Win by any means necessary; count your blessings; on to the next game.
In this wacked-out season chock full of upsets, forget style points.
It's why NFL owner and former coach Al Davis has long preached, "Just win, baby.”
It's why NFL coach and former player Herm Edwards so eloquently waxed, "Hello? You play to win the game.”
Oklahoma and Missouri both played to win the game Saturday night on Owen Field.
The Sooners happened to pull it off with a hard-fought 41-31 victory that often lacked style points.
The No. 11-ranked Tigers were done in by four turnovers, which is why OU was able to survive with two turnovers and four failed conversion attempts.
Hey, by any means necessary.
"Turnovers change everything,” Sooners coach Bob Stoops said afterward. "Turnovers skew the whole deal. You can either win or lose the game, and it almost lost it for us.”
But on a night when the nation's No. 1-ranked football team got beat by a basketball school, and the nation's No. 2-ranked football team got beat by a baseball school, the No. 6-ranked Sooners will gladly take this win, baby.
OU certainly is counting its blessings and now it's on to Iowa State.
The Sooners' national title hopes have a much stronger heartbeat than just two weeks ago, thanks to Kentucky's 43-37 upset over top-ranked LSU in triple overtime and second-ranked California losing 31-28 to Oregon State, the two-time defending NCAA baseball champs.
One other development on Saturday: Former perennial football power Nebraska officially became a volleyball school with its 45-14 loss at home to Oklahoma State.
The manner in which the OU-MU game transpired necessitates stealing one more familiar NFL rant, this one from former coach Dennis Green: "The Tigers were who we thought they were.”
Junior quarterback Chase Daniel was terrific, completing 37 of 47 passes for 361 yards and one touchdown.
All-everything redshirt freshman Jeremy Maclin was scary every time he touched the ball, with 189 all-purpose yards.
The receivers came in droves and got to spread the wealth, with nine players catching passes.
Missouri is lethal when it has the football.
These absolutely, positively were no paper Tigers.
In terms of overall quality, this was OU's most significant victory of the season.
The Sooners can be sneaky in how they beat you.
For example, it's widely agreed Allen Patrick and DeMarco Murray are their two best running backs. But Chris Brown — with 13 carries for 67 yards and three touchdowns — has now been the team leader in carries three times in seven games.
Brown gets playing time because he's the best at picking up the tough yards.
And so it's survive and advance for the now 6-1 Sooners, who could sneak all the way up to No. 3 in some polls today.
Next week they're at 1-6 Iowa State.
Um, come to think of it, style points will matter in that one.
Leave a comment.
Log in below or sign up (it's free).
My my, how easy it is to overlook the fact that two of MU's touchdowns resulted from Sooner fumbles deep in Sooner teriitory, and one MU touchdown came very late in the game, serving only as eye candy for Tiger fans.
From John's perspective, you'd be led to believe that Missou won the game, if you didn't know better, of course.
Must sports reporters be forever biased? I say report the facts, just the facts, Mamn, and save the bulls hit for the sports pubs in Kansas City.
Richard,Bethany- I just wonder where your expert coaching has been all these years. Where have you coached and had your teams play excellent defense not giving up any yards or points. Missouri is a good offensive football team and is going to pick up yards and score points against anyone. Did you notice when we rushed two, one of the DE's tipped a pass and caused an interception? It's give and take on defense. Also, you say OU doesn't win if Missouri doesn't fumble. Oh, I guess you forgot two OU fumbles led to 14 points for Mizzou. Turnovers are part of the game. You know nothing about football except to b.... about something way over your head.
Coach Stoops is now 9-0 the week after Texas. Most of those wins were not pretty. It's a great accomplishment to win after a big emotional game like Texas, especially against a quality team like Missouri. Why don't we congratulate the team and coaches after such a great win. They will get better, but they will also still have off games. Coach Stoops would laugh at some of you armchair coaches if he bothered to read these comments, but he doesn't read them. He is too busy trying to win the big 12 again this year.
