Bob Stoops said Allen Patrick looked better and better as the week went along. It seemed like he was well enough to play, but still, “not totally.”

Patrick said he didn’t know.

He guessed it was the adrenaline.

Anayway, whatever it was that made Patrick go — maybe it was just Patrick — it was a big reason Oklahoma escaped Boone Pickens Stadium with a 27-21 victory over Bedlam rival Oklahoma State.

Running backs coach Cale Gundy agreed with Patrick.

“He’s got a lot of heart,” Gundy said. “He practiced every day last week and when we took the brace off him by Wednesday, he felt a lot better … The adrenaline was the x-factor.”

Patrick ran for 163 yards on 23 carries. Splitting carries with Chris Brown, he was part of a running game that picked up 238 of the Sooners’ 315 yards. He scored a touchdown. And he started fast.

On OU’s very first play from scrimmage, Patrick hit a seam and was off for 27 yards. After missing consecutive games against Texas Tech and Baylor with a sprained ankle, he recorded his longest run of the season the first time he touched the ball.

As he would prove later, he was just getting warmed up.

Even if didn’t look that way.

After that first play from scrimmage, Stoops had a short conversation with Patrick.

“I asked him, ‘Did you hurt it?” Stoops said. “And he said, ‘Yeah.’”

Patrick was out of the game for several plays, but soon returned.

“The pain just went away,” he said.

The healing powers of the Bedlam series.