Print edition: 
NORMAN, Okla. —Oklahoma took the field without its usual pregame ritual of charging out the tunnel at the conclusion of an introduction video that gets the crowd and players pumped up.
The atmosphere was quite literally dampened, with thousands of fans taking off early because of a storm that brought strong winds, rain and enough lightning to cause a delay of 1 hour and 35 minutes.
Then the performance was anything but normal.
The Sooners' 39-game home winning streak — the longest in the Bowl Subdivision and ninth-longest in FBS history — was halted Saturday night by Texas Tech's 41-38 victory. Along with it, Oklahoma's season that started with national title aspirations and a preseason No. 1 ranking suffered a significant blow.
The Sooners tumbled to No. 11 on Sunday — the fourth-highest one-loss team — while Texas Tech moved into the rankings for the first time at No. 19.
"Every team's going to face adversity and it's the good teams that deal with it the best," said linebacker Travis Lewis, a defensive captain.
"So, hopefully we've got strong guys that are going to deal with it the right way."
Tommy Tuberville notched his most significant win yet in his second year as Texas Tech's coach, saying afterward that he didn't think Oklahoma's defense had been tested yet this season by a strong passing opponent.
Seth Doege threw for 441 yards and four touchdowns against a unit that was missing three starters — cornerback Jamell Fleming (knee), defensive tackle Casey Walker (left thumb) and linebacker Tom Wort (concussion).
The Red Raiders picked on Fleming's replacement, Gabe Lynn, until he finally got benched in the third quarter. Safety Aaron Colvin, a converted cornerback, moved outside and Sam Proctor took over deep. By then, the damage was already done.
The Sooners rallied late to cut a 24-point deficit to three, but Tech recovered an onside kick and became just the third opponent in Bob Stoops' 78 home games at Oklahoma to celebrate on Owen Field.
"Inside of the locker room, it was pretty much no one talking to each other, no one looking at each other. People had their heads down, some people crying," said Oklahoma running back Roy Finch, who started in place of Dominique Whaley (illness).
"It was just emotional because we knew how hard we worked all summer and how hard we worked all year, and to lose this game was pretty hard for us."
The Sooners don't have long to sulk. Next up is a trip to No. 10 Kansas State (7-0, 4-0), where they'll need to win to keep from losing control of their own destiny in the conference title chase.
"Kansas State will beat the living heck out of us if we don't make improvement, along with anyone else we're going to play — here at home or anywhere. If this doesn't show you that, then you're pretty unrealistic," Stoops said.
"But if we can ... show some character and make some improvements from this, who knows what can happen?"
Considering all the defensive injuries, perhaps more stunning was Oklahoma's offensive struggles. The nation's fourth-rated offense and sixth-highest scoring attack went three-and-out six times — including on four straight possessions bracketing halftime — and also committed two turnovers and stalled out twice in the red zone.
"We've just got to learn from it. Learn from a loss and move on and if we don't get better from it, then we'll repeat this process again and we'll lose to another team," quarterback Landry Jones said. "If we learn from it, move on and start playing better football, we'll be all right."
There are some issues to be resolved internally, though. For the second time this season, Stoops questioned his team's focus in practice.
Lewis, who has been playing with a broken toe, went as far as to question whether some of his injured teammates could have played hurt but didn't.
"I guess if the trainers tell you you can't play, you can't play," Lewis said. "I just know that they told me I shouldn't play and I played."
Defensive coordinator Brent Venables declined to comment on Lewis' assertion, saying "that doesn't warrant an answer."
Venables said the coaches also accept their share of the blame for failing to put the players in a position to be successful but that there aren't any major changes ahead after the Sooners lost the week after the first BCS standings came out for the second straight year.
"It won't be any different — all of a sudden you come up with this new, magical plan and you change up what you do?" Venables said.
"All of us have to own it. It stinks, you hate for it to happen but at the same time I think character will be revealed and I feel very strongly that we've got great leadership. We've got a bunch of guys that care."
