OU Football: Sooners Win Over TCU Satisfying, but Still a Bit Scary

There is no question that the OU football victory over a very good TCU team was incredibly satisfying on several levels, but at the same time it did not leave Sooner fans.

Oct 1, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners safety Steven Parker (10) intercepts a ball in front of TCU Horned Frogs wide receiver Deante Gray (20) during the first quarter at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Sooner safety Steven Parker, who played an instrumental role in the Oklahoma win in its Big 12 season opener, had perhaps the best description that I’ve heard or read about the Sooner win over TCU.

“That was our best worst game,” he told Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World outside of the locker room following the Sooners’ 52-46 shootout victory on Saturday over the then No. 21-ranked TCU Horned Frogs.

Sooner fans don’t want to go there, but it would have been unimaginable what it would be like right now had Oklahoma not held on to prevail against TCU. It would have meant a 1-3 start, the worst by an Oklahoma team in almost two decades, which predates Bob Stoops, and moved an already disappointing season into one verging on disaster.

Alright, already. That did not happen. But lets be perfectly candid: Thanks to the Sooners resorting to their former selves displayed in the two losses this season to Houston and Ohio State, Oklahoma came perilously close to posting the worst comeback loss in the Stoops era.

The Oklahoma men’s and women’s basketball teams have been known to blow some sizeable leads in recent years, but that is not something we have typically seen from the Sooners in 18 seasons under Stoops.

Discounting the victory over Louisiana-Monroe, the Sooners’ defense against TCU was the best it has been all season, at least during the Oklahoma-dominated second and third quarters and on the Horned Frogs’ final possession in the game.

The Sooners’ vulnerability in man pass coverage, though – particularly on deep balls and passes that travel more than 20 yards in the air – continues to be a scary proposition.

Oct 1, 2016; Fort Worth, TX, USA; TCU Horned Frogs tight end Cole Hunt (81) catches a touchdown pass past Oklahoma Sooners defensive back Michiah Quick (16) during the first quarter at Amon G. Carter Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

You can count on Texas freshman quarterback Shane Buechele taking some long shots against the Oklahoma secondary in the Red River rivalry game on Saturday. If it’s anything like what’s happened to the Sooners in the first four games this season, Oklahoma fans have great cause to be concerned.

Try as they may, shoring up the Sooner secondary, particularly the corner position opposite of All-Big 12 cornerback Jordan Thomas, is not an easy or fundamental fix. Only by putting more pressure on the quarterback, forcing him to remain in the pocket and get rid of the ball sooner than he is ready to, will it lessen the load and mask some of the OU difficulties at the back end of the defense.

Otherwise, giving Big 12 quarterbacks ample time and allowing the speedy receivers that are prevalent throughout the Big 12 to run free in the Oklahoma secondary has too many times this season been a recipe for disaster.

TCU connected on touchdown passes of 64 and 74 yards in the fourth quarter alone against the Sooners. Everyone in Amon G. Carter Stadium knew that the Horned Frogs were going to have to strike quickly if they were to get back in the game, trailing by 25 points to start the final quarter. Pretty easy to deduce from that that there would be some fly-pattern pass attempts in the offensive play calling.

Oklahoma is allowing nearly 300 passing yards per game through four games this season. That is almost 100 yards more than last season and ranks a pathetic 116th in the country.

The Sooners were able to get by at TCU by outscoring the Horned Frogs. They aren’t going to be able to count on that against the very good offensive teams Oklahoma still has remaining on its schedule this season.

Things obviously are still not right with this Oklahoma team. It’s been a bit of a Jekyll and Hyde identity through the first four games. At times they appear to be the talented, high-powered team everyone expected this season, but for everything they do well, they seem counter it with something totally out of kilter and uncharacteristic of the so-called best teams in the land.

Against TCU, the Sooner defense gave up five plays of 37-yards or more and 46 total points. You can’t have that kind of performance and come out a winner in very many games.

After the game, OU assistant coach and defensive coordinator Mike Stoops told the Tulsa World’s Bailey: “If I wasn’t laughing, I’d probably be crying right now.” Not a particularly positive endorsement of how the Sooners are playing right now, especially on the defensive side.

What the Sooner players need to do is burn into their brains the mental images of their play in the second and third quarters against TCU. If they were able to replicate that level of energy, discipline and consistency for the rest of the season, there would be no worry about how things would turn out.