Oklahoma football: Five takeaways from a Sooner defensive gem to win title

Offense has won a lot of Oklahoma football conference championships, but this one was won by the defense.

Senior Tre Brown had two huge kickoff returns and an even bigger interception deep in OU territory inside the10-yard line late in the fourth quarter to preserve a 27-21 win over resilient Iowa State and a sixth consecutive Big 12 title.

With the win, Oklahoma avenged the 37-30 loss suffered earlier in the season to No. 6 Iowa State, the Big 12 regular-season champion, and is likely headed to the Cotton Bowl Classic and a New Year’s Six in the postseason at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, the same venue as the Big 12 Championship.

Oklahoma built up a 24-7 lead at the half, but was outscored 14-3 in the second half and had to hold off the Cyclones, who had driven to the OU 34-yard line, when Brown picked off the Brock Purdy pass to end Iowa State’s upset bid.

It was the seventh straight win for the Sooners since losing at Iowa State on Oct. 3 and earned Oklahoma its 14th  Big 12 championship since the 2000 season. The Sooners are now 11-1 in Big 12 championship games. The Big 12 discontinued its championship game between 2011 and 2016.

I’ve felt tremendous excitement after each one of them,” Lincoln Riley said in his post game comments, “but this one does feel different, maybe the most unlikely.”

The Sooners had uncharacteristically their first two conference games this season, which put Oklahoma’s chances of making the Big 12 Championship for a sixth straight season is serious jeopardy. This is what the OU head coach was referring to in remarking that this one was especially gratifying.

Here are four main takeaways from the culmination of Oklahoma’s 2020 championship journey:

Spencer Rattler was masterful and turnover free

Rattler completed 22 of 34 passes for 272 yards and a touchdown passing and rushing and, more importantly, took care of the ball with no turnovers. For his performance in directing the Sooner offense to its fourth straight Big 12 Championship in as many seasons behind four different QBs, Rattler was named the Most Outstanding Player in the championship game.

Rattler’s 45-yard touchdown pass to true-freshman wide receiver Marvin Mims eight seconds into the second quarter gave the Sooners a 14-0 advantage and set the tone for OU’s rematch victory.

The first-year starter has thrown for 200 or more yards in nine of the Sooners’ 10 games this season. Difficult to understand why he was just an “honorable mention” selection on the 2020 All-Big 12 team announced this week.

Sooner defense rides three takeaways to win the rematch with No. 6 Cyclones

The Oklahoma defense intercepted three Brock Purdy passes — one by Tre Norwood in the end zone in the second quarter and another by Tre Brown on the OU 10-yard line with just over a minute remaining in the game and Iowa State a touchdown away from winning the championship — that may have been the biggest factor contributing to the Sooner victory.

It was the first time this season Oklahoma has had as many as three interceptions in a game.

In addition, the Big 12’s second-best defense posted three sacks, five tackles for loss and six quarterback hurries.

Big 12 rushing leader Breece Hall held below season average

Hall came into the game having recorded more than 100 rushing yards in eight games, including 135 net yards in the first game with Oklahoma this season. The Big 12 rushing leader was held to a season-low 79 yards, an average of 3.4 yards per carry. Hall was the only Big 12 running back to gain 100 or more yards against the Sooners this season.

The Iowa State sophomore running back entered the Big 12 Championship averaging close to 6.0 yards per carry.

Despite being held in check in this game, Hall did score two of Iowa State’s three touchdowns on short touchdown runs.

Lincoln Riley becomes OU’s winningest coach through four seasons

The victory was the 44th in Lincoln Riley’s four seasons as the Oklahoma head coach. His 44 wins are one more than Bob Stoops and makes Riley the winningest coach in OU’s illustrious history in the first four seasons. Riley is 44-8 (.846), with one more game to go in 2020. Stoops was 43-9 in his first four seasons at Oklahoma.

The Sooners have won the Big 12 Championship every season he has been in Norman, four as head coach and two more as offensive coordinator.

Cyclones’ coach Matt Campbell beyond irate over two controversial calls

On the second play of the game, one of Iowa State’s key defensive players, DB Isheem Young, was called for targeting on a completed pass to OU’s Drake Stoops and was ejected from the game. After that call, Campbell went absolutely berserk on the sidelines.

In the second half, Iowa State didn’t get an offsides call on fourth down in OU territory when two Sooners clearly appeared to jump into the neutral zone. This time, Campbell became so irate that ISU players had to restrain him from getting into the face of the officials and evoking a 15-yard penalty.