OU football: Bob Stoops defends quarterback Landry Jones

“People aren't very intelligent about football,” Stoops said. “I'm not criticizing them; it's not what they do. ... People, whatever occupation they are, it's just like me trying to do what they do. They'd probably scoff at that.”

Jones finished Saturday's 30-13 loss to Notre Dame having completed 35 of 51 passes for 356 yards. He didn't throw a touchdown pass and had a fourth-quarter pass intercepted while the Sooners were on a potential game-tying drive.

“Landry's a great quarterback and had a heck of a night the other night,” Stoops said. “Without Landry, we're not in that game.”

Jones wasn't perfect Saturday, but he certainly wasn't the reason Oklahoma lost. Notre Dame's offense successfully kept Jones off the field with long, time-consuming drives in the second and third quarters, and the OU run game never got going.

On the Sooners' first drive, Jones led them to three quick first downs, appearing to put Notre Dame's defense on its heels. But a miscommunication led to center Gabe Ikard sending a first-down snap to no one while Jones tried to check the play; OU lost 19 yards on the botched play and any early momentum was halted.

“That snap with Gabe was a big miscommunication,” Jones said, “and once we got down there to a place where we kicked two field goals ... we needed to score touchdowns. When you play a good team like Notre Dame or Kansas State, you have to score touchdowns when you get opportunities.”

While the Sooners were losing to Notre Dame and having any chance at the national championship destroyed, Kansas State was whipping Texas Tech, tightening its grip on the Big 12 Conference lead.