Despite giving up 40 points and committing four turnovers in the win over Texas, Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops had to like what he saw from his patchwork Sooner defense on Saturday.
The game could have gotten ugly very early and very fast when Sooner quarterback Baker Mayfield threw interceptions in successive Oklahoma possessions in the opening quarter of Saturday’s Red River Showdown. Both turnovers set up Texas with a short field.
Texas senior safety Dylan Haines picked off both passes, the first two of the season by the Longhorns, in a span of just two and a half minutes. Both picks happened around midfield. The Longhorns could not advance the ball after the first interception and were forced to punt the ball back to the Sooners.
On the subsequent possession, Mayfield’s pass was easy pickings for Haines after the intended Sooner receiver was blocked to the ground while running his route (yet there was no flag thrown on the play for pass interference). This time Haines was able to advance the ball all the way down to the Oklahoma 13-yard line before he was finally corralled.
The Sooner defense stiffened from there and the Longhorns were forced to settle for a field goal.
The point of all of this being, Texas could easily have been up 14-0 very early in the game instead of just 3-0. And that could have been disastrous for the guys in the crimson jerseys.
“We played good enough to withstand their initial surge,” said Mike Stoops in the postgame briefing with members of the media. “We turned the ball over a couple of times and gave them good field position, but we didn’t give up a bunch of points in the first half and the game could have gotten sideways in a hurry.
“We did enough good things to put us in a position to win.” –Mike Stoops, OU defensive coordinator
“They hung in there and played as well as we have all year in the first half.”
The Sooners’ assistant coach and defensive coordinator did not like it that Oklahoma gave up two quick fourth-quarter touchdowns in just over three minutes time to cut a 15-point Sooner lead down to five points.
“It’s almost like basketball,” Stoops said. “You get a lead, you establish yourself defensively, but you know they’re gonna make another run. That’s the way these (Big 12) offenses are built, if you give them any room or any space.
The last (Texas TD) drive, we had a lot of guys out of position and that just goes with inexperience,” he said. “We have so many guys out. We haven’t had the same group of guys on the field all season. It’s just building our continuity with inexperienced players has been hard.
“We weathered the storm,” Stoops added, ” and did enough good things to put ourselves in a position to win.”