Oklahoma Football Stats Tell Sooners Sad Story So Far

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Through the first three games of the 2016 season, the stats for Oklahoma football tell the whole story.

Sep 17, 2016; Norman, OK, USA; Ohio State Buckeyes wide receiver Noah Brown (80) catches a touchdown pass against Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Parrish Cobb (4) during the first half at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

One win in three outings is not the start Bob Stoops, the Sooners and their fans were hoping for. The good news is it is still very early in the season and plenty of time to get things turned around.

It is doubtful any team in the Big 12 this year – and perhaps only a handful in the country, if that – would have done any better than the Sooners against two well-coached and very talented teams in Houston and, even more so, Ohio State.

Nevertheless, it is a fact that Oklahoma did not look sharp and was unable to sustain drives in key situations in either of its two losses. And the same was true on defense. The Sooners couldn’t get third-down stops when they really needed them and yielded too many big plays.

You can put some of that off on the quality of the opponent, but that is when the margin for error diminishes considerably. OU ended up hurting itself as much as anything Houston and Ohio State did to the Sooners. Against Houston it was lost fumbles, and with Ohio State, it was errant passes that were picked off, leading to scores.

Chances are good that some very alarming Oklahoma stat lines will get better as the Sooners progress through the Big 12 portion of the 2016 schedule. At the moment, though, the Sooners are down in some highly uncharacteristic areas.