Oklahoma at Texas Tech: One Big Thing
Last week’s Bedlam victory was big.
It showed Oklahoma can play for pride, that beating their in-state rival was important to the Sooners, that attaining bowl eligibility and sending off the seniors the right way means something to them.
What about this week?
Texas Tech is no rival, outside of the Big 12 Conference standings. Tech is the one with the home fans and the outgoing seniors. OU has already qualified for a bowl game.
So what does this game mean to the Sooners? How important is it? Will they view another tally in the win column as motivation enough to play with the same kind of fanatical effort they achieved on defense — or on offense in the first quarter — last week?
The Oklahoma defense played maybe its best game of the season, which was long overdue. But the offense was like a firework — an entertaining, explosive start, but then just smoke and debris for the final three quarters.
Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby came out of his first Bedlam game more than a little frustrated that it was a “different person in every single scenario. I think that's maybe the most frustrating part. Whether it was some version of mesh or QB draw and we fall down, or we give up a pressure when we've got a guy wide open, or we don't throw and catch when we've got two guys wide open, (or) we squeeze the ball and don't let it go when we're supposed to. I think that's the most frustrating thing is that it was somebody different every single time.
“Me putting us in a bad call on third-and-2 where I thought it was gonna get manned (coverage). It had been a ton of man, and it wasn't. I was wrong, and they got me on that. It's going to start and end with me.”
Ted Roof’s first Bedlam game left a little different impression on the Sooner defensive coordinator.
“We played better,” he said. “We played very aggressive and, as a result of some early success, I think we gained some confidence.”
There’s an unknowable element in every college football game. But this week’s OU-Tech affair is on another level.
The Sooners’ inconsistency from week to week has been remarkable. But even OU isn’t in Tech’s neighborhood when it comes to being inconsistent.
The Red Raiders are 5-1 at home, but as they’ve cycled back and forth between three quarterbacks, first-year coach Joey McGuire has watched his team take close wins and close losses and blowouts both ways.
Oklahoma comes in with the more talented roster, but if there’s ever been a case of “who wants it more,” this game might be the ultimate representation of that.
