What lessons did Sooners learn from 2016 loss?
Oklahoma had a game to forget last it faced Houston. Truth be told, Cougar coach Dana Holgorsen was kind of hoping the Sooners
had put that game out of their minds, a wild 33-23 loss back in 2016. Houston had a kick-six, returning a missed field goal for a touchdown.
Oklahoma had a pair of second-half fumbles, stalling momentum.
“You don't think the Sooners forgot about that?” he said, tongue planted firmly in cheek. “I don't imagine so.”
Doesn't sound like it. “What I remember most is we played awful,” said Lincoln Riley, then the Sooners' offensive coordinator, now the head coach. “Not much more than that.”
But really, what the Sooners remember is not important. What they learned is. They have a blueprint for how to avoid an upset, and on this first weekend of the college football season, that's a valuable asset.
Now, don't misunderstand — I'm not picking OU to lose to Houston on Sunday night.
Then again, I didn't pick against the Sooners three years ago either.
The OU team that went to Houston back in 2016 was coming off a trip to the College Football Playoff. Gone were Sterling Shepard and Ty Darlington, Erik Striker and Charles Tapper. But Baker Mayfield was back. Ditto for Samaje Perine and Joe Mixon, Dede Westbrook and Jordan Evans, Ahmad Thomas and Jordan Wade.
Schlubs, those Sooners weren't.
But after trading scores with the Cougars for a quarter-plus, the offense started to sputter. The defense couldn't get a stop — Houston scored points every time it had the ball in the first half — and OU went into halftime trailing 19-17. The Sooners had to think they could come back.
But at halftime, the Cougars had to realize something, too — they could win.
And when OU missed a field goal on its first secondhalf possession and Houston returned it for that kick-six touchdown, that ideology became doctrine. The Cougars believed.
The Sooners' next possession: fumble.
The Cougars scored, and the upset alert was full code red.
The outcome was a stunner that had long-term ramifications. It helped catapult Houston's up-andcoming head coach to the top of many wishlists. Guy by the name of Tom Herman.
Eventually, Texas decided if he could beat OU with the Cougars' roster, maybe he should give it a try with the Longhorns'.
The loss also left the Sooners scrambling, especially when they lost to Ohio State a few weeks later. Lose only to the Buckeyes, and the Sooners would've made the College Football Playoff. But you can't lose to Houston, too.
"When you play a good team in the opener, you can't do things like we did in that game," Riley said. "We turned the ball over. We had an enormous special teams mistake. We gave up a ton of third downs defensively.
"We had a lot of missed opportunities against a good football team that day."
That's what the Sooners have to avoid Sunday. That's where the lesson of three years ago comes in handy. Again, I'm firmly in the OU-will-win camp, but when you are facing a good opponent, which this Houston team is, and you have questions yourself, which this OU team does with a new defense, a rebuilt offensive line and a new starting quarterback, a couple things going sideways can tip the balance.
Give the underdogs belief that they can win, and they just might.
And Houston isn't just any underdog.
"The University of Houston, even back when I was here in '08 and '09, we played in some big games," Holgorsen said of the years he was offensive
coordinator. "The more high-profile opponents are nothing new to the University of Houston.
"Our guys, they're probably going to gain a little confidence from that. They've been in these games before. I think they look forward to that."
The Cougars have had good ballclubs on their nonconference slate for many moons. In the past decade alone, they've played regular-season games against Texas Tech four times, UCLA thrice, Mississippi State twice, BYU twice, Louisville twice, Arizona twice, Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt and OU.
Houston's record in those games: 10-8.
"We don't shy away from anybody here," Holgorsen said.
Thing is, the Sooners know that. They've experienced it. You have to think they've learned from it, too. Holgorsen sure thinks so. "I've been doing this long enough to understand," he said, "we're not going to be sneaking up on the old Sooners here."
Jenni Carlson: Jenni can be reached at 405-475-4125 or jcarlson@oklahoman.com. Like her at facebook. com/JenniCarlsonOK or follow her at twitter. com/jennicarlson_ok. ***
No. 4 Oklahoma vs. Houston
When: 6:30 p.m. Sunday
Where: Owen Field, Norman
TV: ABC (Cox 8/HD 705, Dish 5, DirecTV 5, U-verse 5/HD 1005)
Radio: KRXO-FM 107.7