Oklahoma Sooners Football

Oklahoma hadn't lost its Big 12 opener since 2012, but Kansas State overcame a 21-point second-half deficit to stun Lincoln Riley's team 38-35 last weekend. The Sooners tumbled from No. 3 nationally to 18th, the program's lowest Associated Poll ranking in four years.

Suddenly, the five-time reigning league champions have a razor-thin margin for error in the College Football Playoff chase. No two-loss team has ever landed a CFP spot.

However, this is familiar territory for Oklahoma. While reaching the CFP in each of the last three seasons, the Sooners dropped a game sometime in October each year.

"We know how to respond to a loss around here," Riley said, according to Curtis Fitzpatrick of Fox 25.

That experience is the result of a familiar issue. And quarterback Spencer Rattler might be the lone person to fix it.

Once again, the Sooners are toeing a delicate line of explosive offense and shoddy defense. They've regularly done enough to navigate the Big 12, but only a near-perfect offense can survive that to compete for a College Football Playoff spot.

Oklahoma didn't have it Saturday.

Rattler tossed three interceptions, and running back Seth McGowan lost a fumble late in the third quarter. Kansas State turned the takeaways into 14 points and a game-sealing play.

PICKED OFF! @KStateFB's 3rd INT of the game seals it for the Wildcats pic.twitter.com/P4aQ4M3oel

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 26, 2020

"He's a young guy in his second start," Riley told reporters of Rattler. "We're going to continue to build on it and he's going to continue to get better and get coached better as well."

Rattler needs to get better in a hurry, because it's the same old story for Oklahoma's defense.

In fairness, four turnovers will stress any defense—elite, decent, average, mediocre or bad. But the Sooners usually sit toward the back end of that scale, and it appears to be no different in 2020.

Determining who deserves exactly how much blame is less important than acknowledging it's on both coaches and players.

Kansas State ripped off gains of 20-plus yards—including two of 70 or more—on all six of its scoring drives. Oklahoma ranked 112th nationally in 20-plus plays allowed last season.

Second-year coordinator Alex Grinch criticized himself, pointing out the defense's failure to create turnovers. The Sooners have one in two 2020 games, and only four programs ended 2019 with fewer takeaways than Oklahoma's 11.

Alex Grinch is frustrated by #Sooners lack of takeaways not only two games into this season, but in his 16 games overall as DC. He's taking blame and will continue to look for answer.

'They win you ball games and lose you ball games and I’m not getting the job done."#Sooners

— Eric Bailey (@EricBaileyTW) September 26, 2020

"We stopped attacking," safety Pat Fields said following the loss to Kansas State, per Ryan Chapman of The Franchise OK. "The first half we were on attack mode, and then in the second half we were like, 'No, we're defending the lead.'"

That's all too ordinary in recent years.

It's understandable if you withdraw any "it's a new season" benefit of the doubt for OU's defense. Very little has changed. And as a result, the Sooners are desperate for the offense to follow a similar path, too.

Baker Mayfield won the Heisman Trophy and guided the nation's most efficient scoring attack in 2017. Kyler Murray did the same in 2018, and Jalen Hurts finished as the Heisman runner-up last year.

Rattler entered 2020 as a top Heisman contender and—at his best—looks the part. The redshirt freshman has a 75.9 completion rate at 11.7 yards per attempt with eight touchdowns. Oklahoma is averaging 7.6 yards per play in this limited sample.

Yes, a string of mistakes—three interceptions—will rightfully overshadow that potential. Rattler doesn't get a pass for it.

Still, Kansas State head coach Chris Klieman called him an "exceptionally good player," per Cliff Brunt of the Associated Press. Rattler's efficiency, Riley's history and Klieman's praise all suggest the freshman is likely to develop into a great college quarterback.

However, another shaky defense demands it happens both right now and under the pressure of saving the Sooners' hopes of a fourth straight College Football Playoff trip.

Everywhere other than Oklahoma, telling a quarterback to be near-perfect is unfair. But that, as it was for Mayfield, Murray and Hurts, is officially the bar for Rattler.

            

All recruiting information via 247Sports. Stats from NCAA.com, cfbstats.com or B/R research. Follow Bleacher Report CFB Writer David Kenyon on Twitter @Kenyon19_BR.

The unranked Kansas State Wildcats overcame a 21-point deficit to shock the No. 3 Oklahoma Sooners 38-35 at Memorial Stadium in Norman, Oklahoma, on Saturday.

After Oklahoma took a 35-14 lead with 2:46 remaining in the third quarter, Kansas State rattled off 24 unanswered points to pull ahead.

