Sooners on the road for 1st time

Associated Press

NORMAN, Okla.

With their own fans surrounding them in the friendly confines of Owen Field, the Oklahoma Sooners have been practically invincible.

It’s been more than five years and 33 straight games since the eighth-ranked Sooners (3-0) lost at home, the longest stretch in the country.

Get them playing somewhere else, and it’s a different story.

Under Bob Stoops, Oklahoma has a 69-2 record at home but is just 51-27 elsewhere — including five losses in the last seven games on the road or at neutral sites. This season’s first test away from home comes Saturday night, when the Sooners face Cincinnati (1-2) at Paul Brown Stadium.

“It shouldn’t matter if we’re on the road or not,” said defensive end Jeremy Beal, one of the team’s captains. “We should always play the same.”

As Beal would admit, that can be easier said than done and recent history shows it. The Sooners outscored opponents 276-47 in six home victories last season, notching three shutouts and scoring at least 27 points in each game. They didn’t score half that many in four of their five losses away from home, where they averaged about two extra turnovers.

“You get out there and the crowd starts yelling,” offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson said. “Do you lose your edge or do you feed off the energy of the opposing crowd to have the energy that we have at home? Can we have that kind of energy on the road?”

“You have to take the crowd out,” defensive tackle Adrian Taylor said. “You have to take everybody out but your coaches and your teammates and learn how to play not dependent on the crowd.”