Oklahoma football: Midseason Sooners’ snapshot, performance grades
By Chip Rouse
Intangibles
Factoring into the success of any college team are immeasurable qualities such as culture, work environment and mental attitude. Teams that have a winning attitude, for example, find ways to win and overcome adversity. Oklahoma would not be 6-0 this season if it weren’t for the ability to persevere when things are not going right and find ways to dig down deep when your backs are against the wall. And that doesn’t happen if there’s not trust between the coaches and the players and among the players themselves.
It’s also hard to get up mentally, and even physically, for every game, every single week of the season. I can assure you, however, that every opponent on the Oklahoma schedule has not trouble getting up for and bringing its “A” game to play the Sooners.
It’s hard to determine how much of an impact having your home crowd behind you has on a team’s performance, but you know it has to count for something. The players have told us as much. As a player, you also have to be able to overcome all the fan hostility you encounter playing on the road. The Sooners won their one true road contest this season — at Kansas State — but three more trips loom in the second half. Grade B+