Sixth-ranked and undefeated Oklahoma has two first place votes in this week’s AP Poll, has a win over Texas under its belt and no one is worried anymore about Landry Jones playing on the road.
Even usually acerbic Skip Bayless suggested that Oklahoma may be the best team in the country, especially since the Florida State team it whipped earlier in the year embarrassed Miami over the weekend.
Unofficial projections put the Sooners as No.3 in the BCS rankings when they come out on Sunday.
That’s the state of the 5-0 Sooners as they delve further into conference play on Saturday when an unpredictable Iowa State Cyclones (3-3, 1-1) come to Norman for a 6 pm kickoff. The game will be televised nationally on FSN.
Oklahoma has gone 5-0 under Coach Stoops on six other occasions. It’s usually really good news, since five of those times the Sooners played for the Big 12 championship and four of those times for the national championship.
Two of the Cyclones’ three losses have come to top 10 teams, including last week vs. Utah. ISU is experienced on offense with seniors Austen Arnaud and Alexander Robinson leading the charge. Defensively, sophomore linebackers A.J. Klein and Jake Knott have combined for 120 tackles and six interceptions.
Iowa State got hammered by Utah 68-27 last week. That was a week after the Cyclones punched Texas Tech 52-38. So, which Iowa State team will be coming to Norman?
It shouldn’t matter.
True, the last time OU played Iowa State the Sooners had to come from an 0-7 halftime deficit to win 17-7 in Ames on a windy day in 2007. Sam Bradford’s passes were sailing off their marks, but OU went to Demarco Murray to pound the Cyclones.
Look for Oklahoma to again turn to the run game on Saturday to pound the Cyclones. Besides Murray, the Sooners may turn to purported freshman running back sensation Roy Finch, who hasn’t played this year because of injury.
What the Sooners can do on Saturday – besides win – is improve on their fourth quarter play. Opponents have outscored Oklahoma 51-17 in the final period. That almost allowed Texas to make a comeback two weeks ago in Dallas.
And, if you think the Sooners are content with that win over the Longhorns, then think again.
“The Texas game is one game. We’ve got seven conference games ahead of us, and if you don’t win those, that games doesn’t much matter,” said Stoops.
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