A wins a win, especially against a ranked opponent. Wasn't pretty, but the Sooners got the job done. No let down against Iowa State. Let's keep the Schooner rollin'!! Go Sooners. By the way Richard, Chase Daniel is a very good quarterback and although he completed so many passes they were only a few big ones. The OU defense also did a tremendous job on the big TE's. Coffman only really got going when OU was in their prevent at the end of the half and end of the game. Wow, could you imagine Maclin on the Sooners. Missouri did a great job of luring him away.
BTW: Although Chase Daniel gets credit for being a great QB, Sammy Bradford had every bit as good a game as him. I would love to pose this question to the nation: Who would you want at the helm? Chase Daniel or Sam Bradford? Wow.... That kid is good! Go Sammy! Go Sooners!
I BELIVE WE SHOULD WIN AT ANY COST .I WAS NEVER EVEN CONCEREND DURING THE GAME WE DID MAKE ALOT OF MISTAKES,BUT WE OVERCAME THOSE, I WOULD LIKE TO SEE OUR RUN GAME IMPROVE WE HAVE MORE THAN EHOUGH TALENT AT EVERY POSITION ON OFFENCE TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.YOU CAN TALK ABOUT ALL THE MISTAKES R.SMITH MAKES BUT HOW ABOUT THE BIG PLAYS HE DID MAKE.WE NEED TO TACKLE ALOT BETTER,OUR SPECIAL TEAMS IN ALL NEEDS SOME WORK .WE WOULD HAVE BETERD IN THE BCS POLL IF WE DIDINT MAKE THE BIG MISTAKS.I STILL CANT BELIVE LS WHO MADE OUT AHEAD OF US WE STILL HAVE A GOOD SHOT .HOPEFULLY WE CAN PLAY A QUALITY OPP IN THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP (KANSAS)TO BRING UP OUR QUALITY WINS B/C MAIMI NOR TEXAS HELPED US THERE UNTIL THEN WE NEED TO WIN AND WIN BIG BOOMER SOONER!!!!
You know, if any of the armchair coaching staff that keeps whining away here had a direct link to Coach Stoops, maybe they JUST might find out that the Coach is already aware that things are not perfect. The last time I looked, the team STILL consists of 18-22 year old kids...yes, I said kids...that might just spend too much time reading their press clippings. It just might be the reason they continue to practice every day. Now...for those birdbrains that think their ranting and raving makes a tinker's damn to Coach Stoops, or his staff...don't think so. You're either a fan that supports Coach Stoops, good or bad....or you're a fair weather fan that stands behind the team only when they're winning BIG. Those days are over. Hangin' a half a hundred by half-time only works against the lower division schools. You just aren't going to do that nowadays with the scholarship limitations. So, let's either get on board the Sooner train, or get off the tracks and find another school to align yourselves with. Go Big Red!
Bradford threw a few balls behind his receivers this year, but his 4 interceptions - I know at least 2 and maybe 3 were tipped or juggled by his receiver! While OU's defense is reading the quarterbacks and taking the ball away. Also, back in the 2000 series when we last won the national championship, OU nearly lost several games including Texas A&M, and only pulled it out due to our defense intercepting the ball.
Honestly, I was not worried at all when Missouri went up by 1 point. I thought the only one making a big deal about it was the announcers and some Missouri fans that were excited about it. I didn't see OU panic on the sidelines. OU moved the ball at will. Now, I will admit when Mr. Smith caught the ball inside the 5 yard line, I was thinking back to Colorado....
