Faced with an odd set of circumstances, the Oklahoma football team finished the pandemic-plagued 2020 season on a high note with a 53-20 win over Florida in the Cotton Bowl.

The Sooners had to overcome the suspension of some key players, two early losses in the Big 12, the cancellation of the West Virginia game, the loss of some enormously talented players to the NFL and the introduction of a new freshman quarterback.

OU missed the College Football Playoff because of an early three-point loss to Kansas State. Otherwise, they beat everyone on their schedule and won the Big 12 Championship in a rematch with Iowa State.

When the final polls are taken, OU will be in the Top 10 and possibly as high as No. 5.

The Sooner defense throttled Florida quarterback Kyle Thrask, a Heisman finalist who threw three interceptions in the first quarter and then sat for most of the second half.

“We capitalized on a couple of mistakes they made,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley, who won his first bowl game as head coach. “We were able a couple of times to confuse the quarterback and coverage. And he let go a couple of throws that weren’t quite as decisive as what we’re used to seeing him make. And our guys did a tremendous job with it.”

OU redshirt freshman quarterback Spencer Rattler hit 14 of 23 passes for 243 yards and three touchdowns and had two other long potential touchdown passes dropped.

“We had a great game plan,” said Rattler. “Didn’t have anything fancy in, just did what we do and made a lot of big plays doing it. After these last two games, it’s been a breath of fresh air. 2020’s out of the way. We ended up on top. This is what we worked for. We had to have fun with it. There’s no better feeling than having fun with your brother. It’s probably the most fun game I’ve ever been a part of.”

Florida has at least nine players opt out of playing in the Cotton Bowl for one reason or another – including their top three wide receivers.

“Give Oklahoma credit, did a great job, made a bunch of explosive plays, ran the ball well, made some plays in the pass game, played disciplined football,” said Florida coach Dan Mullen. “They really weren’t penalized; we had a lot more penalties than they did as well. We turned the ball over a couple too many times, which you can’t do playing good teams.”

Mullen made excuses for his team’s poor performance. He said the game was almost canceled due to the exit of so many players.

“I kind of viewed – maybe this is wrong- I viewed this game that wasn’t the 2020 football team that you saw,” Mullen said. “I mean, there were about 25 guys missing off the 2020 football team out there tonight…I view the last game the last team the 2020 team played was 11 days ago.”

The OU defense, maligned nationally before the addition of defensive coordinator Alex Grinch last season, was much improved in 2020.

“I couldn’t be more excited about the direction of our program defensively,” said Riley. And I give our players a ton of credit. I give Coach [Alex] Grinch, our defensive staff, a ton of credit. They’ve done just a fabulous job.

“It’s been so far, two years in, it’s been what we hoped it would be. I think we sat here after last season and said, It’s a great start, but we will be disappointed if it’s not a whole lot better in year two. And it was better. And now we’re going to sit here and say, Really good two-year run, made a lot of improvements, love the way our guys are playing and improving, and we expect it to be a heck of a lot better in year three.”

Overall, it was a satisfying year with a record sixth straight Big 12 Championship and a Cotton Bowl win.

“(I’m) excited about the way we finished,” Riley said. “Excited about what this team could be next year.

“…I like where the just the attitude and just kind of the overall environment within our team, within our program, like where that’s at. A ton of young, exciting players that grew and learned so much this year and have a chance to be better for it. But it’s going to be a great challenge to us to continue to climb because these last several teams have really set the bar high. I think we all sense the opportunity ahead of us.”

The Sooners improved to 30-23-1 (.565) all-time in bowl games and their 30 bowl wins are tied for the fifth most nationally. OU is now 110-49-8 (.683) all-time against programs currently in the SEC.

Departing players

Besides the normal amount of graduating seniors, OU is losing some good players to the NFL Draft and the transfer portal.

All-American center Creed Humphrey and starting offensive lineman Adrian Ealy will enter the draft. They are joined by cornerback Tre Brown (who didn’t play in the Cotton Bowl) and defensive back Tre Norwood.  Defensive players Jon-Michael Terry and Robert Barnes reportedly will enter the transfer portal and play elsewhere.

Former OU quarterback Chandler Morris is transferring to TCU and wideout Charleston Rambo is transferring.