OU's five seniors weigh in on ‘different’ game

Five Sooners — defensive tackle Cory Bennett, safety Brett Bowers, wide receiver Quentin Chaney, defensive end Alan Davis and free safety Lendy Holmes — remain from the recruiting class of 2004.

Which means they’ve been on the team during all but one of Oklahoma’s four BCS bowl losses. Their thoughts on why this bowl might be different?

"I feel like we are more focused,” Holmes said. "We had a lot of goals that we had set and we have now accomplished everything except for one, losing to Texas. But other than that we are still going through our goals and this last goal is the National Championship game.”

In the recent past, the players say winning the Big 12 Championship has been the primary goal, something the Sooners achieved in three straight seasons.

Winning the Fiesta Bowl, however, didn’t seem to carry the same weight, perhaps explaining the lack of focus the Sooners played with there in 2006 and 2007.

But heading into this year, with so much talent back on both sides of the both, it was national championship or bust.

That’s why, they say, the focus won’t end with simply winning the Big 12 title.

"Coming into the season we’ve had a different mindset, that we weren’t just focused on winning the Big 12 championship,” said Chaney, who’s had a breakout season.

"We wanted to win the national championship and everyone is striving to make sure we don’t let down.”