I felt that Oklahoma should be No. 1 this season until someone proved the Sooners didn't belong there. They certainly played like a championship team against Texas -- and they overcame an injury to quarterback Nate Hybl to get it done.

OU safety Roy Williams may be the best defensive player in college football.

Defensively, the Sooners played the way we expected them to play. People have been maligning Oklahoma since the start of the season because of the uncertainty over how Hybl would perform, but they are making people believe again.

Texas made a couple of tactical mistakes in this game.

First, the Longhorns gave up on the running game much too soon (just 25 rushing attempts). That put a lot more pressure on quarterback Chris Simms.

Second, the choice to throw the ball put more pressure on the Texas defense. This was especially true in the third quarter, when the Longhorns had back-to-back, three-and-out series and the defense had too little time to rest. Shortly after that, Oklahoma put together a long drive that took time off the clock and helped put the game away.

If the Texas coaching staff had it to do over again, I think they would have run the ball more to take pressure off Simms -- or at least to throw more little dump passes so he wouldn't be forced to rely solely on completing the ball downfield.

Oklahoma standout Roy Williams had a lot to do with the heat that Simms felt. Williams is clearly the best safety in college football -- he may be the best defensive player in college football, period.

Tennessee's John Henderson, Florida's Alex Brown and Syracuse's Dwight Freeney are all tremendous -- and all play on the line -- but Williams is right there.

What was really spectacular to me was the play he made at the end of the game to sack Simms and cause the interception and subsequent touchdown that sealed it. Williams leaped over a low cut block on that play to get to Simms; he had been cut by the same blocker earlier and he remembered it, so this time he jumped over him to make the play.

That's a smart, aggressive player who won't be denied. To top it off, Williams intercepted Simms on the Longhorns' ensuing possession.

ESPN college football analyst Rod Gilmore was a three-year starter at defensive back for Stanford.