Five Takeaways From the Sooner Football Loss to Texas

Oct 10, 2015; Dallas, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners head coach Bob Stoops yells at Oklahoma Sooners safety Hatari Byrd (4) during a time out in the game against the Texas Longhorns at the Red River rivalry at Cotton Bowl Stadium. Texas won 24-17. Mandatory Credit: Tim Heitman-USA TODAY Sports

Another Red River Rivalry Game, Another Flop

During the past three seasons, Oklahoma has performed underwhelmingly at the Cotton Bowl, and that’s putting it kindly. In 2014, the Sooners won the game, even though they were dominated by Texas in just about every statistical category (for example, Oklahoma gained 232 total yards to Texas’ 482). In 2013, the Sooners came in heavily favored but left Dallas at the wrong end of a 36 – 20 score.

And now in 2015, a top-10 Oklahoma squad left the Cotton Bowl defeated by an unranked Texas team many left for dead after getting obliterated by TCU the week prior. Make no mistake, this is one of the worst losses in Bob Stoops’ tenure.

What has become a three-year pattern is officially alarming Sooner Nation. Not too long ago, Bob Stoops’ squads could be counted upon to come into the Cotton Bowl and play well, more often than not emerging victorious. It is disturbing, not to mention disheartening, to see an Oklahoma team with plenty of talent come into the most heated rivalry game of the year with zero energy and lay a huge egg.

Texas will not be down forever. Whether it’s Charlie Strong or another coach on the opposing sideline, the fact is that once Texas gets back to being Texas, it will be that much harder for Oklahoma to win. And that will be particularly true if the Sooners’ current pattern of not showing up for these and other games continues.