Oklahoma football: Complacency is Sooners enemy against FCS South Dakota
By Chip Rouse
After an impressive season-opening win over a good Houston team, No. 4-ranked Oklahoma football finds itself in a no-win, Goliath vs. David situation in Week 2.
For the fifth time in the last 20 years , the Sooners will square off with a school that is much smaller and one level below the college division in which Oklahoma competes. South Dakota, the Sooners’ opponent at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday night, is a member of what is now called the FCS, or Football Championship Subdivision, not to be confused with the Football Bowl Subdivision, where the big dogs like Oklahoma reside.
Oklahoma City Oklahoman sports columnist Berry Tramel comically referred to the OU-South Dakota matchup as “college football’s version of the NFL exhibition season” — in other words, “an unfair fight that should never be played,” per the headline accompanying the article.
This is actually a fill-in game that was not part of the Sooners’ original schedule plans. South Dakota agreed to come to Norman to play OU when an FBS opponent that athletic director Joe Castiglione declines to name unexpectedly backed out of the original commitment.
At his weekly press conference earlier this week, Sooner head coach Lincoln Riley cautioned that South Dakota is a better team than some folks may believe and “certainly is not going to come in here intimidated.” He reminded reporters that this is the same team that went to Kansas State last season and played the Wildcats right down to the wire.
The two teams come into Week 2 of the season headed in different directions. Oklahoma rolled up 686 yards of total offense in defeating Houston in its season opener, while South Dakota State surrendered 510 yards (over 400 through the air) in a 31-17 home loss to Montana.
This will be the first meeting between OU and South Dakota in football.
The Sooners have played four FCS opponents (previously known as NCAA Division I-AA) since Castiglione became athletic director in 1998: Indiana State in 1999, Chattanooga in 2008, Idaho State in 2009 and Florida A&M in 2012. The combined score in those four contests, all Oklahoma wins, was 239-15.
Interestingly, Oklahoma quarterback Jalen Hurts faced three FCS opponents (Chattanooga, Mercer and The Citadel) while he was at Alabama. The combined score in those three games was 137-20.
What to watch for from South Dakota
A member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, South Dakota finished with a 4-7 record a year ago. The Coyotes averaged 26.7 points and 411 yards of offense last season. But they also gave up more points and yards to their opponents.
Riley spoke highly in his press conference this week about South Dakota senior quarterback Austin Simmons, referring to him as the fourth leading passer in college football last season. Simmons threw for over 3,000 yards a year ago and 18 touchdowns. He also ran the ball for over 300 yards.
When Simmons puts the ball in the air, his favorite targets are returning receivers Dakarai Allen and Levi Falck. The pair combined last season for 93 catches and over 1,100 yards. In the opening-game loss to Montana, Cody Kase caught 11 passes for 11 yards and two touchdowns.
The Coyotes are coached by Bob Nielson, who is beginning his fourth season at South Dakota. He is 16-20 in his previous three seasons. This is his 27th year as a head coach, and he is one of just 14 active NCAA coaches with at least 200 wins.
Keys to an Oklahoma victory
The Sooner coaches and players insist that they are going to treat the game with South Dakota like any other game. “It just doesn’t matter a whole lot to us who we’re playing,” Riley said. “Our deal’s about (an entire season’s) journey.”
Hurts’ echoed his head coach’s remarks, saying, “We’re going to focus on what we need to focus on and try to get better each week and fix out mistakes from last week.”
That is absolutely the right approach in practice, but what it will look like in execution on the field on Saturday is the bigger concern.
Saturday presents an excellent opportunity for the Sooners to work on the things they need to clean up and get better at get valuable playing time for the backups and the talented true freshman on the roster who can help the team as the season moves forward and the schedule gets tougher.
It won’t be surprising to see Oklahoma up by 28 or more points by halftime. If that is the case, expect to see Jalen Hurts and many of the other starters on the sidelines with their helmets off and their night completed, while Tanner Mordecai and even highly touted true freshman Spencer Rattler finish out the duties at quarterback.
The bottom line
This is a royal mismatch. There is no way Oklahoma can lose this game. Having said that, though, the Sooners can least afford to play down to the level of their opponent. It is difficult to determine how much you might be improving when you are going up against a team that is undermanned and far less talented, but as they say, repetitions and practice make perfect, and that is pretty much what this game boils down to for the Sooners.
Oklahoma 55, South Dakota 13