OU has to resolve its secondary issues

“We've played 10 games,” Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. “You've seen some good and, in two games, you've seen some bad. We've played really well more than we haven't.”

Statistically, Stoops is to some extent correct. Through those 10 games, the Sooners (8-2, 5-2 Big 12) are currently giving up 258.1 passing yards a game — 93rd in the country.

Take out the Baylor and Texas Tech games, in which OU surrendered a mind-boggling 931 passing yards, and the Sooners are giving up 206.25 passing yards a game. That would be 43rd in the FBS. That's not sterling, but it's not 93rd, either.

Reality is, you cannot remove those games from the schedule. They're a part of the fabric of a disappointing season that was initially labeled “BCS title or Bust.”

The route has been reconfigured; 2011 is now about winning another conference title for the school.

To do that, though, the secondary issues have to be resolved. It might not be a huge factor against Iowa State this week, considering the Cyclones have a freshman quarterback and are 67th in the country in passing.

But then there's Oklahoma State, on Dec. 3 in Stillwater.

So, what's the deal? Why has this happened all season with Harris, in varying degrees — with the worst coming Saturday in Waco?

Harris' explanation is a pretty simple one. It's not an overcomplicated scheme confusing him. It's not even poor alignment. It's Harris doing one thing incorrectly that leads to big, big problems.

He has gotten caught, on a number of occasions, looking up at the quarterback from his field safety spot. When he does that, even for a split-second, he loses track of the receiver. By the time he realizes what he's done, he turns around to see the back of his man's jersey.

“You try to do too much and you get out of position,” OU defensive coordinator Brent Venables said, “and they can really take advantage of you. They did.”

It happened over and over against Baylor, which had four plays of 50 or more yards in the 45-38 victory. And it could have had more. Even the second play of the game was a 79-yard score, on Harris, that was called back because of a holding penalty.

Quite simply, Harris was his own worst enemy. He knew it then. He knows it now.

He described the sickening feeling of fruitlessly giving chase.

“The first thing you think is that you messed up,” he said. “It hits you hard, knowing that big play after big play is happening. It's like someone just daggered you, real quick.