Oklahoma football: Twenty-point 4th quarter cyclone nearly buries Sooners
By Chip Rouse
What for three quarters appeared to be a statement game by the Oklahoma football team took a sudden and nearly complete reversal in the final quarter and left the Sooners extremely fortunate to come away with a win.
Were it not for an interception by cornerback Parnell Motley on a two-point conversion attempt that would have given Iowa State an improbable and shocking comeback win, Oklahoma could have forgotten any and all hope of the College Football Playoff and perhaps even a shot at its fifth consecutive Big 12 title.
Paraphrasing the immortal words of the legendary English writer Charles Dickens, it was the best and worst of games for the schizophrenic Sooners. For most of the first half and a good part of the third quarter, OU played some of its best football of the season, but the disastrous final quarter came within an arms length of undoing all the good that had come before.
As much as Lincoln Riley and the glass-half-full crowd likes to say “a win is a win,” this game felt more like a loss, and certainly doesn’t instill loads of confidence as the Sooners prepare to head to Baylor next weekend for what unquestionably will be their biggest and most important test of the season.
Much like the wheels came off of the Sooner Schooner the last time Oklahoma played at home, the Sooner defense has experienced troubling breakdowns in its last two outings, especially after halftime. Entering the game with Kansas State, the Sooners were allowing opponents an average of 19.4 points a game, 23rd best in the country. The OU defense has given up 48 and 41 points, respectively, since then. not to mention 426 and 477 yards of total offense.
Unless you are able to score 50 or more points, which the Sooners are clearly capable of, that’s not a formula that’s going to win you many games.
Week 11 is now history, and the focus turns to what’s directly ahead, which for Oklahoma is a ESPN “GameDay” spotlight in Waco, Texas, with Big 12-leading and undefeated Baylor and what could be an underdog and lately unintimidating Oklahoma team.
Here are a dozen more numbers that tell the story of the Sooners’ survival against Iowa State:
0 — Takeaways by the Oklahoma defense for the fifth straight game (the interception by Parnell Motely on Iowa State’s two-point try is not considered a turnover).
2 — CeeDee Lamb’s two touchdown receptions tied him with former Sooner Mark Clayton for the second most career touchdown catches in program history. Mark Clayton is the career leader with 45.
5 — Jalen Hurts’ had his share of breakdowns in the Iowa State win, but he also accounted for five of the Sooners’ six touchdowns. He completed 18 of 26 points for 273 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 66 yards, including two rushing TDs.
6 — Number of wins by Iowa State over Oklahoma in 84 all-time meetings with the Sooners. OU is 76-6-2 in the all-time series and 14-1 since 1999.
7.4 — Average yards per play by the Oklahoma offense against Iowa State, nearly two yards fewer than its nation-leading 9.3 yards per play coming into the game.
7:37 — Time on the clock in the fourth quarter, with the Sooners leading 42-28, when Oklahoma forced the Cyclones to turn the ball over on downs after having a first-and-goal at the OU nine-yard line. In retrospect, a score at this juncture of the game would have provided Iowa State with a seven-point deficit. The Cyclones scored two more TDs after this, which potentially would have given them the victory and negated the two-point try.
18 — The Sooners have scored at least 20 points in the first half 31 times in the last 36 games. They scored 35 in the opening 30 minutes against a good Iowa State defense.
20 — The Sooners have scored at least 20 points in the first half 31 times in the last 36 games. They scored 35 in the opening 30 minutes against Iowa State.
34 — Oklahoma has scored at least 34 points in the last 19 games and in 30 of the last 31. The current streak is the second longest since 1990.
39 — The victory was Oklahoma’s 39th win in the last 42 games against Big 12 opponents.
127 — Rushing yards in the game by Kennedy Brooks (averaging 11.5 yards per game), the second time this season and seventh time in his career he has reached the century mark in a game.
195 – 0 — Oklahoma’s record, going back to 1937, when leading by 21 points at halftime, which was in serious jeopardy in the closing seconds against Iowa State.