NORMAN —Oklahoma defensive tackle Gerald McCoy was emotional as he carried the Bedlam Bell for a victory lap after the Sooners’ 27-0 victory over arch-rival Oklahoma State Saturday.

“That was a lot of fun,’’ McCoy said. “The fans deserve it. They have been with us all year. We felt we owe it to them to show them some love.’’

The Sooners hadn’t had much fun during a 7-5 season in which the offense was decimated by injuries. OU’s defense had been embarrassed the week before in a 41-13 loss at Texas Tech.

But the OSU game showed what could have been for the Sooners. The high-powered Cowboy offense was shut out for the first time in 46 games.

The Sooners held OSU to 62 yards rushing and 47 yards passing and did not make a first down in the second half.

“We showed everybody that we could still play,’’ McCoy said. “Last week wasn’t us. (But this week) We prepared well all week. We fought hard in practice.’’

OU’s Senior Day activities showed how much injuries affected the Sooners. Seniors Jermaine Gresham, Brody Eldridge, Auston English, Trent Williams, Ryan Reynolds greeted fans in street clothes.

Quarterback Sam Bradford, the 2008 Heisman Trophy winner who had season-ending shoulder surgery issued a thank you not to fans via OU’s video board.

“It crosses your mind what might have happened if it wasn’t for the injuries,’’ McCoy said, “but you can’t worry about it. You got to play with who you got and keep fighting.’’

“Injuries are something you have to deal with,’’ McCoy said. “It’s all about how you bounce back and react to it.’’

Eric Mensik moved from tight end to tackle for the OSU game after Williams suffering a concussion in practice Tuesday, and his play earned the praise of OU coach Bob Stoops.

Mensik didn’t know he was going to start until 20 minutes before the game. He had only seen brief action at tackle. He had been going back and forth during the week.

“It never crossed my mind that I would start at tackle,’’ he said. “Whatever the coaches need me to do, I’ll do it, I just had to step up. It worked out pretty well.’’

Mensik had never played anywhere but tight end, but felt comfortable at tackle.

“It’s still the same blocking schemes,’’ he said. “Pass blocking was a little different depending on if they were going to blitz or not, but it wasn’t much of a change.’’

He did say he had to develop a little different mentality at tackle. Mensik agreed with Stoops that preparation was the key to his transition.

“A lot of the scout team guys did a wonderful job coming at me hard in practice,’’ he said. “The coaches helped me a lot if I was doing something wrong.’’

Like McCoy, he felt the Sooners had something to prove after Texas Tech.

“There was a lot of talk that we gave up at Texas Tech,’’ Mensik said. “This is a good thing for us.’’

OU, up 10-0 at halftime, took total control of the game after driving 78 yards on 18 plays on its first possession of the second half to score on a 19-yard field goal from Patrick O’Hara.

“It was tiring, I will tell you that,’’ Mensik said. “But we knew we needed to keep pounding and get those first downs. The crowd was into it and that helped us a lot.’’

The win extend OU’s home win streak to 30 games, the longest in the nation.

Mensik felt the game would be much closer with the Cowboys, who came in with hopes of going to the Fiesta Bowl.

“They have a heck of an offense and a heck of a defense, but this is our house,’’ he said. “We have to protect it and play really hard. It makes a lot of difference playing at home.’’

OU was 6-0 at home this season and 1-5 in games outside of Norman.

“We just execute better and play a lot smarter at home,’’ said Sooners quarterback Landry Jones. “We don’t have as many penalties. It was good to go out and play like we did today after last week.’’

It was especially important McCoy, a native Oklahoman who followed the Bedlam series closely as a youngster.

“I think this proves that we know how to fight back,’’ he said. “This school has a lot of pride. It doesn’t lay down when it faces adversity.’’

OU appears to be headed for either the Alamo or the Sun Bowl.

“Whatever bowl we’ll be in, we’ll play hard and be thankful we’re there,’’ Jones said.