Claremore Daily Progress

Sports Columnists

October 14, 2012

COLUMN: Could this be a new Red October dawn?

CLAY HORNING CNHI News Services

DALLAS — Landry Jones must have said it three times in about 5 minutes. He might have said it a dozen times in all.



“If we play like we’re capable of playing …”



It was the way he began several sentences. But think about it.



How can he know?



How can he know what this Oklahoma team is really capable of? How can anybody know?



Little more than a week ago, the Sooners looking the way they looked against Texas Tech appeared inconceivable. Then, as good as that went, leaping from that to what happened Saturday afternoon at the Cotton Bowl was equally impossible.



Yet there it was.



Oklahoma 63, Texas 21.



The Sooners dominant in a way nobody could have predicted. Texas lackluster in a way it has only ever been against OU in 2000, 2003, last season and again.



For a second straight week, the Sooner offense grew by leaps and bounds. For the third straight game the Sooner defense proved its ability to impose its will and for the second straight game, it proved it could impose it long after the result was decided.



In the now 14-year Bob Stoops era, we haven’t experienced anything this out-of-nowhere since Red October, 2000, when OU topped Texas, Kansas State and Nebraska back-to-back-to-back to leap atop the polls and fuel a national championship drive.



The familiarity is undeniable. A 21-point victory over until-then unbeaten Texas Tech, what happened at the Cotton Bowl on Saturday, with Kansas and No. 7 Notre Dame both on their way to Owen Field before November arrives.



OU’s whitewash of burnt orange was crushingly complete.



The Sooners put together three scoring drives of 10 or more plays on a day they possessed the ball almost 15 minutes longer than the Longhorns and broke the series record for longest run from scrimmage (Damien Williams’ 95-yard cut-and-dart in the first quarter) and longest pass (Trey Millard’s 73-yard catch, hurdle and run in the second quarter).



They picked off two passes and got a fumble and when they weren’t forcing turnovers, OU’s defense was getting stop after stop after stop.



The Longhorns had two first downs and 65 total yards at the half. Their first nine drives led to six punts, a safety and the two picks.



Bob Stoops lives inside the little picture, so when he talked about it, he offered praise to this unit and that unit, to every grouping of players, from both lines to each of his special teams, two observations became clear.



One, in a long-winded way, he was getting across a very direct point, as though all he was really saying was “this is what it’s supposed to look like.”



Two, you couldn’t help but think back 12 years ago, to his second season, to, really, the starting gun to his tenure, a 63-14 Cotton Bowl massacre. In retrospect, Stoops would later say, it was the victory that told him what might be possible.



Because, as he talked about his latest triumph, it seemed like it too, in retrospect, might tell him the same thing.



“It was a complete game,” Stoops said.



Oh, yeah.



It was the game Damien Williams was not only yet again the first ground option, but an option that accounted for 167 yards. And it was a game that not only included Millard in the game plan yet again, but explored how much of the offense the junior fullback can be, as rolled for 119 in the air and 45 on the ground.



It was the game Jalen Saunders caught his first two passes for 54 yards, and there’s no reason to think that’s anything but a starting point for the former Fresno State receiver.



It was the game the defense wasn’t simply terrific, but good in a way defenses just aren’t good anymore, everywhere but Tuscaloosa and Baton Rouge.



“I think that we were just kind of cutting it loose and having fun,” Jones said.



Also, he said, “You don’t get too many like this.”



That sounds right, but how can he know? Because nobody saw last week coming, as dominant as it was, and nobody saw this coming, a game, start to finish, like OU hasn’t played in so long.



“The sky’s the limit and we’re just trying to reach it,” defensive end David King said.



Maybe.



“I don’t know,” Jones finally said. “I don’t know how far we can take it. We’re building.”



He doesn’t know.



How could he?



After this, in the best possible way, how could anybody?

 

Text Only
Sports Columnists
  • COLUMN: Are these spring hopes eternal for OU's Metoyer?

    The annual Red-White spring game is a skirmish without context and there’s really no way around it.

    In an age of closed practices, holding out your stars, putting blue jerseys on your quarterbacks and throttling back the playbook because an opponent might pick something up watching it, just how much can anybody hope to glean?

    April 14, 2013

  • COLUMN: Devalued titles only make it easier for Jenks, Union

    The revolution arrived quietly, long before Thursday.

    Thursday was only the day it became clear, when OSSAA Class 6A member schools voted for the lesser of two evils, a plan to separate Class 6A high school football in the state into two different 16-team and two-district divisions, a Class 7A in everything but name, rather than an even nuttier idea to not separate into two divisions, yet somehow determine two state champions via two different playoff brackets.

    April 12, 2013

  • COLUMN: OU wants to build tradition of its own

    They say tradition never goes on vacation, so maybe the Oklahoma women can’t count on being overlooked today.

    Tennessee is the Yankees, Steelers and Manchester United of women’s college basketball, only better.

    March 31, 2013

  • COLUMN: Can Griner save the WNBA?

    The hours spent pouring over the brackets were probably a waste because no one knows just how good Gonzaga is, or whether Kansas really does have its act together.
    That's the beauty of the NCAA men's tournament, where this year there are more questions than ever about which schools are pretenders and which are contenders. Even the wise guys in Vegas don't really seem to know, with seven teams - including Kansas and Gonzaga all listed at 12-1 or better to win the national title.
    There's no such debate on the women's side. Brittney Griner and her Baylor teammates are pretty much locks to be cutting down the nets in New Orleans on a second straight national title.

    March 21, 2013

  • HORNING: Whitney Hand not done leaving her mark at OU

    Favorite Sooner of all time? Well, from my youth there’s Elvis Peacock, John McCullough, Kelly Snider and, just to make everybody from a different sport, let’s say Jim Begwin.

    December 14, 2012

  • COLUMN: Arkansas coaching search gets weird

    On some levels I can relate to John L. Smith’s plight.

    Much like Smith, my employer recently made a personnel decision that directly impacted my workload. Like Smith, I went from merely setting a kick return unit, to calling plays, barking orders, and attempting to figure out what’s going on inside Paul Petrino’s head.

    November 30, 2012

  • HORNING: Considering Landry Jones

    Only a few days ago I wrote about Landry Jones’ opportunity to define himself once and for all over his last four games as a Sooner.

    That even though championships appeared out of reach, should he play victorious football and leave the Sooner Nation happy, he’ll be rewarded by fine memories.

    November 22, 2012

  • Against Sooners, Irish have what it takes, again

    The magic was back.Now it’s gone.That’s the Irish for you. That’s Notre Dame and Oklahoma. That’s history, fulfilled.

    If I’m Joe Castiglione, I try lining up another home and home series with Notre Dame before the Sooners even visit South Bend next season. If I’m the Sooner athletic director, I try scheduling this game wherever possible, as often as possible.

    October 28, 2012

  • The 10 best reasons to hate Notre Dame

    Notre Dame is a wonderful school, a fantastic institution and a slice of American history that simply can’t be denied. Just ask Regis Philbin.

    October 25, 2012

  • COLUMN: Could this be a new Red October dawn?

    Landry Jones must have said it three times in about 5 minutes. He might have said it a dozen times in all.

    “If we play like we’re capable of playing …”

    October 14, 2012