OU's defense eliminated their run game causing Missouri to pass almost every down or resort to trick plays - in conjection with being behind most of the game. I am sure that Stoops would have liked to see a lower completion rate, but a one dimensional team will not beat OU. Missouri was in control of that game maybe 3-5 minutes out of 60. Also, by forcing Missouri to throw the ball, OU ended up with two interceptions. If a team throws against OU, OU has the talent to take the ball away. When we play Tech - OU will intercept the ball, but Tech will also have 30 - 40 completions and 300 - 400 yards of offense. I believe OU will win that game by 10-14 points the same as it did against Missouri. As far as the kicker - yes he has missed some kicks he probably shouldn't have, but when your confidence is shaken it makes it worse. He needs support from his coaches and fans, and he will be fine. missing 4 PATs out of 30-35 is still 85-90% accurate, and by the end of the season that should go up. He has already proven his ability last year - he will come around. If OU loses a game over 1 PAT - IT IS NOT THE KICKERS FAULT!!!
I don't see it as negativity. I see this as honesty. We are not playing like we probably should be. Hartley has been pretty bad. Reggie Smith is proving to be a selfish moron, especially in the punt return game (he'll fit in well in the NFL with this display). Sure, Ken, they overcame mistakes and won a hard-fought game on cable television against a talented, highly ranked opponent. The problem is, they could've buried the same opponent on cable television. Without those two ridiculous fumbles, Mizzou may not score in the first half, and we probably march down and re-take a two score lead in the third. Overcoming obstacles is what you hope to see when building a program. We have one in place. We need to take advantage of opportunities and step on peoples' necks when we have the opportunity. We're lacking that killer instinct. Where have all our sharks gone on defense? There certainly was blood in the water on Saturday.
I'm at a loss for all the negativity - why is there a need to criticize every little mistake? Bradford had a good game, Brown had a terrific second half, and they won the game. Doesn't it say something that they overcame the mistakes to win?
Woops, hit enter, yes, that's BAD. A lot of Daniel's incompletions were throw-aways that he was allowed to do because OU's defense couldn't contain him with the lack of linemen on the line of scrimmage.
I never said OU's defense was bad. I said the the genius coaches put them in a position to give up 37 completions in 47 attempts for 361 yards and that is BAD coaching. Yes there were a couple of nice interceptions and Lofton just had to pick up a fumble to score. Yes, Bradford threw the ball well and Iglesias fumbled well, twice. Special teams sucked badly. Maclin, 3 kick returns for 104 yards, that BAD
Missing extra points *is* a big deal. According to ESPN Hartley has missed two field goals under 40 yards and four extra points. Alicia, you cant tell me the pucker factor didn't go up just a little when Mizzou had a one point lead in the 4th quarter? OU needs to do something about the place kicking game before it costs them a game or two. Oh, and I forgot Reggie Smith sucks at returning punts. You don't field a punt at the two! WTF?!?!?!
Man, a guy misses a few extra points and he "sucks", the 11th ranked team in the USA scores a few points and OU 's defense is no good. You would think by reading these posts that either OU lost or these posts are comong from Missouri fans! OU is a top 10 team - be happy. Why don't you talk about how well our quarterback threw the ball. The third string running back had 3 touchdowns. The defense had a couple of nice interceptions, and a fumble recovery for a touchdown. OU dominated the game minus the third quarter, and I thought they played pretty well.
Congratulations to OU for winning one they could and maybe should have lost. What has happened to OU's ability to tackle? Used to be, when a guy in red hit you, you stayed hit. Now, we're trying imitate the Deion Sanders style of push the guy and hope he goes out of bounds. OU won because Missouri blinked at crunch time. But, win they did and they deserve recognition for keeping steady when falling behind by one point.
Here is a big pat on the back to OU's defensive masterminds. The 3 man rush and the 2 man rush and having defensive linemen in pass coverage againstrunning backs, tight ends and wide outs was a stroke of pure genius. I mean after all, they kept Chase Daniel to just 37 completions out of 47 attempts for 361 yards. Now past the sarcasm, rushing 3 defensive linemen or even 2 and then rushing linebackers or defensive backs is one of the stupidest defensive moves I have ever seen. If I'm rushing the passer, I'm using the big men on the D line that have the size and the strength to maybe put some pressure on a qb. They sure weren't getting any the other way. Rush 2 or 3 D linemen and give Daniels all day to find someone open, and he did, 37 times. I believe that about sums up the defense. As for offense, it was nice to see some imagination in play calling for a breath of fresh air. Just think, they actually called play action passes on first down a few times. What happened, Bradford had wide open receivers. Imagine that. Ok, I'm through for this week.
