Stoops brushes off Sooners' boo birds following home loss to Baylor

Published Nov. 10, 2014 10:22 p.m. ET

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NORMAN, Okla. - The crowd booed and the Sooners lost in grand fashion.

Hard to remember either of the two happening in Norman in a long time.

Oklahoma lost to Baylor 48-14 on Saturday, ending any chance of a successful season for the Sooners and before the fans flooded out well before the game was official, a good number booed. And loudly.

After the game, coach Bob Stoops was defiant when answering a question about upset fans.

"Oh, you're kidding," Stoops said when asked about reactions from fans. "So what?"

Stoops offered some clarification Monday afternoon, saying the OU fans were great, but he was talking about social media.

"I think our fan base is great and I think our booster base is great," Stoops said. "I can't worry about social media. That's is not something I participate in or ever will. To clarify, that's what I'm talking about.

"I'm aware of the expectations that we, and I, have created. When you win 93 percent of your (home) games, you're not used to watching that. You're going to have people mad at you when you lose."

Stoops also talked about a lot of things from his team's undoing on defense to quarterback Trevor Knight and his struggles and then injury. Stoops also pointed out the team is less than a year away from beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl.

A lot to talk about from Saturday. The Sooners lost for a third time this season, will most likely end the year without having beat a ranked opponent and haven't won back-to-back games since September.

Here are a few more topics from Monday's talk where Stoops said,

"Some (teams) are better than us, but we're probably better than most."

Cody Thomas takes first-team reps in practice

Knight left the game in the fourth quarter on a stretcher but Stoops said Monday Knight was doing well and did not suffer a concussion.

However, Knight did not practice Monday and is not expected to on Tuesday. That means, Cody Thomas will likely be the starter Saturday when the Sooners play at Texas Tech.

It also means Blake Bell will be the back-up.

Thomas is a redshirt freshman from Colleyville, Texas.

"I have full confidence in him," senior offensive tackle Tyrus Thompson said of Thomas.

Stoops did say Knight has a lot of potential. Knight is 11-3 as a starter at OU.

"I got great faith in Trevor," Stoops said after Knight went 12-for-27 for 146 yards with an interception and a touchdown pass. "He has great upside.

Sterling Shepard is still a question

Leading receiver Sterling Shepard missed Saturday's game at Baylor, despite coaches saying Shepard would most likely play.

Co-offensive coordinator Jay Norvell said he expected Shepard to return this week at Tech.

Shepard suffered a groin injury against Iowa State on the first offensive play of the game for the Sooners. He went through pre-game warm-ups for the Sooners before the Baylor game but never played.

Shepard has 50 catches for 957 yards and five touchdowns this season.

Meanwhile, cornerback Julian Wilson broke his thumb against Baylor and played for a portion of the game with a cast on. Stoops did not update Wilson's condition on Monday.

Hunnicutt struggles

Kicker Michael Hunnicutt, the school's all-time leading scorer and the nation's active scoring leader, missed another field goal, this time against Baylor â with the wind â Saturday.

He's 10-of-14 this season but has made just two of his last five.

"I'm not going to hesitate to put Michael out there," Stoops said. I'm not going to ignore it, but I'm not going to stop going to him. You have to keep going to him. I'm not going to stop giving him those opportunities."