A 38-yard rushing touchdown by Deuce Vaughn and subsequent extra point tied the game at 35-35 with 8:17 left in the fourth quarter, and then Blake Lynch nailed a 50-yard field goal with 4:32 remaining to put the Wildcats on top 38-35.

DEUCE IS LOOSE PT. 23897246812308@C_Vaughn22 scores to tie it up for @KStateFB in Norman! pic.twitter.com/CA5GPJcD4s

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 26, 2020

😎 @KStateFB takes the lead! pic.twitter.com/TVwD7Ofi4B

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 26, 2020

Quarterback Skylar Thompson was the star of the game for KSU, as he threw for 334 yards and one touchdown and added three scores on the ground.

Oklahoma freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler put up big numbers as well with 387 yards and four touchdowns, but he also threw three interceptions, one of which led to a Kansas State touchdown and another effectively ended the game with 34 seconds left.

Although the Oklahoma defense held Kansas State to a manageable 400 yards and the Wildcats went just 2-of-11 on third downs, the fact that KSU had a 4-0 turnover advantage was the biggest difference.

The Wildcats also won the special teams battle, as a blocked punt set up Vaughn's tying touchdown:

K-STATE BLOCKS THE PUNT @KStateFB takes over in great field position down 7 against Oklahoma pic.twitter.com/Kw7x3Ogzxb

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) September 26, 2020

Saturday's result was shocking for several reasons, including the fact that Oklahoma and Kansas State performed like polar opposites last week.

In the Sooners' season-opening game against Missouri State, they won 48-0 on the strength of 290 yards, four touchdowns and no interceptions from Rattler.

Conversely, Kansas State surprisingly fell 35-31 to Arkansas State at home, as it surrendered five passing touchdowns in the defeat.

Both Kansas State and Oklahoma sit at 1-1, and the Sooners promise to experience a significant tumble in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

There is still plenty of football left, but Oklahoma's College Football Playoff hopes took a major hit Saturday.

The Sooners will attempt to bounce back next week when they face Iowa State on the road, while Kansas State will look to score another victory when it hosts Texas Tech.

Oklahoma football head coach Lincoln Riley called the NCAA's punishment on marijuana use "archaic" on Tuesday amid discussion on three Sooners reportedly testing positive for the drug last December prior to the College Football Playoff.

"It has been a challenging year for the NCAA. There's a lot on their plate right now," Riley said per Ryan Aber of the Oklahoman.

"But this is a big issue. It is. And it's a much bigger issue than these three players, and I think maybe that's part of why the process has been a little bit slower than all of us would like, but you're talking about an archaic rule within the NCAA. You're talking about a world that has really changed on the subject."

Running back Rhamondre Stevenson, defensive end Ronnie Perkins and wide receiver Trejan Bridges were reportedly suspended before the team's Dec. 29 loss to LSU in the Peach Bowl at the College Football Playoff semifinals, per Aber. OU lost that game, 63-28.

Aber wrote about the suspensions the players have faced as well as OU's hopes for reduced punishments.

"The rules in place mandate a suspension of half of a season for one positive test. That suspension would carry them through the first five games of the season, in addition to the bowl game they missed.

"While there is no mechanism to overturn the suspensions, there was hope the suspensions would be reduced slightly because two games were eliminated from this regular season."

As Aber also noted, marijuana was illegal federally and in all 50 states. Today, 11 states have decriminalized marijuana, and 33 have allowed for medical marijuana programs.

The NCAA defines marijuana as a banned substance. The organization produced a 21-slide PowerPoint presentation on marijuana directed toward student-athletes but available to the public on NCAA.com.

The slideshow largely cover the drug's mental and physical side effects (among other topics) before closing with notes on punishments for student-athletes who test positive.

"A student-athlete who tests positive for marijuana in an NCAA administered drug test will be declared ineligible for competition and withheld from the next 50 percent of contests in all sports in which the compete," the presentation reads.

The NCAA classifies marijuana as a banned substance within the "illicit drug class" and one where a medical exception waiver is unavailable.

A second positive test results in losing a full calendar year of eligibility.

The Sooners opened the 2020 season with a 48-0 win over Missouri State. They will now run through the Big 12 portion of their schedule with nine games against conference foes from Saturday (at home versus Kansa State) through Dec. 5 (home versus Baylor). The Big 12 Championship Game will occur on Dec. 12 or Dec. 19.

Based on the timeline Aber provided, the three Sooner players currently suspended would be eligible to return on Oct. 31 at Texas Tech.

Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley announced Tuesday he will no longer release COVID-19 info involving his team, via Caleb McCourry of OU Daily.

"Just like we would with an injury, we've made the decision to not broadcast that," Riley said. "We've been probably the most transparent school in the country up until then but you don't want to give your team a competitive disadvantage. So, we're not going to do that."

