Oklahoma hasn’t lost back-to-back regular season games since the 1999 season. The Sooners hadn’t lost a game in Ames, Iowa since 1960. Both of those changed on Saturday night which brings about a startling realization for Sooner Nation…there’s going to be a new normal in 2020.
This team is talented, with an extremely high ceiling, but they’re young and will have growing pains along the way. The belief is that it’ll pay off in the future but until there will be some suffering before then. That brings us back to Ames and a 37-30 loss to the Cyclones.
Oklahoma now sits at 1-2 on the season and 0-2 in conference play. Both losses could have been prevented if mistakes were limited. That’s where the pain comes…knowing the loss was preventable.
Now, the Sooners are going to limp into the Cotton Bowl next week to face a Texas Longhorns team that has faced its own set of struggles. The team that makes the better adjustments between now and then will have a leg up on the other.
Charlie Kolar was a problem
The struggle was exactly what we expected. Kolar’s size was a mismatch resulting in 4 catches for 66 yards (on 7 targets). However, the other aspect was that the attention he drew freed up Chase Allen for some big plays.
Secondary struggled in general
Even beyond the matchup struggles with Iowa State’s tight ends, the Sooner secondary was littered with missed tackles, bad angles, holding and pass interference penalties.
Defense got pressure
Pressure from the front seven was there all night but the Sooners couldn’t capitalize on it. Getting to Brock Purdy finally produced Oklahoma’s first turnover since the opener with just over ten minutes left in the game. Isaiah Thomas forced a fumble that Josh Ellison jumped on and then four plays later Spencer Rattler hit Jeremiah Hall to give the Sooners a 30-23 lead.
That wasn’t near enough though and dropped interceptions by the secondary remain a haunting aspect of this defense.
Stogner can become unstoppable
You can’t look at Austin Stogner and not think of a young Mark Andrews. He’s got that type of potential and I won’t be surprised if he develops the type of rapport with Rattler that Andrews had with Baker Mayfield. Stogner finished the night tied with a team-high five receptions for 74 yards.
Offensive line played better than last week
Rattler was sacked twice but the Cyclones brought a blitz both times. There were still some mistakes, like the crucial false start penalty on Oklahoma’s ensuing possession after Iowa State tied the game at 30, but overall it was much cleaner than last week.
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