Texas Tech's fireworks made Oklahoma's win feel like a loss
Where to even start with Oklahoma’s 66-59 victory against Texas Tech? Maybe with Sooners defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, who was absolutely dejected in victory:
“That was humiliating,” he told Paste BN Sports on Sunday afternoon, adding: “Everything we did, they had an answer. You felt defenseless. I’ve never felt that before. I couldn’t make any calls. Nobody could make a play.”
The mind-boggling numbers started with Texas Tech’s Patrick Mahomes, who set an NCAA record with 819 total yards and tied the passing record with 734 yards. He completed 52 of an astounding 88 attempts (one shy of the NCAA record for attempts).
The teams set an NCAA record with a combined 1,708 yards — 854 by both teams. The spectacle took four hours and 10 minutes — but it seemed so much longer to the defensive coordinators.
“The way we play football in this league anymore is almost insanity,” Stoops said.
In other words, it was flag football. Or #LubbockAfterDark. Or Peak Big 12. It was reminiscent of West Virginia 70, Baylor 63 from 2012, and whatever anyone calls it, it’s sure to revive all the stereotypes about how the Big 12 plays no defense.
Stoops is concerned only about the reality of how the Sooners play defense. Oklahoma has struggled all season, especially in pass coverage. Oklahoma ranks No. 73 nationally in total defense, allowing 412.8 yards a game, and No. 100 in scoring defense (33.0 ppg).
The Sooners are banged up, both on the defensive line and in the secondary, and don’t have much depth anywhere. And Mahomes was red hot.
Together, those ingredients formed the perfect storm.
“They’re throwing the ball down the field, and some of those throws and catches I’ve never seen before. I don’t know,” Stoops said. “There’s no defense for a perfect pass. We got hit with about five of ‘em — but the hard one is just letting guys run by you.
“Everything he did was right and we couldn’t make a play. That’s the hard part: How come they made every play? How come we didn’t make any? That’s an attitude, effort, focus thing, that’s a scheme — that’s a lot of things.”
On Sunday afternoon, Stoops took no solace in the win.
“We can’t win a (conference) championship if we don’t play better defense, I know that,” he said. “That’s pretty sad when our offense is playing so well right now. That’s never been the case here at Oklahoma. We’ve always held up our end of the deal here on defense. … If we ain’t gonna respond now, we ain’t gonna respond. We’ll see.”
HIGHLIGHTS FROM WEEK 8