'We're 4-2, not 2-4': How Oklahoma is Staying Positive Entering Second Half of Season

The Sooners have lost two of their last three games, but players are staying positive with the second half of the season still in front of them.

Oklahoma Sooners linebacker Danny Stutsman / SARAH PHIPPS/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

It wasn’t advice freshman Zion Ragins was asking for, but it was guidance he appreciated later on. 

As negative as things might seem from the outside for Oklahoma’s football program, the Sooners are staying positive with no plans of losing again. OU just lost to rival Texas 34-3 in disappointing fashion, failing to reach the end zone and giving up the most points all season. The second loss in three games knocked the Sooners out of the rankings for only the second time since 2016. 

“Just like I told Zion Ragins (on Sunday) when I was getting treatment up here when he was up here too, I just told him I'm not trying to be a motivational speaker, I'm just trying to be a real person and trying to be a big brother,” running back Jovantae Barnes said. “It starts in practice. Sometimes we mess up and we kind of brush it off, but it starts right there. We got to have that in practice. And it's always in the details, like I've been saying, and you just have to have that mindset where you're going to mess up. Nobody's perfect in football, nobody's perfect in life, period. 

“But it's the way you're going to bounce back. And you got to ignore the outside. Just make sure you stay off all the social media. Stay off of that because none of that matters. This just right here, us, OU matters. It's just making sure he knows that and putting that in his mind. And even after practice, he came up to me and said I appreciate.”

And now in the SEC, OU’s schedule is as daunting as it’s ever been. Other than their next game against South Carolina at 11:45 a.m. Saturday and Maine on Nov. 2, every opponent left on the Sooners’ schedule is currently ranked in the top 20. 

“I mean, we don't really talk about another loss,” linebacker Danny Stutsman said. “That's not on the table right now. I think for us, it's kind of already been instilled in my head for the years I've been here. You kind of have to now do it for the younger guys and just kind of be a coach in the locker room.”

Stutsman is a senior in the midst of his fourth and final season at OU. He put his NFL career on hold to return for the program’s first year in the SEC. As a team captain, he was part of a players-only meeting the Sooners held on Sunday. And he elaborated as only a veteran who’s been through a situation like this before could, where the outside is yelling that the sky is falling in Norman. 

“We're 4-2, not 2-4,” Stutsman said. “We still have half the season in front of us. I think if you have that type of mindset where you're already giving up now, then I don't want you on this team, because I still have a lot to play for. I'm only here for a few more months and I've still got a lot that I want to accomplish.”