No. 5 Oklahoma heads to Ames, Iowa, Saturday to avenge their only Big 12 loss from a year without their best running back.
Rodney Anderson, an All American candidate for the Sooners, injured his knee in Saturday’s 49-21 win over UCLA and is lost for the season. Trey Sermon, who started some games last season as a freshman, will probably start and be backed up by several talented but less experienced runners.
Last year, ISU came into Norman and upset Oklahoma, 38-31, despite a solid effort by former OU quarterback Baker Mayfield. Mayfield hit 24 of 33 passes for two touchdowns plus he ran for 57 yards but it wasn’t enough. ISU dropped eight defenders into coverage consistently and it paid off in a win.
Last Saturday, ISU starting quarterback Kyle Kempt left the game with a sprained knee. It wasn’t a season ending injury but he may not play Saturday against OU. Kempt was replaced by backup Zeb Noland against Iowa and he is the likely starter against OU. If Noland were injured, the backup would be one of three freshmen.
The good news for Oklahoma is that they dominated a young but talented UCLA Bruin team and OU quarterback Kyler Murray had an outstanding game. Murray was named Walter Camp Offensive Player of the Week and Big 12 Player of the Week after hitting 19 of 33 passes for 306 yards and three scores (plus his first interception of the season). And with Anderson out, Murray led the Sooners in rushing with 69 yards and two more touchdowns.
“I thought we moved the ball a lot,” Murray said. “Penalties, honestly, just those bumps in the road that stall the drive. Kind of frustrating. We knew there was going to be some adversity in this game, and I think it was good for us to see it. Especially with last week being near perfect, so this week was definitely an actual game where we had to fight back. We had penalties, and you have to overcome penalties. It was good for us.”
The Bruins were impressed with Murray.
“He is a guy who is blessed,” said Bruin cornerback Darnary Homes. “He can do what he wants. He can sling it right, he can run it because he is a guy with a blessed arm and he can do pretty much anything.”
“This is a great experience for our players and our coaching staff, to play at an Oklahoma,” said UCLA coach Chip Kelly in his first year with the Bruins.
He was really impressed with Murray, who has signed a contract to play baseball with the Oakland A’s..
“The only guy I’m disappointed in is (Oakland A’s general manager) Billy Beane,” Kelly said with a smile. “I wish he gave the kid (Kyler Murray) more money and give him a little bigger prize so maybe No. 1 wouldn’t be out there, because he’s a real talented player. You think there’s going to be a big drop off when you go from a Heisman Trophy winner, but that kid’s pretty special. He was very difficult for us to tackle, but it was a great experience for our players. The Oklahoma fans were great; it’s a great environment here and we love playing in games like this.”
Wide receiver Ceedee Lamb had a breakout game with seven catches for 146 yards and a spectacular touchdown catch. Lamb returned a third-quarter punt a career-long 66 yards.
“We didn’t start CeeDee, not really because of anything negative he did – we just thought A.D. Miller practiced better,” Riley said. “CeeDee and A.D. both want it and they both play tremendous.
“I thought they both made competitive catches, they both blocked well, obviously, CeeDee had the punt return. We thought he maybe danced a little bit too much on the ones the previous week. Give the kid credit – he took that coaching point and he trusted it and he hit the punt return and it was a thing of beauty, so I was proud of the way he responded. I think he played much better – he’s the type of playmaker we need him to be.”
“Me and Kyler were on another level,” Lamb said. “The whole offense. I gotta thank the five blocking up front, they gave us the protection to give me the ball.”
Tulsan Tre Brown had an 86-yard kickoff return and almost scored in the first quarter after UCLA took an early 7-0 lead. Wide receiver A.D. Miller caught a touchdown pass for the second week in a row.
“It gave us a much-needed jolt,” Riley said of that runback. “There’s just something - of course, we all get excited when on offense we make a play or defense when we make a play, but when you get a special teams play, that’s your offensive guys and some defensive guys, it’s kind of a collaborative effort. It’s just something different when you block a punt or you have a big return. To me, it does something to football that – one side of the ball, it’s kind of hard to do by themselves. It was a big momentum boost.”
OU’s much-improved defense dominated UCLA as the first team only surrendered one touchdown and had 12 tackles for loss with six sacks.
“Our D-Line continues to play well. I thought our pressures were good,” said OU defensive coordinator Mike Stoops. “(We) gave up one bad third down play, but after that I thought our first group played really well through three quarters. Our front played well. I thought Curtis (Bolton), Mark Jackson showed up more, and Kenneth Murray played better. Neville Gallimorelooked like he played better. A lot of positive signs.”
Iowa State lost to Iowa 3-13 in Iowa City last Saturday and their game with South Dakota State was interrupted by weather and subsequently cancelled. ISU led 7-0 in the first quarter but a two-and-a-half lightning delay resulted in the cancellation.
The OU-ISU game kicks off at 11 a.m. on will be televised on ABC TV.