What can you say? This one is on the Oklahoma football defense and the veteran Sooner offensive line.
Third-ranked Oklahoma’s national championship chances came to a crashing conclusion in just the second game of the shortened 2020 season after suffering a shocking 38-35 defeat to a gutty Kansas State team. Kansas State owned the second half in fighting back from a 21-7 halftime deficit and handing the Sooners only their 11th loss in the last 20 seasons at Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
This is the second straight season the Wildcats and head coach Chris Kleiman have defeated Lincoln Riley’s Sooners and the third time they have beaten Oklahoma on its home turf in the last five trips to Norman.
Behind the precision passing of redshirt-freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler and 107 rushing yards by the OU running-back duo of TJ Pledger and freshman Seth McGowan, Oklahoma outgained Kansas State 288 yards to 98 in the opening 30 minutes.
Oklahoma Sooners Football
Despite missing five defensive backs in their two-deep depth chart, the Wildcats showed up in the second half as a team determined not to lose. After finding little success running the football against the Sooners, senior K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson went to the air, testing the smaller OU defensive backs on a series of deep throws that led to touchdowns on consecutive series in the third quarter and beginning of the fourth.
Thompson competed 18 of 25 passes for 334 yards and a touchdown and also ran for three scores (he scored four rushing touchdowns in the K-State win over the Sooners a year ago).
Oklahoma led the Wildcats 35-14 with a little under three minutes left in the third quarter and appeared to have the game well in hand, but that’s when the game turned completely sideways for Oklahoma. Kansas State. The Wildcats unloaded for 24 unanswered points in the final 18 minutes of the game and left the 21,000-plus fans in attendance stunned to silence.
Oklahoma football outplayed by a more determined Kansas State team
Turnovers and penalties contributed in a big way to the Sooners’ demise. Rattler threw three interceptions, two in the opening half and one to effectively end the game on Oklahoma’s final possession. McGowan coughed up the ball on a fierce hit by a K-State defender deep in OU territory that led to one of Kansas State’ three second-half touchdowns.
The Sooners were penalized 10 times for 75 yards, several coming at critical junctures late in the game.
Rattler ended the game with a stat line of 30 of 41 passing for 387 yards and four touchdowns. An otherwise good outing, except for the three interceptions.
The critical play in the game came on a blocked Oklahoma punt that was recovered by Kansas State at the OU 38-yard line. The very next play, K-State’s Deuce Vaughn ran virtually untouched for a touchdown that tied the score. The Wildcats threatened to go for a two-point conversion, but a five-yard penalty forced a change of mind, and K-State settled for the game-tying field goal.
Following an Oklahoma punt and faced with a 4th and 4 at the OU 38-yard line, K-State kicker Blake Lynch nailed a 50-yard field goal with 4:32 to go in the game that turned out to be the game winner.
The Sooners managed just three yards of offense on two final possessions, the final one ending on an interception of an overthrown Rattler pass at the Sooner 42-yard line.
The pass coverage by the Oklahoma defensive backs in the second half when Kansas State began taking deep, downfield throws was deplorable. K-State receivers were running free and on at least two occasions were left totally uncovered. This has been a big problem at the back end of the OU defense for several years.
It’s also important to point out that while Kansas State was able to force four Oklahoma turnover, the Sooner defense unit came up empty in the takeaway department, something the defensive coordinator Alex Grinch has been emphasizing the past two seasons.
The Oklahoma offensive line, a veteran group with all four starters returning from last year and considered to be one of the best in college football, had difficulty pass protecting for Rattler, especially late in the game as the second-year Sooner quarterback was forced out of the pocket multiple times and suffered a couple of sacks.
This loss dealt a near fatal blow to Oklahoma’s College Football Playoff hopes, not to mention the quest for a sixth consecutive Big 12 championship. The one saving grace may be that it happened early in the season, but with just eight more games remaining in this abbreviated season, the margin of error is razor thin.
The loss was also bitter to take on another front. It was Kansas State’ first-ever road win over a team ranked No. 3 by the Associated Press.
The Sooners (1-1) will need to regroup quickly, because they begin the most difficult stretch of the 2020 schedule with a road game next week at Iowa State. OU does not play at home again the entire month of October with upcoming games at Iowa State, the Red River game with Texas, at TCU and at Texas Tech to close out October.