Brandon Chatmon, ESPN Staff Writer 10y

Sooners' Big 12 hopes dwindling

DALLAS -- Dressed in all-white uniforms with crimson-and-gold trim, a shell-shocked group of players sat before the media after Oklahoma’s 36-20 loss to Texas, yet the Sooners didn’t really have answers.

Two hours earlier, on the field, they didn’t really have answers either.

Texas outplayed, outschemed, outexecuted and outcoached Oklahoma on its way to an upset win at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday. Some may say the Sooners didn’t take the Longhorns seriously, entering the game as clear favorites with UT struggling. Yet anyone taking away all expectations and just watching what occurred on the Cotton Bowl turf would assume the Longhorns entered the game as the favorite and simply took care of business.

“I don’t think we were overconfident,” Sooners center Gabe Ikard said. “I think we got outplayed.”

Quarterback Blake Bell's interception was returned 31 yards by Texas’ Chris Whaley for a touchdown, the Sooners’ punt team gave up an 85-yard touchdown by UT’s Daje Johnson, and OU was 2-of-13 on third down and allowed UT to convert 13 of 20 third downs. All this from a team that many expected to compete for the Big 12 championship and maybe even insert itself into the BCS title conversation after a stellar 5-0 start to the season.

“You give up a touchdown on offense, give up a touchdown on special teams, can’t convert on third down, can’t stop them on third down,” Ikard said. “All of these things adding up to something that was really poor on our part.”

That’s phrasing it nicely. Not to mention, OU’s offensive and defensive lines consistently lost the battle up front, as a Sooners rushing game that averaged 246 yards entering the game was held to 130 rushing yards and 3.9 yards per carry.

“They dominated up front, the offensive and defensive lines,” fullback Trey Millard said. “That was one of the things we wanted to focus on, and they beat us in that aspect. We wanted to play better than we did, get more consistent runs.”

Meanwhile, the Longhorns were running all over the Sooners defense, which had looked much improved through five games. On Saturday? Not so much. Johnathan Gray (29 carries, 123 yards) and Malcolm Brown (23 carries, 120 yards) became the first Longhorns duo to rush for more than 100 yards in the same game against OU.

While the Sooners' rush defense was nonexistent, Bell wasn’t much better in his first Red River Rivalry start. The junior finished 12-of-26 for 133 yards and two interceptions while looking jittery and uncomfortable in the pocket, the complete opposite of how he played in the Sooners’ 35-21 win over Notre Dame on Sept. 28.

“I’m the same player today I was at Notre Dame,” Bell said after the loss.

He sure didn’t look like it.

It all adds up to one of the worst performances of the Bob Stoops era, as there was never really any point in the loss when OU looked comfortable or confident.

“I expect more out of us,” Ikard said. “We weren’t able to get the job done today, and it starts with me and my guys [along the offensive line]. We’re a much better team than we played today.”

OU entered the game as one of the favorites to win the Big 12 alongside Baylor. Now, it's looking up at Texas and Texas Tech in the Big 12 standings. Unless the Sooners drastically improve in the weeks following Saturday’s debacle, they could slide even further down the standings.

The Sooners insist they are still in race to win the Big 12, and they’re right, as the 2009 Longhorns were the last Big 12 team to go undefeated to win the conference.

“We had one loss in the Big 12 last year, and we got a co-championship,” Millard said. “It’s still out there for us.”

But they’re not going to insert themselves back into the Big 12 title hunt playing like they did against the Longhorns.

“We just have to win all of our games,” defensive tackle Chuka Ndulue said. “Whatever happens, happens.”

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