All's not well that doesn't end well.
The Oklahoma Sooners, unable to overcome five interceptions thrown by quarterback Landry Jones, three field goal attempts missed by placekicker Tress Way, and bungled timeout management by Head Coach Bob Stoops, lost to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, 10-3, in another tight game Saturday night.
The problem with Oklahoma's games for several years now is that they must be wound up. In that process, most end in victories, but the tight ones seldom conclude memorably. Unless bad memories are your thing.
"Great is the art of the beginning," wrote Thomas Fuller, "but greater the art of ending."
Held without a touchdown for the first time in the Stoops era, Oklahoma still seemed to control the game. The No. 20 Sooners outgained the Cornhuskers, 325-180, secured 23 first downs to Nebraska's seven, and ran 87 offensive plays to Nebraska's 57. But in the only statistic that finally matters, Oklahoma fell short.
The three points was the fewest in Stoops' realm.
Oklahoma (5-4, 3-2) traveled inside Nebraska's 35 yard line seven times. An array of mistakes--penalties, drops, interceptions, misused timeouts, missed blocks and missed field goals--stopped the Sooners six of those seven trips. Oklahoma was 0-3 on 4th down conversion attempts and 5-18 on 3rd down tries.
Nebraska (6-3, 3-2) punted 11 times, but scored when it counted, on a 1-yard pass from quarterback Zac Lee to tight end Ryan Lee. That tally followed the first interception thrown by Jones. There would be four more, each in Nebraska territory when Oklahoma had something working. Jones tied a school record with 58 passing attempts.
Oklahoma's defense was it's normal resolute self. However, it forced only one turnover for an offense desperate for a break it couldn't create on its own.
After the game, Stoops spoke of the wasted opportunities in the second half.
"Several of those drives in the second half we felt very positive. We were fairly consistently moving it. You've got to credit them, on third or fourth down, we had our opportunity, and they made plays, they covered us or pressured us or whatever it was to get out of it. That's where we needed to be better."
There is no middle ground. When the issue is being better in a close game, Oklahoma isn't well.
Comments
Bryan..good article but don't forget Helu did have 138 yards rushing and the Huskers fumbled inside their own ten and also had a rare field goal miss by Alex Henery so really both teams shot themselves in the foot, just Oklahoma a lil more than Nebraska. Oh and a small correction, Ryan Hill caught the touchdown.. OU just needs to get into next season. They'll be back.
Correction, fumbles inside the Oklahoma ten after Helu's run..
Oklahoma just needs a better quarterback. There's no excuse for 5 interceptions, overthrown passes, and terrorfied scrambles. Maybe Bradford will fix them back up.
The Nebraska defense played well but Oklahoma left a lot of points out there on the field. OU shot themselves in the foot all night. I agree that OU needs to do better in close games. Landry Jones will have better days, it's asking a lot of a young player to win at Nebraska.
NU fan,
You are right, Ryan Hill caught the TD pass. Thanks for the correction. Nice catch.
You wrote, "OU just needs to get into next season." That's a feeling lots of people in Sooner Nation are having about now.
Texas Tech Examiner,
It was asking a lot of Landry Jones in a hostile place behind a vulnerable line against a stout front four. On paper, the five interceptions look bad. But I thought he made a lot of smart throw-aways. Not his finest hour, but one gets the sense he'll learn from it and improve. I don't get the same sense of improvement from the OL.
I'm sure every OU fan is playing the blame game but I attribute the lost to NU's very fine defense which I thought OU didn't looked prepared for at all. I hope that OU's offense and offensive coaches use this loss as a learning experience because if they want to get back in the BCS hunt next year this is the kind of defense they will have to face and overcome.
I want to give kudos to OU's defense they did hold NU to 10 points even with the offense giving NU numerous turnovers.
If you combine the atrocious offensive line, Stoops' clock management and Wilson's play-calling (pitch it 5 yards deep on 4th and 1?), this is easily the WORST offensive performance of any Sooner team I've ever seen. And yes, I was watching in the 90's.
Oh and obviously it wasn't Jones' best night. He really has a tendency to throw high lately, but overall he made some good decisions when under pressure. He's only a freshman and I have no doubt that he'll improve in the future.
Keep your head high Sooner fans, the bad luck your team has faced this year is absolutely mind boggling. Here's to hopefully meeting your Sooners in the Big12 Championship next season rather than have to wait until 2012!
Okay obviously the outcome of the game stinks, but let's be fair folks, with all the unfortunate injuries, repositioning players and other misfortunes that have seriously plagued our football team in ways unimaginable; THIS SEASON COULD HAVE BEEN WORST. So BIG ups to our very talented, consistent defense for always stepping up in spite of. Also people be patient with Landry;He'll only get better with time..oh and one more thing, the Huskers defense showed up to play, let's NOT get it twisted!
Again.. stat wise we should have WON THE GAME... but we can't score in the red zone... its a fact we can drive the ball farther in the middle of the field for 300 yards but i guarantee we won't score in the red zone.. unless its a field goal and that has been the reason we Have lost all year!!
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