Game Book: Kansas State 38, Oklahoma 35

NORMAN — A notebook-style breakdown of Oklahoma’s 38-35 loss to Kansas State:

A mountain of mistakes

Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley had a hard time choosing when asked what was the single most disappointing element of the Sooners’ remarkable 38-35 meltdown on Saturday against Kansas State.

He had a lot of options.

“It’s tough to pick, sadly,” Riley said. “All three sides shared in it.”

It could start with the offensive line, which managed just 3.7 yards per carry in the running game but then also yielded three quarterback sacks and, in the second half especially, constant pressure on quarterback Spencer Rattler.

Elijah Sullivan runs with his interception

Pool photo / Kevin Jairaj

It could be the defensive line, which got pushed around in short-yardage situation over and over again — against a K-State offensive line that was completely overhauled this season.

It could be the punt team that gave up a block to set up a touchdown.

It could be Rattler’s three interceptions, including one that Riley called “reckless” — part of a four-turnover day for the OU offense.

Or it could be the Sooner defense giving up 77- and 78-yard pass plays on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter.

“Whatever momentum was given away at that point,” said defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, “was certainly gift-wrapped by our defense.”

Said Riley, “The story of the game is what it is. You got a team that dominated plays, yards, time of possession, third downs, all of that. It comes down to turnovers and it comes down to some busted assignments.”

Game Wildcats

For the second year in a row, Kansas State stunned the Sooners. Last year it was a Sooner comeback that fell short on a controversial onside kick. This year it was a total Sooner meltdown in the face of a poised K-State rally.

Chris Klieman, darling of the FCS, is now 2-0 against Riley.

The Wildcats scored their first victory over a Top-3 team since the infamous 35-7 beatdown of Bob Stoops’ Sooners in the 2003 Big 12 Championship Game. It was their first road win over a Top 3 team in program history.

Skylar Thompson

Pool photo / David Stacy

“Give Chris and Kansas State a lot of credit,” Riley said. “When we made errors, they made us pay. They got some momentum and we just could not get that back in front of us. I give them a bunch of credit.”

Last year’s loss was thought to cost OU a shot at returning to the College Football Playoff, but it didn’t. This year — well, with COVID hanging over the entire season, all bets are off. But it’s clearly too soon to argue the Sooners are out of any playoff hunt.

“We’re very disappointed (but) our resolve is very strong,” Riley said. “We know how to respond to a loss around here. We have to go do it. It’s going to take every single one of us. Coaches and players.”

Any team that plays like OU did over the final 21 minutes has no claim to any kind of playoff berth. From Skylar Thompson’s swing pass to Deuce Vaughn out of the backfield that went 77 yards with 6 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter until the final gun, K-State outgained the Sooners 293-143. OU managed just six first downs over that span.

The turnabout was remarkable. OU’s edge in total yards was a ridiculous 171-12 after the first quarter and 288-98 at halftime.

“That’s frustrating,” Riley said. “To play as well as we were, really, on all three sides. The first half was dominant. I was thinking ‘I don’t know how this game is even this close right now.’ We gave them momentum. And in the second half, we just played very poor football.”

Takeaways versus giveaways

Grinch will continue to harp on turnovers. He has ever since he arrived last year. But the Oklahoma defense hasn’t obliged him, gaining only 11 last year (114th in the nation) and owning only one so far this year.

“It’s a great question,” Riley said. “We’ve made progress in a lot of areas. But to not get a turnover here today is huge. Again, it shows you why it’s so important. Again, that was the single biggest difference in what allowed K-State to get back in this game.”

Brian Asamoah 

Pool photo / Josh Gateley

“I wish I had the answer,” Grinch said. “Obviously if I did, they’d get done. At this point, we’ve been together for over a year. There’s no one else to blame but me for that. I’m missing on it. I’m missing on it somehow, and so I got to go back to the drawing board and say, ‘Why are we not able to do it? Why do we continue to look at plays being made?’ A fourth quarter game feels awfully, awfully long to us.”

