FORT WORTH, Texas – You don’t want to admit to having any negative thoughts running through your head in a football game, but for Oklahoma, there definitely were some past demons for the Sooners to try to forget.
There was a feeling of ‘here we go’ again in terms of the Sooners perhaps faltering when trying to hold onto a lead, but this time everybody answered the call.
A dominant second-half performance allowed OU to finally breathe for once and cruise to a 33-14 win at TCU on Saturday afternoon.
The Sooners move to 3-2 overall and 2-2 in Big 12 conference play. They achieved that mark by, believe it or not, trusting the defense to carry the day.
Alex Grinch’s group passed the test.
“Of course, we didn’t really say much about it, but it crossed our minds like, ‘OK, this is a similar situation we’ve been in during the last several games.’ Let’s not let what happen in those games before happen tonight,” defensive lineman Isaiah Thomas said. “Obviously, we put our foot on the gas and ran away with it in the end.
“Great feeling to really close out a game. It builds up confidence for the next several games we have. We know now we can do it. Imagine if we do it at an even higher level. It was a big confidence booster the way we finished this game. It was really impressive for our defense.”
In the third quarter, that really punctuated the story, OU outscored TCU 10-0 and had 168 yards of total offense. TCU? On 13 plays, had just 56 yards and that included minus-2 rushing.
The OU defensive game plan was attack, attack and attack some more. And it was a little bit of everybody who was able to get the job done. Ten players accounted for OU’s nine tackle for losses, with nobody registering more than one.
The defensive line depth is starting to show, and the production is easily becoming the most consistent part of OU’s defense. Maybe even the whole team.
“There’s a lot of guys playing for us across that front that have either played zero or very limited snaps before this year, and they’ve been — they really have, they’ve done a nice job,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “And they’re doing it without some key pieces, which I think makes it all the more impressive. I think development’s been good there.
“You have to be active and aggressive, and I feel like these guys have really embraced that. And then you’ve needed guys to step up. I’ve talked a lot about Isaiah Thomas and guys to step up, but there’s been guys across that front.”
Guys like Jordan Kelley, Kori Roberson and Marcus Stripling making plays, stopping drives. And stopping those drives, allowed the offense to put some separation on the scoreboard.
Just not the way OU fans are accustomed to seeing. Quarterback Spencer Rattler was able to earn the big chunk plays, multiple ones throughout the day. He had 332 yards passing and two touchdowns on just 13 completions. But when OU needed to ice the game, it was able to do so on the ground in time-consuming drives.
The Sooners held a 17:27-12:33 advantage in time of possession in the second half and never let that seed of doubt seriously creep in down the stretch.
A second half that started with a dreadful feeling of déjà vu was about to strike again. Instead, it ends with OU feeling better than it has about where it is as a team and where it can go the rest of the way.
“I think it’s a team that wants to find out how good we can get,” Riley said. “I sense that in the way we practice and the way we respond when we coach these guys and ask them to do something. They’ve been very willing. I’m excited about where this team can go.
“I think our whole team senses it. We’re still not even scratching the surface of what we think we can be. But we’re getting closer. If we keep doing that, by the end of this thing we might be pretty decent. We’ll just keep plugging away.”
