Oklahoma has a tendency to blow big leads early in the season and that happened again Saturday against Tulane.
OU led 37-14 at the half but almost lost the game as Tulane was driving with two minutes to go to score what could have been a go-ahead touchdown. Tulane quarterback Michael Pratt was one yard short on a fourth dawn and OU escaped, 40-35, in Norman.
“I am really proud of the effort, obviously we didn’t come down here to play close,” Tulane coach Willie Fritz said.
“I thought we could have won the game. If we would have played better in the first half, we would have had a better opportunity to do it.”
Tulane opened a 14-7 lead in the first quarter but then OU scored 30 straight points before halftime. Tulane’s 35-point effort were the most points Tulane has posted against a Top 5 team in program history. Last year, OU blew leads against Kansas State and Iowa State for two losses that kept the Sooners out of the College Football Playoff.
“One of the positives is that we were fully capable of winning that game and we did a lot of things good,” Pratt said. “It’s really motivating for us going forward.”
Pratt, a freshman, shredded the OU defense, hitting 27 of 44 passes for 296 yard and three touchdowns with no interceptions.
“I think the big things for us are, we’re not gonna apologize for winning but at the same time we’ve got to own the good and the bad and there were certainly plenty of both,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley.
“There were some flashes of some really, really good ball um and then second half, I think clearly our team felt like the game was over. That’s my job to make sure our mentality was right. I don’t think it was.”
“A big part of it is mental,” Riley said. “It’s something that players and coaches fight all the time. It’s human nature. Anybody watching that game probably thought the game was over at half, including our players. That’s just not a good way to look at things. It’s human nature you have to fight. I think it starts in your mind, I think it is a mentality.”
One of the highlights for OU was kicker Gabe Brkic, who tied a record with three goals of more than 50 yard in one game. Brkic made a career-high 56-yard field goal, a 55-yard field goal and a 51-yard field goal and a 26-yard field goal. But he missed a 31-yard attempt in the fourth quarter that would have given OU a 43-28 lead.
“He saved us today,” OU linebacker Nik Bonitto said of Brkic. “I’m keeping it 100% with you. He made some timely field goals. He made some really long ones. I’m real happy for him. This is stuff that we see in practice all the time. It was nothing new to him and no surprise when he made those.”
Bonitto got his first career fumble recovery in the second quarter. He finished the game with two tackles, 0.5 sack and a QB hurry. Now he has 12 career sacks and is tied with Brian Bosworth for sixth most in program history by a linebacker.
Oklahoma did get three fumble recoveries on the day, all in the first half. That’s the same number of recoveries the Sooners had all of last season and one fewer than they had in 2019.
OU quarterback Spencer Rattler, who was the preseason favorite for the Heisman Trophy, uncharacteristically threw two interceptions – one on the second play of the game. Rattler passed for 304 yards and one touchdown while wideout Marvin Mims had five catches for 117 yards.
“We have to be cleaner, sharper, and have to be better,” said Rattler.
Rattler said Tulane played tough football.
“That was one of the hardest hitting teams, one of the most physical teams I’ve played,” Rattler said. “They came out there, and they played great, better than us, for sure. They wanted to win more than us. You could tell it. We have to be cleaner, sharper and have to be better.”
Mims said every team takes their best shot against Oklahoma.
“That’s just the way it is,” said Mims. “We’re Oklahoma. We’re gonna get every team’s best game. That’s what we got today. We got Tulane’s best game.
“You know, it’s hard to win in college football. That’s why there are so many upsets and all that stuff that happens every year. It’s hard to win a football game. I think it’s hard for people on the outside to see that. But at the same time, we won, so there’s obviously something to be happy about.”
Riley wasn’t happy with OU’s mistakes on defense.
“I would say defensively, they gave up a couple things we had to adjust to in the beginning,” Riley said. “I thought we did. I thought we had a few more busts than we typically have and that’s something we take pride on. We had some missed opportunities to make plays. Couple chances to pick it off and we didn’t make the play. Just wasn’t quite good enough at the end of the day. Tackling at times was a little bit of an issue.”
OU defensive coordinator Alex Grinch was happy his team responded by stopping the final Tulane drive.
“I was thrilled. I told them, ‘You got to go make a play that moment,’” Grinch said. “You better not be focusing on how you feel, or what you thought was going to happen there in the course of the ballgame. We said it several times on the sideline in the second half that you got to go win a game.
“You got to go win a game in that moment. That’s exactly what it was. I thought the energy that just relented as a front. I think, ‘Where was that midway through the third quarter?’ That’s the thing, from a coaching standpoint, to come back to those plays in the middle of the fourth when we’re not in that situation.
“Again, I’m not discounting what the guys did because your logo ain’t gonna win you a game at that point, you got to go make a play. They ended up being a yard short. As disappointed as I may feel right now, I felt a whole lot better when we made that play.”
Running back Kennedy Brooks finished with a game-high 87 rushing yards and a score on 14 carries (6.2 yards per rush average).
Will OU have another poor game against a lesser opponent?
“These seasons are long, and each moment is such a teachable moment,” Riley said.
“The thing for us right now is do we learn the lesson? Do we understand, let’s not be blind to the things that went well, and let’s continue to push those. Obviously pay strong attention to the things that didn’t go well, we’ve gotta address them at all levels.
“Clearly it exposed us, it exposed our mentality. Again, we want to be the team we think we can be, but we’ve got a lot of work. I think you’ll see us respond. I do. Let’s see what happens.”
Western Carolina travels to Norman for a 6 p.m. kickoff against the Sooners on pay-per-view TV. Eastern Kentucky beat WCU 31-28 Saturday.
Quarterback Rogan Wells, a fifth-year senior, had 275 yards passing and a touchdown and rushed for 67 yards. Running back T.J. Jones rushed for 115 yards and a score.
Four new Big 12 teams?
With the eventual departure of Oklahoma and Texas, the Big 12 Conference is getting ready to invite Brigham Young, Central Florida, Cincinnati and Houston from the American Athletic Conference to join the Big 12.
That would give the conference 12 total teams.