Cyclone warning

Oklahoma’s next opponent is Iowa State, which lost two weeks ago to Louisiana but this week defeated TCU 37-34. OU is 0-1 in Big 12 Conference play, while the Cyclones are 1-0.

That’s germane because there were numerous callbacks Saturday to the Sooners’ last home loss:

• OU was ranked No. 3 when it lost 38-31 to an unranked Iowa State club. OU came into Saturday ranked No. 3.
• The Sooners had a nation-leading 14-game winning streak going in 2017 and an 18-game home winning streak. They had a 17-game home winning streak snapped this time.
• Iowa State fell behind to Oklahoma 24-10, then outscored the Sooners 28-7 the rest of the way. OU led K-State 35-21, then got outscored 24-0 over the final 16 1/2 minutes.

That Iowa State game began something of a trend for Oklahoma, too, and a bad one: the Sooners have a hard time holding a lead. Just last year, OU struggled to put away Iowa State (42-41) in Norman, TCU (28-24) in Norman, and Texas (34-27) in Dallas.

K-State's defense with another takeaway

Pool photo / Kevin Jairaj

“I think it’s obvious,” Grinch said. “It’s glaring. You emphasize it, you talk about it, you make the guys aware of it. You try to create those situations, obviously, in practice. You don’t hope for better results in the future and say, ‘Well, we just didn’t get it done.’ It’s something we gotta continue to evaluate and gotta do a better job of. Why does 60 minutes feel so long to us? Why do we perform at a certain level for stretches?

“Elite teams and good defense, which clearly we’re not, are able to have a resolve, don’t let one play beat you, don’t let one play turn into two, and have an energy regardless of what’s going on, can create their own emotion, create their own energy, and again, it all comes back down to coaching. It’s something that you can’t ignore. It’s a results business. The facts are the fact. The results indicate that we as a coaching staff are incapable of getting our guys to do it. So we’ve got to do a better job.”

Grinch was asked if he could take away any positives. The Sooners were so dominant early, numerous players stood out on every play, it seemed. But Grinch was having none of it.

“Yeah, I wish it was at this moment in time,” he said. “To find a lot of positives would really be reaching. … Obviously, our message is not getting across, so we’ve gotta do a better job as a coaching staff. But tough to find positives right now — and I certainly think there are probably some guys who had individual good performances and you can find stretches of time — but it's a results business and we failed.”

Run game issues continue

Riley said the Sooners “did some good things” in the ground game, but it is becoming more and more evident that the exodus of big-time running talent — Trey Sermon’s transfer to Ohio State, Rhamondre Stevenson’s ongoing NCAA suspension, and Kennedy Brooks’ decision to opt out — has laid bare the OU running backs room.

He also readily gave Kansas State credit for tackling. Whether it’s obvious or not, that’s a clear indicator that OU runners are not being difference makers.

“Gonna have to go look at it,” Riley said.

Oklahoma's running game goes nowhere

Pool photo / Kyle Phillips

It’s also got to be concerning that an offensive line that returned five starters from last year hasn’t been better. Missouri State is a dreadful FCS football team, and Kansas State gave up 159 yards at 4.8 yards per carry to Arkansas State two weeks ago.

OU went with Erik Swenson at left tackle — that’s where he started most of last year — and Adrian Ealy at his more natural position of right tackle. But three series into the game, true freshman Anton Harrison had replaced Swenson on the left side and performed admirably. Center Creed Humphrey missed 1 1/2 series with “some cramping issues,” Riley said, and former walk-on Ian McIver came and held things down (although McIver was on the field when Riley tried a fourth-down quarterback sneak with Spencer Rattler that was stuffed for no gain).

Looking ahead, Iowa State and Texas might have the best defensive lines in the Big 12. How can Oklahoma fix those issues in just six days before heading to Ames?

“It’s just going to depend on how guys play and how guys continue to practice,” Riley said. “ … We planned to play both (Andrew) Raym and Harrison a little bit. I think those guys are going to be good players. But, we’re still searching for that top lineup that makes us as good as we can be.”

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