Losses a tough pill for OU's Trent Williams

NORMAN — On two Sundays already this year, Trent Williams’ TV screen has gone black, its speakers silent. No Lou Holtz ramblings. No Chris Berman shouts.

Losses will do that. The Sooners’ massive left tackle and faithful ESPN fan can’t watch Miami players celebrate touchdowns, or the Brigham Young linebacker run by him and land the OU quarterback on the trainer’s table.

"I gotta let that loss (go) so they stop playing it on the airwaves,” Williams said.

A month into its season, the losses have overcome Williams and the rest of the Oklahoma team. The Sooners already have as many losses in four games as they did in 14 a season ago. Preseason national championship aspirations have come and gone.

"I beat myself up all Saturday and Sunday,” Williams said. "Like, if only I could have stepped it up, maybe I could have been that difference.”

More painful is the way the Sooners have lost. Rather than not being good enough, they haven’t been healthy enough.

On offense, Williams has been the exception.

Nearly nine months ago, four players made a pact to return and chase the national championship they lost to Florida. Last Saturday, that crystal trophy slipped away for good with a one-point loss to Miami.

"I just feel like, not that I’m the last piece left, but I feel like I need to take more on my shoulders to hold it together,” Williams said.

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