Football notebook: Five things we learned from Monday's press conference

The five things we learned from Monday's press conference:

1. Sooners could come out of a slump this weekend against Texas Tech.

It's been a long time since OU won a game in Lubbock. Wait, seriously? Yes, that's right, the winningest football program in the modern era has trouble beating Texas Tech on the road and haven't won on the Red Raiders' field since 2003. Junior center Gabe Ikard said the coaches mentioned to the players in practice about the fact that OU hasn't been successful against Tech, but coach Bob Stoops wasn't willing to concede that the matchup against the Red Raiders is becoming the Sooners' Achille's heel.

"Everyone wants to tie years together," Stoops said. "But I don't equate it that way."

2. OU paid attention to how the other Big 12 teams performed this weekend.

With another idle week, members of the Sooner football team had a chance to watch some of the conference games that took place last weekend. One thing the Sooners noticed: this year's Big 12 conference will be tough to win, especially with all of the offensive playmakers spread out across the league.

"Watching the games this weekend, one thing I noticed was that, top to bottom, we've got a good conference," Ikard said. "A lot of teams are strong and some teams that people didn't think were as talented."

3. The Sooners last left Lubbock with a spoiled taste in their mouths.

In 2009, the Red Raiders sent the Sooners packing with a 41-13 loss, the most lopsided victory by Tech of the series. OU had new uniforms and a new quarterback to start off the show but failed miserably to produce points after settling for just two field goals during the first three quarters. The Red Raiders put up 549 total yards of offense while OU was only 3-of-13 in third down conversions.

"I remember it wasn't too fun," senior quarterback Landry Jones said. "We had cool uniforms and we looked good but just didn't play very good."

4. Jones doesn't regret coming back for senior season.

Regardless of how he rates himself, Jones told the media Monday he doesn't regret coming back for his senior year as the starting quarterback even though he said he also knows he's not playing his best game so far. But there's still nine matchups left on the schedule, which is plenty of time for the starter to right the ship before he finishes his playing career with the Sooners.

"Regardless of how I have been performing, I will never regret coming back and making this decision to come back," Jones said. "No one wants to play bad; no one wants to go out there and thrown interceptions and no one wants to be a part of a sputtering offense. But that is what we are working through right now."

5. No update for suspended players.

Stoops ended the presser by telling the media there was no update on the suspended players' returns. Senior defensive tackle Stacy McGee has yet to see any playing time after being suspended for violating university policy during fall camp. Junior wide receivers Trey Franks and Jaz Reynolds also haven't recorded any playing time this season after being suspended indefinitely for violating team rules last spring.

Tobi Neidy

Tobi is a former staff member of The Oklahoma Daily who worked as Photographer and Sports Reporter.