays.
There wasn’t much that was promising about that performance. And with the improved depth in the Big 12 this season, the Oklahoma Sooners may have trouble getting above .500 on the year and bowl eligible, according to Myerberg.
Instead of being sent to one of the top bowls, if not the College Football Playoff, the Sooners could find themselves in a middle-of-the-road bowl game — or even teetering on the edge of bowl eligibility, should Venables and the new staff not find a way to get OU back on track. – Paul Myerberg, USA TODAY Sports
The Sooners will not have an easy task next Saturday either as they go back to the DFW Metroplex to play the Texas Longhorns, who are dominating West Virginia on Saturday night. The Longhorns are expected to have Quinn Ewers back in the lineup for the Red River Showdown.
If the Sooners continue to play like they have the last couple of weeks, there may not be three more wins on the schedule in 2022.
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