BY TIM SCANDURRO
“It was more about us. The plays that were beating us, it was just one guy not doing his job the right way.”—Jon Sumrall on first half struggles at OU.
BY TIM SCANDURRO
Late in the first half Saturday with the score 21-0 Oklahoma, the ESPN play-by-play announcer observed that despite all the talk about parity in college football, “this is what an SEC vs. American conference game is supposed to look like.” ESPN has a lot invested in elevating the profile of the Southeastern Conference, but that didn’t make it any easier to hear. Partly because at the time, it felt hard to argue the point. But mostly because we weren’t getting bullied or outclassed as much as we were beating ourselves.
One of the teamwork truisms in the game of basketball is that you don’t win with the five best players; you win with the best five players. The football equivalent is “do your one-eleventh.” Everyone has an assignment on every play. If ten guys do their job and one doesn’t, you see what you saw too often Saturday in the first half.
But when the fourth quarter rolled around, the score was 24-19 and Tulane had the ball (twice) with the opportunity to take the lead. We showed the snot-nosed ESPN announcer that we are no longer the team that shows up for these types of games to take a beating and a check from the home team, and to hopefully leave without getting anyone hurt. We’re showing up instead to try and whip your ass.
That’s two weeks in a row now, against Top 15 teams, where we were in position to win the football game in the fourth quarter. But that’s two weeks in a row where we weren’t able to finish the job.
All of which makes the self-inflicted wounds more painful. We were gritty, resilient, and never say die. But we also busted assignments in the first half that put us in a deep hole, and we made key mistakes late that kept us from digging all the way out of it. Coach Sumrall showed those plays to his team this week to stress the importance of preparing properly and executing your assignment. We belong on the field with these ranked opponents. Do your one-eleventh, he preached, and the team wins will come no matter who’s on the other sideline.
It's just as important that we do our one-eleventh. Do you remember when we were the ones who supposedly broke up the Big East Conference because its member schools and fanbases didn’t want to be in a league that we were in? Do you remember the early days of the AAC when we were viewed by member schools’ fans as an anchor on the league’s promise?
I do. It stung, just like that ESPN announcer’s comment. And yet look how far we’ve come. Our team refused to accept the label Saturday, and so have we. It’s no secret that the strength of our football program has us high up in the latest conference realignment conversations. Our NIL program, a model that many peer schools admire and envy, has helped lead the way. It is one of the most direct, tangible ways that each one of us can help shape the future of our football program and our place in the pecking order. It gives us a voice, it gives us a seat at tables that were once off-limits, and it gives us a competitive edge.
None of us know how much time is left on the clock, but we all sense we are in the fourth quarter where the future of our athletics program is concerned. Nobody likes being 1-2 this week. On the scoreboard and in conference realignment discussions, being close doesn’t count. You have to break the door down. But that can’t happen if we flinch or shy away or let defeat or pessimism define us.
All of us love this program and value what it means to us. This moment, this era we’re in, will pass if we don’t seize it. Coach Sumrall’s message to his team and to all of us supporting it is the same: Don’t let your teammates down. Don’t be the one who gets us beat. Do your one-eleventh. Leave it all out on the field, and then let the chips fall.
Onward.
By Tim Scandurro
Super article