Murray, Sooners look to overcome first loss
FORT WORTH — Kyler Murray has had nearly two weeks to stew over his first loss as Oklahoma’s starting quarterback.
“After the game, I probably said about six words,” Murray said. “But I think losing that game is definitely a learning lesson. … I can only learn from it and get better from it.”
The ninth-ranked Sooners have dropped out of and gotten back into the top 10, defensive coordinator Mike Stoops has been fired and Murray has been tabbed the Associated Press’ midseason Big 12 offensive player of the year since their loss to Texas on Oct. 6.
Murray and Oklahoma (5-1, 3-1 Big 12) are back in the Dallas-Fort Worth area on Saturday to play at TCU (3-3, 1-2). It is a rematch of last year’s Big 12 championship game that already looks much different than their two meetings last year when both were top 10 teams both times.
Both now are coming off losses. The Horned Frogs already have matched their loss total from last year, when two of those three losses were against the Sooners.
“With two good defenses last year, the best we could do is hold them to 38 (points),” TCU coach Gary Patterson said. “So we’ve got work to do.”
Plus, Murray provides a bit of a different challenge than Baker Mayfield, the Heisman Trophy winner he succeeded. The dual-threat junior and first-round MLB draft pick is the Big 12’s most efficient passer with 21 touchdowns and only three interceptions. He has completed 96 of 135 passes (71 percent) for 1,773 yards, and run for another 377 yards with five more scores.
“As a general rule, he can just take off on you, and most people on the field can’t catch him,” Patterson said.
Oklahoma trailed Texas 45-24 in the fourth quarter before Murray led them to three touchdowns in a sixminute span, including his 67-yard run on a one-play drive, to tie the game before the Longhorns won 48-45 on a field goal with nine seconds left .
“He took it really hard. He did. Most of the really good ones I’ve been around do,” Sooners coach Lincoln Riley said of how Murray reacted to the loss. “But I think there’s kind of a renewed focus. I think he’s excited about some of the things that he’s done and we’re doing offensively.”