I think OU is in a better position than they were last year. Opponents are tougher, and there's nothing like competition where the other teams have a bullseye on your back. Win out, and they'll only have one loss going into a BCS bowl. I won't say Colorado was a fluke - it's obvious there's plenty of room for improvement. Maybe a little enthusiasm and less "robotics" would do the trick? How about not carrying the ball like a loaf of bread?
It was a great game. It made a good game to watch. You didn't know what was going to happen next. It was like watching a mystery. I'm disappointed with the extra point conversions, but the punts and kickoffs were good.
Fans unveil a bevy of posters 10/14/2007 NORMAN — ESPN College GameDay was in Norman for the first time in four years Saturday. And a legion of sign-wielding, attention-starved football fans...
OU 41, Mizzou 31 10/14/2007 NORMAN — Oklahoma turned another visit from Missouri into more Mizzou misery. Trailing entering the final period, the Sooners surged to a 41-31 victory,...
Stock report 10/14/2007 Chris Brown W ith OU struggling in the running game, the Sooners turned to Brown during a key fourth-quarter drive. And the third-team running back...
News & views 10/14/2007 Mizzou QB Chase Daniel • News: Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel completed 37 of 47 passes for 361 yards and a touchdown. • Views: Some stats don't...
Lofton and defense save the day Sooner offense is... 10/14/2007 NORMAN — With the game in doubt in the fourth quarter, Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel fumbled a handoff to Jeremy Maclin. While Daniel and Maclin...
Quoteboard: OU players talk upsets 10/14/2007 One of the night's loudest cheers at Owen Field came after the score of Kentucky's upset over top-ranked LSU was announced. Later in the night, second-ranked...
By the numbers 10/14/2007 2 The number of touchdowns scored by OU linebacker Curtis Lofton this season. Also the number of would-be tacklers Lofton carried into the end zone on his...
English all over the field 10/14/2007 All Oklahoma's Auston English could think about after Saturday night's games were the two reverses Missouri ran past him for touchdowns. But the sophomore...
OU notebook 10/14/2007 Reynolds used sparingly For the first time this season, Ryan Reynolds didn't need to be a hero on defense. A week after being exploited by Texas tight...
Brown turns running game around Tailback: ‘We... 10/14/2007 NORMAN — Cale Gundy had a simple message for Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson. "He told me, ‘I'm going with No. 29 and you can run it when you...
27
From John's perspective, you'd be led to believe that Missou won the game, if you didn't know better, of course.
Must sports reporters be forever biased? I say report the facts, just the facts, Mamn, and save the bulls hit for the sports pubs in Kansas City.
Great job Sammy! Great job Chris. Great job O-Line in the 4th Q! Great job OU in the 4th Q!
OU's defense eliminated their run game causing Missouri to pass almost every down or resort to trick plays - in conjection with being behind most of the game. I am sure that Stoops would have liked to see a lower completion rate, but a one dimensional team will not beat OU. Missouri was in control of that game maybe 3-5 minutes out of 60. Also, by forcing Missouri to throw the ball, OU ended up with two interceptions. If a team throws against OU, OU has the talent to take the ball away. When we play Tech - OU will intercept the ball, but Tech will also have 30 - 40 completions and 300 - 400 yards of offense. I believe OU will win that game by 10-14 points the same as it did against Missouri. As far as the kicker - yes he has missed some kicks he probably shouldn't have, but when your confidence is shaken it makes it worse. He needs support from his coaches and fans, and he will be fine. missing 4 PATs out of 30-35 is still 85-90% accurate, and by the end of the season that should go up. He has already proven his ability last year - he will come around. If OU loses a game over 1 PAT - IT IS NOT THE KICKERS FAULT!!!