Oklahoma football: Notable numbers from another K-State stunner
By Chip Rouse
The last time an Oklahoma football team lost its opening Big 12 game was eight years ago.
The opponent in that game in 2012 was — guess who? — Kansas State, and the No. 6 Sooners lost 24-19 at home to a 15th-ranked K-State team led by quarterback Collin Klein and an All-American wide receiver named Tyler Lockett.
The Sooners managed to run the table in their remaining eight Big 12 games that season and ended up sharing the conference title with 8-1 Kansas State. That doesn’t mean the same thing will happen this season, but with a conference loss already on the record, the margin of error for the five-time defending league champs just to make it into the Big 12 championship game is now razor thin.
Saturday’s sobering loss to a K-State team picked to finish seventh in the Big 12 Football Media Preseason Poll was the second loss to the Wildcats in as many seasons and the third in the last five games played in Norman.
Oklahoma held the advantage in virtually every statistical category on Saturday except the one that mattered the most: the final score, stunning the Sooners by scoring the final 24 points in the game on the way to a 38-35 win.
Here are some other notable numbers that help tell the story of the game:
.897 — Spencer Rattler’s completion percentage (26 of 29) after three quarters on Saturday. He completed just 4 of 12 passes in the fourth quarter.
0 — The Oklahoma defense went the first 84:50 of the season before allowing a score. Kansas State scored a touchdown at the 5:10 mark of the second quarter, representing the first points scored against the Sooners this season. OU won it season opener 48-0 over Missouri State.
1 — Saturday’s win was the first-ever by a Kansas State team on the road against the No. 3 team in the Associated Press Top 25.
3 — True freshman receiver Marvin Mims has three touchdown passes in his first two collegiate games (he caught two in the K-State game). The previous Sooner receiver to catch three TD passes in his first two games was Ryan Broyles in 2008.
3 — Sophomore wide receiver Drake Stoops, son of former OU head coach Bob Stoops, caught three passes for a career-high 93 yards, including a 32-yard touchdown catch, his first as a Sooner.
4 — Kansas State senior quarterback Skylar Thompson had four rushing touchdowns against the Sooners a year ago in Manhattan. On Saturday in Norman, he accounted for four more (3 rushing and 1 passing).
5 — Kansas State scored (31 points) in its final five possessions in the game
7 — Before the K-State game, Oklahoma had not had a punt blocked in seven years.
17 — Oklahoma’s 17-game home winning streak was snapped on Saturday. Entering the game on Saturday, the Sooners owned a home record of 19-1 under Lincoln Riley.
53 — Entering the Kansas State game, Oklahoma had won 53 consecutive games in which the Sooners held the lead after three quarters. OU led the Wildcats 35-21 heading into the fourth quarter on Saturday.
54 — Oklahoma has scored at least 28 points in 54 consecutive game, the longest such active streak among FBS teams.
174 — K-State freshman running back Deuce Vaughn accounted for 174 yards of total offense (45 rushing and 129 receiving) against the Sooners on Saturday.