He joins the growing list of programs choosing not to release data, which now includes close to half of Power Five teams.

Riley had previously been forthcoming with information since the start of camp earlier in the summer.

After giving his players a week off following a changed schedule, he announced nine players tested positive for COVID-19 upon returning. 

"Disappointed about the news, obviously," the coach said at the time. "We've done such a tremendous job really this entire time. Certainly, you know when you give your players some time, there is risk in that."

On Aug. 24, the team released a statement saying there were 17 positive tests, with Riley later adding that it wiped out "all but one person at a position group," via Ryan Aber of the Oklahoman.

The Sooners haven't released any information since then, with Riley explaining that it would affect games to have players unavailable.

Oklahoma is scheduled to begin its season Saturday against Missouri State. The conference schedule will open Sept. 26 against Kansas State.

Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley announced Tuesday that Spencer Rattler will be the team's starting quarterback for the upcoming season.

Head coach @LincolnRiley announces @SpencerRattler will start the season at quarterback. #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/kzHwWaaF21

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) September 1, 2020

"Spencer has played very well and certainly very deserving of it," Riley said, via Dave Wilson of ESPN.

Redshirt sophomore Tanner Mordecai was also competing for the starting spot, but an injury suffered in training camp hurt his chances.

"He ended up missing about 70 to 75 percent of fall camp, which obviously severely limited his true opportunities to really go play his best ball and have a shot at it," Riley added. "But that's football."

Rattler enters the season as a redshirt freshman after appearing in just three games last year, finishing 7-of-11 for 81 yards and a touchdown. Much of his production came in a blowout win over FCS team South Dakota.

Despite the limited experience, the Arizona native came to Oklahoma with high expectations as the No. 1 pro-style quarterback and No. 11 overall player in the 2019 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings.

Spencer Rattler officially named as Oklahoma's starting QB this season 🔥https://t.co/Hne4jwd6JT

— Bleacher Report CFB (@BR_CFB) September 1, 2020

He set a state record in high school with 11,083 career passing yards to go with 116 touchdowns in four years.

Rattler will be the fourth different starting quarterback in four years for Riley as head coach of the Sooners, joining Baker Mayfield, Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts.

Mayfield and Murray each won the Heisman Trophy before becoming the first overall pick in the NFL draft. Hurts was second in the Heisman voting behind only LSU's Joe Burrow last year and was as second-round pick in April's draft.

The offense has ranked no worse than sixth in points per game in any of the last three years.

Rattler should produce big numbers once the season begins on Sept. 12 against Missouri State.

College football fans excited for the start of the season will have to fork out a lot of money to watch Missouri State vs. Oklahoma on Sept. 12. 

Per SoonerSports.com, the game will be available for $54.99 through SoonerSports.tv and the SoonerSports apps. 

On the one hand, a $54.99 price point is lower than a UFC pay-per-view ($64.99) or a major boxing match. 

On the other hand, Missouri State is an FCS school that is being paid $600,000 to essentially serve as a warm-up game for the Sooners this season. 

The Bears are the only non-conference game on Oklahoma's schedule. The Sooners will have the following week off before diving into Big 12 play against Kansas State. 

College sports fans are among the most passionate and devoted people in the world. There may not be a limit to what they will pay for content. Oklahoma definitely seems to be putting that theory to the test with the start of the 2020 season.

One position group for the Oklahoma Sooners football team was significantly impacted by the coronavirus. 

Per The Athletic's Jason Kersey, head coach Lincoln Riley said Tuesday an unnamed position group that needs "multiple" players to operate was down to one player because of the virus. 

Riley did tell reporters the team is "definitely under 10 active cases" after it got a group of eight or nine quarantined players back Tuesday. 

Earlier this month, ESPN's Sam Khan Jr. noted that Riley allowed Sooners players to go home for a break starting Aug. 8 "after it became evident" their originally scheduled season opener Aug. 29 wasn't going to take place.

Riley announced Aug. 15, after the team reconvened for practice, nine players were positive for COVID-19 in their latest round of testing. 

"We did conduct a COVID test as planned with our players last night, got the results this morning we had nine players tested positive for COVID," he said. "We had a couple of others that have been isolated due to contact tracing."

The Big 12 remains on track to go forward with fall football. The conference has adjusted its schedule to feature a total of 10 games, including one nonconference matchup to be played before Sept. 26. 

Oklahoma is scheduled to host Missouri State in its season opener Sept. 12 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.  

 

If the Big 12 plays college football amid the COVID-19 pandemic this season, Oklahoma will reportedly be without running back Kennedy Brooks.

On Sunday, Jason Kersey of The Athletic reported Brooks told head coach Lincoln Riley he plans to opt out of the 2020 campaign. It is another hit to the team's running back depth chart, as Trey Sermon transferred to Ohio State this offseason and Rhamondre Stevenson will miss the start of the season because of an NCAA suspension.

