NORMAN (AP) - For the first time in five years, Oklahoma enters its Saturday showdown with Texas without beating the Longhorns the previous year. That makes no difference to Sooners coach Bob Stoops.
"Even when we were on our run, what'd I say every year? `It doesn't matter what happened a year ago. We've got go win it again,'" Stoops said Tuesday at his weekly news conference. "You've got to be able to do it all over again. Each year is different, each team is different and I believe that now as well."
The Sooners lost last year's meeting at the Cotton Bowl 45-12, ending a five-game winning streak in the series during which Oklahoma outscored Texas 189-54. That's all in the past now, as is the talk of whether the Sooners had a psychological edge on Texas or whether Stoops had some innate ability to beat Longhorns coach Mack Brown.
"You have to get yourself in a position to win it now," Stoops said. "What happens next year doesn't matter, what happened last year doesn't matter."
Even this year, Stoops doesn't expect the fact that the 13th-ranked Sooners (3-1) enter as the underdog to No. 7 Texas, the defending national champs, to provide much motivation.
"I don't prefer it either way. It doesn't matter to me," Stoops said. "We've won it (as the) underdog and we've won it being favored. ... We're not sitting here like that's our mantra. It's not our deal."
Stoops said he thinks the Sooners are better in all three phases of the game than they were entering last season's Red River Rivalry.
"It's not even close," he said. "There's no question we're a much different football team coming into the game than we were a year ago. I don't even know that you can compare the two. And one of the biggest reasons, too, is Adrian Peterson's healthy. That changes everything."
Peterson had only three carries for 10 yards last season while nursing a sprained ankle. In his absence, the Sooners had a season-low 77 rushing yards on 33 carries.
Meanwhile, Texas is without its star from last year's game, quarterback Vince Young. Now the starting quarterback for the Tennessee Titans, Young threw for three touchdowns and ran for another last year against Oklahoma.
"There's no denying with Vince Yo
