Wildcats upset Sooners but controversy on the onside kick overshadows win
All good things must come to an end. The 22 consecutive game road winning streak for the Sooners is over. OU ranked fifth in the country, came into the game with an unblemished 7-0 record. The Wildcats entered the matchup 4-2. Throw the records out as this game looked like KSU was the undefeated team.
Running wild on the Sooner defense is what K-State did today. The Wildcats rushed for 217 yards on 44 attempts. Skylar Thompson, the KSU QB, rushed for only 39 yards, but scored 4 different times on the ground.
Coming into the game, coach Klieman was seeking his first signature victory as the new head coach after taking over for Bill Snyder-- he got it. Kansas State wins 48-41 in the game of the year so far in the Big 12.
The game began with the Sooners getting on the board with a FG, followed by a touchdown. After the 10-0 lead, everything changed. The Sooner defense allowed Thompson and company to score on eight straight possessions. Coming into the game, both defenses were ranked in the top 40 and have shown signs of improvement, from a year ago.
KSU attacked the soft coverage of OU and was able to run through any gap they wanted. The same cannot be said for the running game of the Sooners. Brooks and Sermon combined for 6 carries and 11 yards, while Hurts ran 19 times for 96 yards and 3 TD’s,
What went wrong for the 23.5 point favorite in the game? The trickeration worked early on as Hurts connected with Rambo for a huge gain. Later on, not so much. Just before the half, Lincoln called a WR pass, which was tipped and intercepted, giving the Wildcats the ball inside the red-zone just before the half. Thompson would capitalize with the 19-yard td run to extend the lead to 24-20.
Brkic would tack on three points with a career long 50-yard FG to make the game 24-23 at the half.
The second half was much the same. K-State had their way with the Sooner defense. The lead stretched to as many as 25 points when the Wildcats scored from two-yards out early in the fourth quarter as OU trailed, 48-23.
Then the comeback began. Jalen Hurts led a ferocious charge as he and the OU offense scored three straight times. The lead shrunk to just seven as KSU led 48-41.
The onside kick was next as the Sooners were out of timeouts.
Brkic lined up and kicked the ball to the right side of the field. The ball bounced and seemingly hit at just the right angle and shot up the field. Brayden Willis recovered it and the OU offense appeared to be headed back on the field for a chance to tie it up.
No so fast my friends-- famous words by Lee Corso.
The play was reviewed and it was determined that it was touched 9 ½ yards after the kickoff. The first time the ball can be touched by the kicking team is after 10 yards. The replayed showed Trejan Bridges was blocked and then the ball hit his knee. After the review, the ball was subsequently given to the Wildcats, in which they ran out the clock to upset the Sooners.
Will this week be full of controversy? Below is the rule showing that the defender can’t block a member of the kicking team into the ball, or it would be deemed he didn't touch it.
OU will surely fall to around 10th in the rankings and Jalen Hurts has taken a hit in the Heisman running. However, it’s a BYE week for the Sooners. The next game is on 11/9 as the Cyclones of Iowa State come to Norman.
-BY AUSTIN WOOD
