Can the Sooners be confident going to Morgantown?
Since mid-afternoon Oct. 6, a rematch with Texas has been high on Sooner wish lists. A Big 12 Championship Game 15 miles west of Dallas’ Fair Park.
Now such a showdown is within reach. If the Sooners and Longhorns win over Thanksgiving weekend, they play Dec. 1 in Arlington.
“Yeah,” OU quarterback Kyler Murray said Saturday night when asked if that’s what the Sooners have been waiting for. “Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.”
Murray’s voice got softer and softer as his mind seemed to churn faster and faster. “Yeah. Yeah.”
But be careful what you wish for. Maybe the Sooners would be confident and high-riding in a Big 12 title game.
And maybe the Sooners will be confident and high-riding Friday night in Morgantown, when a game against West Virginia that was ticketed all season as a potential prequel to the championship instead becomes a virtual Big 12 semifinal. And maybe fortune will smile on the Sooners and they not only win twice but get some help from infidels like Ohio State or Southern Cal to sneak into the College Football Playoff.
Yet all of those games and potential games come not so much with excitement but with trepidation, if not outright fear. At least from those outside the arena. The Oklahoma defense is so bad, confidence has plummeted from the precincts that typically have runaway optimism concerning the Sooners.
Saturday night, the Kansas offense looked like the Kansas City offense.
Army, Baylor, Texas,
Texas Tech, Bedlam. Now this. A 55-40 win over the Jayhawks, who had scored 46 points against the Sooners the previous six games combined.
And someone thinks OU playing Alabama would be a good idea?
Beating West Virginia will be a massive task. The Mountaineers aren’t great, but they are good. Will Grier’s offense can run and throw. WVU is shaky defensively, and Dana Holgorsen completely lost faith in his defense in the fourth quarter in Stillwater on Saturday night, twice keeping his offense on the field for fourth downs in field goal range, because he thought a 10-point cushion was mandatory for victory. The way Taylor Cornelius carved up the Mountaineers proved Holgorsen correct.
Murray will do the same and more in Morgantown, but it’s going to take 50 points to win.
And even if it happens, Texas would almost certainly be next, and 50 more points could be required. This kind of football is fascinating to watch but hard to digest and difficult to maintain. No way it can instill confidence.
The Sooners bravely say they want another shot at Texas, which beat OU 48-45 back in October.
“Yes, we definitely want a rematch,” offensive tackle Cody Ford said. “I just know that if you beat us, (your) head should be on a swivel.”
Better that the OU defense find that swivel, to see those rushers and receivers zipping into the end zone that have sucked all the confidence out of Sooner Nation. In what should be a homestretch of hope and excitement, with a 10-1 record and a No. 6 national ranking, dread and fear rule the day.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM98.1. You can also view his personality page at newsok. com/berrytramel