Sooners survive late scare in Red River Showdown

DALLAS -- The Sooners stayed alive in the national title picture.

That's a true statement of prose I just typed.

Past that, there are no truths or lies or absolutes with this team. No one knows what Oklahoma is or will be; what its identity is or might become.

The Sooners are 5-1 on the season and 31-26 winners over Texas Saturday in the Cotton Bowl, but no one in any combination of crimson and cream should be celebrating.

Because what we're seeing is murky and nebulous. Saturday's performance did nothing to help sort things out. Through six games, Oklahoma is about as clear as standard definition TV when they should be live-and-in-living-color, crystal HD.

Who knows what's going on with this offense that managed only one first down and 29 total yards in the first half, and converted just one third-down in 11 tries for the game.

"There is some frustration when you're not moving up and down the field like we should be," quarterback Trevor Knight said. "Maybe a little frustrated that we didn't pick a third down up, but overall good positive energy on the sideline."

The energy on the sideline was good? Well, that's nice to hear, too bad the energy on the field wasn't better. Of course, it's hard to manufacture energy when you have the ball for all of 14 plays in the first half.

Shouldn't this bunch be better? OU ran all over West Virginia and was consistent and efficient against Tennessee. They have an experienced offensive line and a pair of healthy runners who have had success. But something has changed.

Meanwhile, who has a read on quarterback Trevor Knight? He was a sure thing after leading the Sooners to to wins over Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Alabama. Now, undoubtedly Knight has regressed

Saturday, Knight passed for just 129 yards, only 12-of-20 throwing, 21 in the first half and was unsure as a runner, choosing â€“ either by design or by desire â€“ to hand off more than he ran it on what appeared to be zone-read plays.

Knight threw four touchdown passes against Alabama. Knight has six this season in six games, completing only 55 percent of his passes.

And who knows what's going on with this defense that allowed Texas to score 13 points in a less-than-8-minute span of the fourth quarter, making a decided win become uneasy. The Longhorns ran 34 more plays than OU did and a freshman quarterback -- Tyrone Swoopes -- passed for 334. Not great if you're Peyton Manning, but pretty good for an offense that came in averaging 184 yards per game, good for 104th in the nation.

Texas scored just 23 points on mighty Kansas. Why are the Longhorns going for 482 yards and 26 points on Oklahoma after this same group held West Virginia down in the second half and allowed Tennessee no breathing room.

"Texas made some nice plays that took advantage of our mistakes," OU coach Bob Stoops said. " Coverage breaks down. There's no reason. We have to do a better job coaching. We've been inconsistent there."

Another statement of truth, this one from Stoops re: consistency. He's right. The offense that was so bad in the first half, was better in the second half. A defense that was confused in the first half, was better in the third quarter.

Stoops took a moment for himself after the game, "Taking it all in," he said. "I always do that."

But he should have been holding his nose, because Saturday smelled funny. OU led 17-13 at halftime, despite its sickly offense, getting bailed out by a 91-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Alex Ross and a 43-yard interception return for a touchdown by Zack Sanchez.

The Sooners let an 18-point fourth quarter lead slip to just a single score with less than 5 minutes to play.

"You got to give the people you're playing credit," Stoops said. "They are good teams. We're improving as a team. Do I like everything that happened today? Heck, no. but it's always good to win when you didn't play very well. You got to keep after it and make plays. And we were able to do that."

And because of it, the Sooners stayed in the picture for a Big 12 title, a spot in the four-team playoff, a chance at the national title.

But past that, it's hard to tell what OU is all about and what exactly it accomplished Saturday.