After a bitter loss to No. 7 Texas, No. 9 Oklahoma still has a better-than-expected shot to win the Big 12 and have a chance to make the College Football Playoff.
Losses by Georgia, Penn State and West Virginia pushed the Sooners back into striking distance of the playoff. Even if Texas continues to win, Oklahoma can get a rematch with the Longhorns in the Big 12 title game.
From a practical standpoint, Texas, West Virginia, OU and Texas Tech are in the best position to make the Big 12 title game. Baylor, Iowa State and TCU all have two losses and can’t be counted out. It would be extremely difficult for Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Kansas because they all have three league losses.
Oklahoma will face TCU at 11 a.m. Saturday without former defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who was fired by Coach Lincoln Riley following last week’s embarrassing 45-48 loss to Texas. This will be the first time since 1999 that either Mike Stoops or former head coach Bob Stoops has been on the sidelines for the Sooners.
In interviews after his firing, Mike Stoops said he took responsibility for the situation.
“Our inability to play a level of football that Oklahoma should expect,” Stoops said on the WWLS Sports Animal. “And ultimately that fell on me. That was tremendously hard. I have so much respect for this program, all the players that have played in it, for Lincoln (Riley), the administration and just didn’t get it done.”
Riley said he spoke with Bob Stoops about the firing because he has such a high regard for Bob and Mike.
“But more than that just simply taking Bob out of it, just my relationship with Mike and Mike’s relationship with me and the run we’ve had here together – defensive and offensive coordinators can either be at each other’s throats because you’re against each other the whole year and then you’re trying to work together the whole season and it can be either really bad or really good. With he and I, he was so good to me when I came in here especially when we stunk in the first half of that first year and I’ll never forget that.
“We’ve had a great relationship and he’s been a great friend and it was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do.”
Stoops had been OU’s defensive coordinator, in 1999-2003 (which included a national championship) and 2012-18. Mike Stoops took a job in the interim years as head coach at Arizona but was later fired.
Riley thinks his defense will be better for the second half of the season.
“I think we can play a lot better,” Riley said of his defense. “In the past several years, we’ve seen bits and pieces and flashes. We’ve had some outstanding individual games. I want us to get to the level where we can play like that more consistently.
“If we can make strides in a few key areas, we can be a very good defense.”
After Stoops was fired, OU freshman defensive back Brendan Radley-Hiles tweeted, “It’s different when you love the coach your playin’ for.”
It was deleted an hour after it was posted.
“Last week was an emotional week,” Riley said Monday. “(Radley-Hiles) put something out there that as he sat there and thought about it, decided he didn’t want to do it and he took it down himself. If throughout that whole week all we get is one tweet like that then we probably did pretty decent.”
OU quarterback Kyler Murray is 16th in the nation in passing yardage with 1,764 yards. He is second in the nation (behind recently injured Tua Tagovailoa of Alabama) in quarterback rating. Murray has 21 touchdown passes with only three interceptions. Murray is hitting 71 percent of his passes.
TCU quarterback Shawn Robinson is No. 89 in passing (1,313 yards). Robinson has 9 touchdown passes but eight interceptions.
TCU is 16th in the nation in total defense, allowing only 1,871 yards (312 yards per game) and only 20 points.
Oklahoma is No. 79 in total defense, giving ups 2,527 yards (421 per game) and surrendering 27 points per game.
TCU is in 7th place in the Big 12 with two league losses and an overall record of 3-3. One of the nonconference losses was to No. 2 Ohio State. Last week, TCU was edged by Texas Tech 14-17 in a rare Friday night game.
“This program has been here before,” TCU coach Gary Patterson said after the loss. “It doesn’t look good when you’re 3-3 and you’re looking down the middle at Oklahoma and they have two weeks to prepare for you.
“I tell people all the time that you don’t want to just play, you want to play well. We’ve been here 21 years because we have taught kids how to play well, and not play.”
Last year, OU’s Rodney Anderson rushed for 151 yards and Baker Mayfield threw three touchdown passes as the No. 5 Sooners topped TCU 38-20. Mayfield is playing for the Cleveland Browns now and Anderson is injured and out for the rest of the season.
In the rematch in the Big 12 Championship game, Mayfield threw four touchdown passes and OU won easily, 41-17, to capture their third Big 12 Championship in a row.
“They are a good team,” TCU running back Sewo Olonilua said of the Sooners. “We just need to learn what they scheme, take the week, and practice hard.”
“I think they had a week off, so they are obviously game planning,” said TCU defensive end Ben Banogu. “They are gonna try and give us some eye wash, show us some new things we haven’t seen.”
Over the last five seasons, Oklahoma (47-12, 32-7) and TCU (43-16, 27-12) have the Big 12’s best overall and conference records. TCU is 38-13 in regular-season games following a loss under Gary Patterson. Oklahoma holds a 13-5 series lead over TCU.
The Horned Frogs are 2-6 versus the Sooners in Fort Worth, 3-5 in Norman, 0-1 in Oklahoma City and 0-1 in Arlington (2017 Big 12 Championship Game).
TCU co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Sonny Cumbie and Lincoln Riley were teammates during the spring and summer of 2003 at Texas Tech. Riley was then a student assistant/offense during Cumbie’s final two seasons (2003-04) as a player for the Red Raiders.