TCU makes its contribution to Upset Week, stunning No. 4 Oklahoma

FORT WORTH — Trevor Knight and No. 4 Oklahoma were walking off the field at No. 25 Texas Christian with their first loss of the season a few minutes after No. 3 Alabama had lost.

No. 2 Oregon and No. 6 Texas A&M had already opened October with losses.

Because of all the upsets, the Sooners’ 37-33 defeat Saturday may not have been a fatal blow to their standing for the new four-team College Football Playoff. But it was certainly a jolt and a huge missed opportunity for Oklahoma (4-1, 1-1 Big 12).

“This isn’t the defining moment of our season. There’s a lot of football left,” said Knight, the sophomore quarterback who lost for the first time in his 10 starts. “Who knows what’s down the road? It’s early in the season, a one-loss team can still make it.”

Knight threw for 309 yards but two of his passes were intercepted in the fourth quarter, and one was returned 41 yards by Paul Dawson for the go-ahead touchdown for the Horned Frogs (4-0, 1-0). Samaje Perine, who had three touchdown runs, was stuffed for no gain on a fourth-and-one try from the TCU 22 with just over three minutes left in the game.

“I have no qualms about how our team played. We came in here ready to play,” Oklahoma Coach Bob Stoops said. “We knew it was going to be a big challenge. The bottom line is they made plays and we didn’t.”

Dawson’s pick came with 14:12 left. The former high school receiver reached up with both hands to grab the ball and raced untouched to make it 37-31. The Sooners got two points when Jordan Phillips blocked the extra point and Zack Sanchez returned it to the end zone.

“The guy made a heck of a play,” Knight said. “There’s not much you can do about that.”

Dealing with cramps part of the game, Knight finished 14 for 35 passing. He ran 13 times for 61 yards.

Oklahoma will be back in North Texas next Saturday, taking on Texas in the Red River Rivalry game at the State Fair of Texas.

“I know for sure that if you keep losing, you’re not going to have much chance of anything,” Stoops said. “We take it week by week. We came in here knowing that we had to play our best to win this game. Period. We weren’t looking at the end of the season.”

For Gary Patterson and the Frogs, they finally have a big attention-grabbing victory in the Big 12 Conference.

“It basically gives us confidence,” dual-threat quarterback Trevone Boykin said. “Knowing that we can play with guys like OU, because a lot of Big 12 championships have went through there.”