The ending of Oklahoma’s 34-33 loss to Oregon will always haunt the Sooners. The Pac-10 Conference’s apologies for the officiating errors have been offered and in some cases accepted.

“I’m glad they understand what they did and what they did was wrong, but at the same time it doesn’t affect much,” Sooner quarterback Paul Thompson said. “That was a big mistake and you can’t do much to change that. We accept the apology because it doesn’t change much. We feel like we’ve been cheated. We feel like we got a win and it was taken from us.”

Thompson’s case can’t be refuted, but no matter how many protests are made, it won’t change the fact OU contributed to its own demise.

Three times it settled for field goals after having first-and-goal. Adrian Peterson rushed for 211 yards, but he also stopped the clock three times by running out of bounds on the team’s final drive, which started with 5:34 remaining. If he hadn’t, there wouldn’t have been time for the last-minute of hysteria. There was also the 44-yard field goal that was blocked on the last play.

There’s also the matter of allowing the Ducks to pile up 501 yards of total offense and OU letting them score two touchdowns in the final 72 seconds.

Two blown calls at the end can’t sweep all that under the rug.

“We take accountability for what we could have done to change that game,” OU coach Bob Stoops said. “So anyone who’s sitting there thinking that we’re just pointing fingers and not looking at ourselves, that’s not true.”

What happened last Saturday in Eugene, Ore., is history. The question OU must answer is whether the unjust ending to the game will be allowed to define the season.

There’s still nine games left on the schedule, along with a possible Big 12 Championship Game and BCS bowl.

That’s where the Sooners’ attention has turned.

They face Middle Tennessee (2-1) at 6 p.m. Saturday at Owen Field. Some would view it as a blow-off contest. After all, the Blue Raiders are hardly a national power.

But through three games, OU still hasn’t put together a complete performance. Saturday is the last chance to create some momentum before Big 12 play begins Oct. 7 in the 101st edition of the Red River Rivalry against Texas.

The Sooner defense is currently ranked 97th in the nation. It’s an unheard of ranking for a program used to occupying a spot in the top 10.

The unit has been scorched for big plays on the ground and through the air in all three games. Major problems must be corrected.

“We want to get it fixed,” defensive end Calvin Thibodeaux said. “It is something that we can get fixed. When we watch films where they were breaking us down and popping big ones, it’s little things that we can get fixed. We are not far off.