• Sooners have

trouble stopping

the passing game

Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops and defensive coordinator Brent Venables both push for perfection. Anything less leaves a sour taste.

After Saturday night’s 41-31 victory over Missouri, Stoops called out his team for the two turnovers that led to 14 points for the Tigers. He said this team wasn’t playing up to its potential.

“We are out for more,” Stoops said. “There are still some areas that we can do better in. We need to do a better job coaching and they need to do a better job listening and executing.”

One would figure some of the comments would be directed at a defense that gave up a season-high 31 points and 418 total yards to the Tigers.

But that wasn’t the case.

Neither Stoops or Venables used “dominant” to describe Saturday’s performance, but “pleased” was used several times.

There’s a reason why.

“The days of holding (a quarterback) to 12-of-35, if they’ve got a good system with a good quarterback and some decent skill, are long gone,” Venables said.

That was evident against the Tigers.

Missouri’s Chase Daniel threw for 361 yards, joining Tulsa’s Paul Smith and Texas’ Colt McCoy as quarterbacks who’ve eclipsed the 300-yard mark against the Sooners.

It’s doubtful they’ll be the last. Virtually every receiver in the Big 12 is capable of scoring any time they touch the ball. Quarterbacks who can get them the ball are plentiful.

That combination has forced defenses to reassess their goals.