Red River shutout: if you're still not sure whether Oklahoma's defense is good enough for another title run, just check with Texas.(College Football)

Sure, Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops loves his brother, but frankly, he was tired of hearing about him. Tired of hearing about Tommie Harris, too, and Derrick Strait and Teddy Lehman and Rocky Calmus and all those other guys who had made Oklahoma one of the baddest defenses in college football over the past four years.

That was then, won't win a game now, so let's talk about something else.

"Coming in, I thought people didn't recognize or give our guys enough credit;' Stoops says. "I felt all along that we were on the verge of really playing well defensively. But you need to see it."

You saw it against Texas. Stoops' brother Mike has gone from the brains of the defense at OU to head coach at Arizona, and all those OU All-Americans are playing in the NFL, but these Sooners did something to Texas none of those other guys ever did: They shut out the Longhorns, winning, 12-0, and running Oklahoma's winning streak to five in the Red River Shootout.

Given an opportunity to shine in front of a national audience and a multitude of recruits in the talent-rich Dallas-Fort Worth area, Oklahoma's defense asserted itself. Super freshman running back Adrian Peterson established himself as a Heisman candidate by rushing for 225 yards, but the Sooners' D shared the marquee in a grinder of a game at the venerable Cotton Bowl.

It was the first time Texas had been shut out in 282 games, but Oklahoma's domination goes a little deeper than that. The Sooners now have held the Longhorns scoreless for more than six quarters in this series--93 minutes and 12 seconds to be precise.

But for some reason, coming into the game, Oklahoma's defense just hadn't seemed dominant. Sure, the Sooners had held Texas Tech, which has scored 70 points twice this season, to 13 points, but where were the big plays? Where were the turnovers? The fumble-causing hits? Oh, and who are these guys, anyway?