OU Football: Week 8 Notebook

The rain and overall dreariness of the weather on Monday highlighted the general feel in Norman following Oklahoma's 36-20 loss to Texas on Saturday. Bob Stoops and players met with the media and talked about moving forward from the loss, starting with the Sooners' game against Kansas this week. Here are some notes from the press conference.

• Bob Stoops said defensive tackle Jordan Phillips would be having surgery on Tuesday and would be out for the remainder of the season. Stoops said Phillips has had a chronic back issue that hasn't gone away and would need to be corrected with surgery.

• With only one loss in conference play, the players are very much aware the Sooners are still in contention for the Big 12 title. The margin for error is close to zero, but with no dominant team in the conference this season, anything is possible.

• All three players who were available Monday--Daryl Williams, Gabe Lynn and Geneo Grissom--said the bus ride back to Norman was dead silent. Grissom said the rain that started only added to the misery the team felt.

• Williams said the Texas defense wasn't doing anything surprising on Saturday. "I don't think they were doing anything," Williams said. "They just beat us. It happens."

• Williams said the offense didn't play as hard as they could have or should have, something that definitely surprised him.

• Lynn said the Longhorns were simply more physical than the Sooners and got whatever they wanted in the run game. "We kind of fell asleep on some plays over the top," Lynn said. "It's all stuff we can get better at and stuff we can improve on."

• Taking lessons from the loss is the only way you can really move forward, Lynn said. "It hurts, but that's the only way you can move on from that."

• The Sooners' inability to get off the field on third down was one of the main problems for Oklahoma on Saturday, something Stoops and the players highlighted on Monday.

• Lynn said the Sooners need to be more physical going forward and come out with a fighting spirit. "I think we're going to come out angry against everybody we play the rest of the year."

• The Sooners won't make any excuses, but Lynn and Grissom both admitted it was very tough on Saturday playing without Jordan Phillips or Corey Nelson. "It's tough," Grissom said. "You can see a completely different defense without those two guys. They're great leaders and great football players. We're going to have to bounce back and have guys step up."

• Stoops said he was pleased with how the Sooners ran the ball against the Longhorns on Saturday. Excluding sacks, the Sooners had 29 carries for 165 yards, a 5.67 yards per carry average. However, Stoops said the passing game performance was "poor."

• Stoops said he was not looking to play multiple quarterbacks against Kansas on Saturday, but said again it was possible Trevor Knight or Kendal Thompson could be brought in for a change of pace from time to time.

• Stoops stressed that the struggles in the passing game were not all the fault of Blake Bell. Stoops cited bad routes, dropped passes and poor protection as other factors that contributed to the Sooners' terrible performance through the air.

• Freshman Dominique Alexander made his first start on Saturday in the place of Nelson, and ended up with 19 tackles. Stoops was quick to praise Alexander's performance, but noted the linebacker still has a lot to learn and plenty of areas to improve in.

*Also noteworthy, the Oct. 26th contest between OU and Texas Tech in Norman is scheduled for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on FOX.