Did the Red River Showdown provide a moment of rebirth for Spencer Rattler?
When Tanner Mordecai trotted out in place of Spencer Rattler late in the first half of the Red River Showdown, it looked for half a second like Oklahoma might have a quarterback controversy on its hands.
After all, it was just the Sooners' fourth game of the season. Rattler had already committed two turnovers on the day, and six on the year. Oklahoma had scuffled to a 1-2 record and appeared devoid of emotional leadership.
Lo and behold, the Spencer Rattler at the helm of the Sooners' offense today is a far cry from the Spencer Rattler that briefly ceded his job to Mordecai on that fateful afternoon in Dallas. Since returning to the field for OU's first drive of the second half that day, the redshirt freshman has dished six touchdown passes, rushed for one more, and committed zero turnovers.
Did the Cotton Bowl locker room at halftime serve as Rattler's proverbial Jordan River?
It may be a little early to make that judgment, but his growth since that four-overtime classic against the Longhorns is certainly conspicuous.
"He's made a lot of improvements in his game," said Creed Humphrey. "You can tell his confidence level is really good right now. He's playing well, playing smart. That's the biggest thing, he's playing really smart right now, which is really good. It's very impressive for how young he is, too, so it's been really good for us. He's been impressive."
Over the past two contests, Rattler has accrued 720 total passing yards and four touchdowns on a 65% completion rate. He's taken just one sack. And the Sooners have outscored TCU and Texas Tech by a combined tally of 95-42.
With four games (and a stroke of luck) standing between Oklahoma and a shot at a sixth straight Big 12 championship, Lincoln Riley's offensive acumen promises to be on full display. He's shown a recent propensity to open up the playbook for his young quarterback in order to take shots down the field, and he's confident in Rattler's ability to keep pace with a creative play script.
"Every week is new," said Riley. "Defenses are new, opponents are new. Matchups are new. Gameplan. There's always gonna be some evolving things there. Getting better, but you don't ever get there. It's not like a destination. You learn from the experiences you have, you try to apply them as much as you can to the new experiences that come up and the more you can do that successfully, the better you'll get."
Recall that Rattler entered the season with sky-high expectations; as the successor to the Mayfield-Murray-Hurts lineage, he carried Heisman buzz aplenty. His early-season stumbles effectively killed that buzz, and Oklahoma's College Football Playoff hopes were similarly dead in the water by early October. Yet after their two-game skid to open Big 12 play, OU is starting to streak, and Rattler certainly appears to have come into his own. But amidst all the unpredictability of 2020, the Sooners know better than to take anything for granted.
"It’s such a week-to-week deal with all these guys, with our whole team," Riley continued. "You certainly can take from past experiences, but we’re only as good as we are this week and he’s certainly no different there."
Rattler likely won't have to be anything close to flawless this Saturday, as the Sooners will host a winless Kansas team at Owen Field. It stands to reason that he'll play scarcely more than a half in what's expected to be a blowout victory. Nevertheless, it's another opportunity for the unflappable signal-caller to build upon his recent success as the Sooners hit the home stretch of the regular season.
"The game is getting slower and slower for me all the time," said Rattler. "I feel super comfortable now, just with everything. I've got a lot of work to do, of course, but I feel really comfortable right now and still trying to get better and improve every week. That's my goal."
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