The Sooners hosted the Kansas State Wildcats in Norman Saturday night under the lights in primetime. Oklahoma was looking to start out the Brent Venables era 4-0. Just about everyone knew this was going to be a tough game for OU. Despite Kansas State losing to Tulane last week, this was still the most talented team that Oklahoma has faced this season.
Kansas State jumped out to an early lead with a score on the opening drive followed by a couple of bad offensive possessions for the Sooners. They dug themselves an early 14-0 deficit and had to play from behind for the entire game. The Sooners never held a lead in this one. The rushing attack of Adrian Martinez and Deuce Vaughn was simply too much for the Sooners defense. As far as the offense goes, penalties and missed opportunities stalled out too many drives.
The lackluster performance on both sides of the ball made it impossible for the Sooners to keep up with a Wildcats team that simply wasn’t making any mistakes. Kansas State executed a perfect game on the road in a tough environment. And it isn’t the first or second time they’ve done it in Norman in recent times. They have now beat the Sooners at home 4 times in the last 10 years.
Figure Out The Slow Starts
The slow starts have to stop. Besides last week against Nebraska, the Sooners have gotten off to a slow start in each game. And even last week they gave up a touchdown on the opening drive. Especially when playing at home, gaining early momentum is so important. This game wasn’t decided early on, but it certainly didn’t help Oklahoma having to play from two scores behind halfway through the first quarter. I think if they could have responded with a score on either of the first two drives this game looks much different.
It’s The Little Things
The little things really made the difference in this one. Offensively the Sooners had too many false start penalties. In a game where the offense was already struggling to get ahead on downs, penalties simply cannot happen. The team had a total of 11 penalties for 87 yards.
Defensively the biggest struggle was missed tackles. Deuce Vaughn and Adrian Martinez are tough guys to bring to the ground. Oklahoma had many opportunities to stop Kansas State for a loss, but couldn’t wrap up and make the tackle in the open field. The most notable was the big run by Martinez at the end of the game on 3rd and 16. Oklahoma just needed one more stop to have a chance to tie it up. Instead, the Wildcats end up in scoring position and put the ball through the end zone on the next play.
Let Dillon Gabriel Throw The Ball
Dillon Gabriel completed 26/39 for 330 yards and 4 touchdowns. He now has 11 touchdown passes on the season with no interceptions. He struggled with accuracy at times. But, I think a lot of it is due to the situations the offense was in. The Sooners faced a lot of third downs in this matchup. Back to back runs on first and second down and then hope for a play from Gabriel on third down seemed to be the trend Saturday night.
When the Sooners enter their two minute offense drill it always seems to workout in their favor. Playing with some tempo and taking shots downfield on early downs seem to be the situations that Dillon Gabriel thrives in. I’d like the see Jeff Lebby start being more aggressive in his play calling.
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