Considering how well the Oklahoma football machine is firing right now, it hurts to imagine what could have been.
It is unfortunate that the Sooners did not have either defensive end Ronnie Perkins or running back Rhamondre Stevenson available for the Kansas State and Iowa State games, back-to-back contests that Oklahoma lost late earlier this season by a combined 10 points.
In those two games alone, the Sooners were outscored over the final 15 minutes by the combined score of 31-10.
Whether having Perkins and Stevenson available for those two games would have made a difference will never be known, but it’s abundantly clear that they are making a big difference now. In the last three games, Oklahoma has outscored its opponents 165 to 50, or by an average margin of 55-17.
Through eight games this season, the Sooners have outscored their opponents by the whopping margin of 124-17 in the opening quarter and 58-24 in the third. Even if you discount the 31 points they scored in the first quarter against Missouri State in the season opener, the 93-17 first-quarter scoring margin Oklahoma has over its seven Big 12 opponents is still impressive.
Asked last week in his weekly press conference how he would explain the Sooners’ fast starts at the beginning of each half, head coach Lincoln Riley thought about it a moment and then responded:
"“I actually think it’s just really good pregame and halftime speeches.”"
He was joking, of course, but later on in the press conference he offered a more serious observation:
"‘It’s gone well,” he said. “Being able to get out and start halves quickly is a big part of playing great football and certainly helped us, especially with this latest streak.”"
During Oklahoma’s current five-game winning streak, the Sooners are outscoring opponents 41-0 and have allowed just 148 yards of total offense, or 3.2 yards per play.
If the Sooners are able to remedy their fourth-quarter problem — and in the last three games it appears they may have done so — I don’t know who is going to be able to outscore them the rest of the way.