This news leaves Oklahoma with T.J. Pledger, redshirt freshman Marcus Major and true freshman Seth McGowan at running back. Pledger has just 40 carries in his collegiate career.

Eddie Radosevich of SoonerScoop.com shared Riley's Saturday comments about the running back room:

In light of the Kennedy Brooks news (reported by @jasonkersey) here was Lincoln Riley talking about the #Sooners RB room just yesterday. pic.twitter.com/80DOMh5Yha

— Eddie Radosevich (@Eddie_Rado) August 16, 2020

Kersey noted Brooks considered entering the 2020 NFL draft before he returned to school. He is coming off two impressive seasons in which he tallied 1,056 rushing yards and 12 touchdowns as a freshman in 2018 and 1,011 rushing yards and six touchdowns as a sophomore.

Brooks' reported decision is all the more notable because Nicole Auerbach of The Athletic reported Saturday that Riley said nine Oklahoma players tested positive for COVID-19 in the latest batch of tests.

Despite the risk of playing during a pandemic, the Big 12, SEC and ACC still plan on holding their football seasons in the fall. The Big Ten and Pac-12 postponed fall sports.

Oklahoma is slated to begin its season Sept. 12 against Missouri State.

Oklahoma Sooners head football coach Lincoln Riley announced Saturday that nine players have tested positive for COVID-19.   

Per The Athletic's Nicole Auerbach, Riley made the announcement after the team received test results Saturday morning. 

Per Eric Bailey of the Tulsa World, an undisclosed number of Sooners players were put in isolation due to contact tracing. 

"Disappointed by the news. We've done such a tremendous job this entire time. You know when [you] give players time, there is risk in that. ... This isn't the NBA. ... We don't have a bubble. We all have to continue to work to do a better job by all accounts. We're still confident in the plan that we have. We reference the [month-long] success that we've had," Riley told reporters, via Bailey. 

The Sooners' announcement comes as the Big 12 has said this week it intends to move forward with a fall football season. 

Big 12 commissioner Bob Bowlsby explained the conference's position while speaking to reporters Wednesday:

"For the most part I have better information and my presidents have better information than most of our friends in the fourth estate. Reasonable people can disagree on it. The Pac-12 and the Big Ten are seeing much of the same information that we're seeing. But our board believes in our scientists and has come to a conclusion that is different and so have the leadership of the SEC and the ACC."

As Bowlsby noted, the SEC and ACC are also planning to have their programs play football starting next month.

The Big Ten and Pac-12 are two Power Five conferences that announced this week they have postponed all fall sports. 

Oklahoma is currently scheduled to open the 2020 season at home against Missouri State on Sept. 12.

Former Oklahoma football player Rickey Dixon died Saturday at the age of 53, the school announced. He was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, in 2013.

Dixon starred for the Sooners from 1984-87, totaling 16 career interceptions, including eight in 1987 when he was named a consensus All-American and won the Jim Thorpe Award as the best defensive back in the country. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2019.

He also helped the 1985 Oklahoma team win a national championship after an 11-1 season.

Former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer praised his former player while announcing the news of his death:

I’m sorry to announce 3 o’clock this afternoon passing of Ricky Dixon! he died in his home in De Soto Texas with his family around him! He was inducted into college football Hall of Fame this past year! He was one of the greatest players ever played the Sooners! @OU_Football

— Barry Switzer (@Barry_Switzer) August 1, 2020

Dixon became the No. 5 overall pick in the 1988 draft to the Cincinnati Bengals, playing 15 games during his first season for a squad that reached the Super Bowl. He played five years with the team while tallying six interceptions.

The Texas native played one more season with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1993 before retiring from the NFL. He coached high school football and had a landscaping company following his playing career.

After being diagnosed with ALS in 2013, he was awarded $4.5 million as part of a class-action lawsuit against the NFL for hiding the effects of concussions, per Dave Wilson of ESPN.

All-American
Thorpe Award winner
National champion
Hall of Famer

Rest in peace, Rickey Dixon.https://t.co/WlU8BuvC7p | #OUDNA pic.twitter.com/1JTqow5elH

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) August 2, 2020

As Oklahoma athletics director Joe Castiglione noted, Dixon remained upbeat even after his diagnosis:

"As much as any of his accomplishments on the field, however, he should be remembered for his extreme courage and spirit of perseverance. Overcoming the daily physical struggles he faced the last several years is a testament to his determination, to his resolve and to his fighter's mentality, as well as to those closest to him who provided so much loving support."

Dixon was honored during an Oklahoma game in 2019 and was given a standing ovation.