Oklahoma Football: Bob Stoops, Sooners Looking At Another Long Season

The Oklahoma Sooners opened the season with a hard fought victory over one of the best non-BCS programs in the country, the University of Utah. This same Utah team handed the defending national champions from Alabama their last defeat and have two BCS Bowl victories to their credit.

While not an overly impressive win, a victory over Utah is nothing to take lightly. The Utes', who recently accepted an invitation to join the Pac 10 conference, hail from what is generally considered the best of the non-BCS conferences, the Mountain West.

Wait, you're telling me that wasn't the Utes? That was actually the Aggies? Are you talking about Utah State? Wow.

That's right, the Aggies of Utah State gave Oklahoma all they could handle in a game played before a home-opening record crowd of over 85,000 people in Norman.

Oklahoma, trying to secure the program's 800th all-time victory and stretch their home winning streak to a new school record of 31 games, were taken to the mattresses by an also-ran from the WAC (We Aren't Creampuffs?) conference.

The Sooners needed four turnovers, a muffed punt, and two fourth down conversions to hold off an Aggies team coming to town without fear and looking for the biggest win in the program's history.

An optimist may look at this game and say OU gutted out a hard fought victory over an USU team returning 20 starters. The Aggies played better than their 4-8 record from last year would indicate.

A glass-is-half-full type might be satisfied that the Sooners still won the game when they were clearly playing below the program's standards.

A win is a win, right?

Don't kid yourselves, Sooner fans. The team in Crimson and Cream was lucky they were not playing better competition, or the nation's longest home-field win streak would have gone down like Congress' approval ratings.

Going into the season, this game looked to be the easiest on the schedule, but Bob Stoops and the Sooner faithful were sweating it out like the pig that knows it's dinner for the final 37 minutes. Only a late interception allowed Oklahoma to safely run out the clock and escape with a win.

With a Florida State team that scored 59 points in it's opening victory coming to Norman, Oklahoma may not even be favored next Saturday.

Christian Ponder, the FSU quarterback and Heisman candidate, along with the rest of the Seminoles, will be looking at this game film and licking their chops. OU's secondary repeatedly let receivers get behind them and gave up big pass plays.

The pass rush was not effective and, when they did get pressure, the mobile Aggies QB broke containment and made plays downfield with his arm and legs. USU averaged over 20 yards per completion and out-gained the Sooners' 5.6 to 5.2 yards per play.

On offense, it looked like a repeat of last years poor performance from the offensive line for most of the game. There were numerous penalties and missed assignments.

Landry Jones, sacked three times and forced to scramble far too often, completed only 17 of 36 passes for 217 yards. Even when he had time, his passes were frequently off target or forced into coverage, as demonstrated by his two picks in Aggies territory.

The only bright spots may have been Demarco Murray and Ryan Broyles. Murray's career day of 35 rushes for 218 yards with two touchdowns and Broyles' nine catches for 142 yards and two more scores, were just enough to enable Oklahoma to escape the upset-minded Aggies.

So, where does this leave the State of the Sooners?

Unless they fix the glaring weaknesses exposed by a game but over-matched opponent, by next week, say goodbye to the home winning streak. Air Force and Cincinnati are far from sure victories at this point.

Winning the Big 12 South? That may be a pipe-dream this season. They played more like a team that will struggle just to make a bowl for the second straight year.

The holes in the secondary exposed themselves like Madonna in concert.

The pass rush had less pressure than a flat tire.

The O-line needs to stop the stupid penalties and put up a better fight than a French soldier.

Landry Jones, again, had that deer-in-the-headlights look that showed up way too often last year.

So, is this a wake-up call the Sooners needed to receive in order to strive for the championship season many have predicted for them?

Or, is this a reality check for OU fans, a smack in the head proving the troubles that plagued them throughout last year have not gone away?

If Bob Stoops and the coaching staff don't come up with some answers and fast, it looks like it could be another very long season for the Sooners.