OU in Review: Washington

Despite the wide final margin, the best thing that can be said about OU's big win against Washington is that the Sooners didn't show any letup on the road.

The Huskies showed very little fight last night--outside of a three-man sneak attack by UW's offensive line on OU defensive tackle DeMarcus Granger. Simple fundamentals like completing a shotgun snap proved difficult for Washington. When you also consider how depleted the UW roster is at this point, this was far from a stern test.

Still, give the Sooners credit for playing with ruthless focus. Often times what separates the great teams is a refusal to play down to the level of the opposition. Other than some occasional tomfoolery after the whistle, there was no messing around for OU in this game. It was clear from the opening kickoff that Washington had absolutely no shot to win, or to even keep things close.

In terms of areas of concern, it's hard to find any fault with the offense. Defensively, the Sooners still showed the occasional sloppy tackling that has hindered OU in the recent past. The kickoff unit did allow one long return, but, overall, that coverage looked much improved from the previous week.

One aspect of this team that might need to be addressed is the frequent post-whistle jousting. This marked the second game in a row in which it seemed like minor and not-so-minor scuffles broke out after nearly every single play. Of course, it could just be that both Cincinnati and Washington were frustrated by their lack of success against OU. Even so, that kind of chippy action after the whistle can result in drive-killing personal fouls and, worse, cheap shots like those suffered by Granger.

Then again, if that means dialing down this team's unyielding nastiness when the ball is in play, forget I said anything.