“Our defense is not a finished project. We have a ways to go,” Beal said. “We played good (Saturday) but we could have played better.

“It is always our goal to improve every game and get better throughout the season. I think we improved from last week, so we are fulfilling that goal.”

The main hole that had to be plugged after the first half was finding a way to slow down Gilyard, who had seven catches for 119 yards before halftime.

He didn’t catch a pass in the second half as Cincinnati’s quarterbacks went 6-for-19.

That was a big improvement after Grutza went 16-for-21 for 206 yards and a touchdown in the first half.

“They’re a good team, a great offense. They can move the ball on anybody. Give them a lot of credit. They came in and played hard,” McCoy said. “We played good and those two touchdowns, we wish we didn’t give up, but it’s hard to not give up touchdowns when you’re playing against a team as good as Cincinnati.”

McCoy said now the Sooners must find a way to duplicate the way they play at Owen Field when they go somewhere else. Oklahoma’s three losses last season were at Colorado, at Texas Tech and at the Fiesta Bowl in Arizona.

Next up on this year’s schedule is a trip to Seattle on Saturday to face Washington, which lost 28-27 to then-No. 15 BYU in its last game. If his standards for facing Cincinnati are any indication, McCoy won’t be happy unless the Huskies don’t reach the end zone all game.

“The defense we try and play, we don’t like to give up nothing. The slightest anything is just like too much to us,” McCoy said. “Two touchdowns is good, but we would like to not give up nothing.”