Unacceptable! Oklahoma's 38-35 Loss To Oklahoma State Was A Microcosm Of Everything That Went Wrong This Season

Something has to change! It just has to! I'm not one of those guys who jumps full into the "fire Bob Stoops" pool but I am a guy who says that something has to change. Saturday's 38-35 Bedlam loss was Oklahoma's third home loss and fourth overall loss this season. By Sooner football standards, that's a poor year and something has to be done.

Everything that had gone wrong this season for the Sooners went wrong again in the final minutes on Saturday. Stop me if you've heard this before. Oklahoma needed to pick up a late first down to seal the game. They also needed to crucial field goal. The offense disappeared in the second half and a very questionable coaching decision was made. Yup, that kinda stuff has been going on all season in Norman and it isn't working.

Here's how the final minutes of the game unfolded and it shows the exact reason why changes need to be made. With the Sooners leading 35-28 and  just over three minutes left in the game Zack Sanchez intercepted Mason Rudolph at the Oklahoma State 41 yard line. Game over, right? Not even close. Three running plays netted negative four yards and forced the Sooners to punt back to O-State. Jed Barnett delivered a masterful punt that forced OSU return specialists Tyreek Hill to call a fair catch at his own 15 yard line. With no timeouts remaining, the Cowboys would be forced to move the ball 85 yards with sixty seconds left. Game over, right? Not even close!

Oklahoma State's Jordan Sterns was flagged for running into the kicker and then Bob Stoops did the unthinkable. Instead of declining the penalty and keeping O-State at their own 15, Stoops took the five-yard penalty and then punted again. You know how this story ends but I need to remind you anyway. The Sooner coverage team had just sprinted downfield and the Cowboys have one of the most explosive return guys in the nation. Ninety-two yards later the game is tied at 35-35 and Oklahoma State was completely in command.

We're not done yet! The Sooners faced 4th-and-1 from their own 49 with just a few ticks left on the clock. This is where you call a timeout and heave the ball to the end zone right? I mean just a couple nights earlier UCF had beaten East Carolina and there's this thing out there called Sooner Magic. Take the heave then? Nope! With a timeout still in their pockets the Sooners watch time tick off the clock and head to the overtime.

During the course of regulation play the Sooners ran for 304 yards on 63 attempts (4.8 YPC). The overtime period brought us three consecutive passing attempts by Cody Thomas that netted a sack and two incompletions. Was it really a surprise that Michael Hunnicutt was going to miss the field goal attempt? On the flip-side of the ball things were going so well for Oklahoma State that they elected to kick their game-winning 21-yard field goal on third down.

It's simple what Oklahoma fans want. They want to know why? Why can't OU get a first down? Why does the creativity disappear from the offense? Why can't the defense get a pass rush? Why, for the love of all things sacred, can't Michael Hunnicutt hit a clutch field goal? Finally, why are we saying for the fourth time this season that the Sooners got out-coached? This isn't Sooner Football that we're seeing. What we're seeing is unacceptable and something has got to change!