I was thinking the same thing Saturday, but, my guess is OU wasn't moving the ball due to our D playing lights out, the field was garbage, we were missing our two starting OTs, and there was really no reason to open things up. What happens if you get greedy and Nico throws a pick 6 across the middle (just playing devil's advocate here)? All of a sudden they have momentum. No reason to even risk that or injury so long as you can keep a 2+ score lead and play field position.
Yeah, it was boring, but in a tough road game environment, with a young QB, it was smart. The crowd was checked out and wasn't even a factor by the end of the second quarter. Even our fans were louder. It worked like a charm.
Heupel knew that once we went up 19-3 it was pretty much an insurmountable lead for OU given the way that our defense was playing. It showed a lot of maturation and growth as a coach. As for the comments to Nico. He was probably just reassuring him that it was nothing that he did wrong, he just didn't feel the need to make Nico throw more.