Oklahoma Sooners Football: Texas Tech Upset a Good Thing in the End

The dust has settled in Norman after Texas Tech's historic upset of then-No.3 Oklahoma Sooners late Saturday night.

The Red Raiders went wire-to-wire, scoring on their first possession en route to a 34-7 lead early in the third quarter. The Sooners fought their way back to a respectable box score but were unable to climb out of yet another hole they dug for themselves—this one just a little too deep.

There was an ominous feeling in the air leading up to the game. Storms rolled in, forcing a delay of the opening kickoff, head coach Bob Stoops' injury list was getting longer by the minute, and the 28-point spread just didn't feel right.

As Bob Stoops said in the postgame interview, this really isn't all that surprising. Texas Tech has always given the Sooners trouble, splitting their last six meetings with three wins a piece. Even after a coaching change, the vaunted Air Raid offense is alive and well in Lubbock and head coach Tommy Tuberville had his players ready from the opening snap.

The Sooners came out flat again but were unable to recover as Tech quarterback Seth Doege sliced and diced an inconsistent Sooner defense missing three key starters. Cornerback Jamell Fleming, linebacker Tom Wort and defensive tackle Casey Walker all sat out the game due to injury.

Flemming's absence perhaps hit Oklahoma hardest, as his backup Gabe Lynn got beat several times, eventually forcing Stoops to move safety Aaron Colvin to corner to stop the bleeding.

It was too little, too late, however.

As terrible as the loss may seem (snapping a six-year long home win streak) the Sooners needed a loss like this. Sure, there have been plenty of heart-breakers the last few seasons, but not at home and not to a four-touchdown underdog. This one stings.

The pain is necessary, though. Stoops' teams have become notorious for sleep walking through games against lesser opponents, dangerously playing down to their opponents' level knowing they could turn it on when need be and prevail. The only way to learn from that mistake is to get embarrassed at home on national TV, as happened Saturday.

Given the amount of talent on the Sooner sidelines, teams like Kansas and Texas Tech are hardly worthy of sharing the same field. The last two games should not have even been close, but as we can plainly, see it takes much more than talent to win at this level.

This crop of Sooners is as talented as any Stoops has put together during his impressive run in Norman, but they aren't half the team the 2000 national championship group was, led by low-star recruits and conference castaways, such as QB josh Heupel.

This 2011 team could learn a thing or two from those Sooner legends, and games like this are how those lessons are learned—the hard way.

Although our championship hopes have been swept away, the season is not lost. The Sooners still have a chance to spoil Oklahoma State's dream run in what could be a battle for the conference crown in Stillwater on December 3rd.

We'll see if the team learned their lesson next week against a solid, savvy and unbeaten Kansas State team lead by Bob Stoops' former mentor Bill Snyder, himself a master at maximizing the potential of lesser talented teams. Maybe Bob can learn a thing or two, as well.