Oklahoma football: Four takeaways from a glorious Gator gashing

What a difference a year makes in the constantly evolving life cycle that is Oklahoma football.

A year ago, without a number of key players available in its College Football Playoff national semifinal matchup with top-ranked LSU, the Sooners were hammered and humbled in a 35-point loss to the eventual national champions.

Fast forward 12 months to Wednesday night in the 2020 Cotton Bowl Classic. Oklahoma returned the favor to a roster-depleted Florida team that apparently decided to pack it in for the season after losing to No. 1 Alabama in the SEC Championship.

Following the Sooners’ 55-20 pounding of the No. 7-ranked Gators, Florida head coach Dan Mullen said his team had enough players out that they could have elected not to play the game, but his young players wanted to play the game, he said, and “they wanted to get that experience and wanted to be on the big stage.”

Well, those young Florida players, along with 2020 Heisman Trophy finalist Kyle Trask, the top quarterback in college football this season in passing yards and touchdown passes, got their bi-stage opportunity, and Oklahoma had little sympathy for their plight.

The Sooners opened the scoring right out of the gate, as they have all season long, taking the opening kickoff and rumbling 79 yards in five plays in just over two minutes with Spencer Rattler connecting with freshman Marvin Mims on a 27-yard scoring strike.

On Florida’s second play of the game, OU’s Tre Norwood picked off a pass from Trask and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown. Just like that, just two and a half minutes into the game, Oklahoma was up 14-0 and the rout was on.

The Florida offense eventually found some rhythm, and the Gators closed to within 17-13 with six minutes remaining until halftime. But the Sooners responded with back-to-back touchdown drives of 60 yards to widen their lead to 31-13 at the break, and Florida would get no closer.

Trask, who clearly was without his primary receiving weapons, struggled from the very start. The senior quarterback had thrown just five interceptions all season, but was picked off on each of Florida’s first three possessions, setting the tone for the night.

Trask opened the second half as the Gator quarterback, but did not re-enter the game after that, finishing the night with 16 of 28 passing for 158 yards and no touchdowns and his lowest completion percentage of the season (57.1).

Sophomore Emory Jones, who also saw action in the opening half, took over at quarterback for the remainder of the game.

Florida did have some starters in the game, but not at several skill positions, going with a number of second and third-team players for much of the game. Because of the lopsided nature of the game, Oklahoma was also able to go deep in its roster and get some experience for players who saw little or no action throughout the season. The Sooners used 69 players in the game.

Oklahoma finishes the season with eight consecutive wins and an 9-2 record. In addition, it was Lincoln Riley’s first bowl win as head coach after three consecutive losses in the College Playoff. The Sooners are now 2-1 all-time in the Cotton Bowl Classic.

Four primary takeaways from Oklahoma’s Cotton Bowl win

Kyle Trask was not Trask-like

When was the last time you saw a Heisman finalist removed from the game in the opening half and on the sidelines all but one offensive possession in the second half? The answer is nearly never, yet that was what happened with Florida All-American quarterback Kyle Trask in the Cotton Bowl game against Oklahoma.

The player who led the nation in passing touchdowns (43) this season and passing yards per game (375.0) and was fifth nationally in  passing efficiency, was a no-show on Wednesday night against the Sooners. Trask was intercepted three times  in his first 11 passes by three different Oklahoma defenders.

Trask completed 16 of 28 passes for a season-low 158 yards and a season-worst 57.1 completion percentage. Trask was the one Florida player who needed to stay on the field if the Gators were going to have any chance of competing, let alone beating, Oklahoma.

Words best left unsaid

Early last week, Florida linebacker provided all the motivation Oklahoma needed to come out and play at their best against the then-favored Gators. His ill-advised comment, which immediately went viral, referred to the Cotton Bowl game with Oklahoma as “a good matchup” but “not on our level.”

“It definitely fueled our fire a little bit,” said OU freshman receiver Marvin Mims told reporters after the Wednesday night Oklahoma win.

“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t see what our opponent said,” Spencer Rattler said.

After the game, Rattler tweeted: “It was a good matchup.”

Sooners run away from Florida, setting a season high

In the regular season, Florida had been pretty solid in rushing defense. That wasn’t the case against the Sooners. Senior running back Rhamondre Stevenson rushed for a career-high 186 yards and teammate Marcus Major added 110 of his own as Oklahoma gained a season-high 435 yards on the ground. That total doubled the Sooners’ previous single-game high.

Four different OU players rushed for 40 or more yards in the game.

Oklahoma finished the game with 684 yards of total offense, also a season high, and averaged 10.5 yards per play.

In case you didn’t notice, this was a statement game for the Sooners

Florida downplayed the loss to Oklahoma, by maintaining that the Gators’ last game of 2020 actually was 11 days ago in the SEC championship game with Alabama and that this was not a fair representation of the team that up to three weeks ago was a strong national title contender. But you’re not going to find anyone in the Sooner Nation claiming that this win was any less satisfying.

When you start the season with back-to-back conference losses, the opportunity to play in games like this at this time of the year doesn’t come around that often.

“We decided we’re going to be a team on a mission,” Lincoln Riley told reporters after the game. “We said we were going to finish no matter what happened, that we wanted to make a statement with the way that we played.”

I’m happy to report, mission accomplished.

“We feel like we can go in there to- to-toe physically with anybody, anytime, anywhere,” Riley said. “And, certainly, to do it here on a big stage against a quality opponent is always a great step.

“I think it says a lot about the direction of where this is headed,” he added.

That’s dance music to the ears of all Sooner fans.