Oklahoma football: Four takeaways from Bedlam bashing
By Chip Rouse
All we heard all week was how good the Oklahoma State defense is and how it would slow down the high-scoring Oklahoma football offense.
Alabama’s Nick Saban is on to something. Great defense is no longer the sure-fire Kryptonite against great offense. Proof in point: Oklahoma’s 41-13 thrashing of Oklahoma State on Saturday night in the 115th edition of Bedlam.
Oklahoma’s resounding four-touchdown victory over No, 14 Oklahoma State gives us pause to reflect on four major takeaways from the game:
Spencer Rattler not rattled by O-State’s top-20 defense
The talk ahead of this game was how the Sooners’ redshirt-freshman QB Spencer Rattler would hold up against the defense believed to be the best in the Big 12 and one of the best in the country. The answer: No problem, whatsoever.
Rattler not only set the tone for the night with a nine-yard touchdown run just two and a half minutes into the game, but also got the best of the Cowboys’ highly touted secondary, completing 70.8 percent of his passes (17 of 24) for 301 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions. He finished the game with a 231.2 passing efficiency rating.
Rattler threw five interceptions in his first four games, but has thrown just one in his last four games.
Oklahoma’s defense was better than its much-hyped rivals’
The Oklahoma offense gained 491 yards, just slightly below its season average, but the Sooner defense was the difference in this game.
The OU defensive front seven put constant pressure on the Oklahoma State quarterback and held Chuba Hubbard, the Cowboys’ All-American running back, to just 44 yards on eight carries. Twenty-nine of Hubbard’s 44 total yards came on one run. In fact,
Oklahoma held OSU to just 78 total yards rushing, more than 100 yards below the Cowboys’ season average, and 246 yards of total offense, 165 below what they had averaged through the first six games.
The Sooner secondary also held its own against OSU’s big play-making wide receiver Tylan Wallace. Wallace had four catches for 68 yards, his fewest receiving yards in a game this season.
Rhamondre Stevenson outplays OSU’s All-American Hubbard
Rhamondre Stevenson did not have a touchdown (he totaled five in his last two games), but he did gain a career-high 141 yards on 26 carries and averaged 5.4 yards per carry. This was his second consecutive game with over 100 yards and just his third game this season after sitting out the first five as a result of a carryover suspension from late last season.
Oklahoma was averaging 148 rushing yards per game through the first five games. Since Stevenson has been back, the Sooners have averaged 201 yards rushing in their last three games. OU also has averaged 55.0 points per game since Stevenson’s return.
November is Oklahoma’s championship month
Once 0-2 in the the conference and left for dead in terms of making it to the Big 12 Championship for a sixth straight year, Oklahoma finds itself in second place in the league standings and in very good position to play for a conference crown for the 15th time in the 25-year Big 12 era.
Oklahoma has won five consecutive games and 23 consecutive in the month of November — with one more to play in November this season, next weekend at West Virginia. Lincoln Riley is 14-0 in November since becoming the OU head coach.
If the Sooners are able to win out, it is almost assured they will earn a spot in the Big 12 championship game.
There is a scenario, however, in which Oklahoma could win its final two regular-season games, finish with a 7-2 conference record and not make the Big 12 title game.
That would occur it the Sooners, Oklahoma State and Iowa State all finish with identical 7-2 records and Kansas State ends up at 6-3. The tiebreaker in that case would be each team’s head-to-head record against the fourth-place team (KSU). OU lost to K-State, while OSU and Iowa State each defeated the Wildcats. Oklahoma State and Iowa State would play for the conference championship.