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For at least one game, it looked like it.
In their win over the Kansas State Wildcats, the Oklahoma Sooners executed well and were efficient on their way to a 37 point outburst that is a bit of a surprise in the context of the last few weeks.
However, the Sooners scored on seven of their eight possessions, not counting the end of the game where they kneeled on the ball, and the passing game and the running game both looked pretty good.
In his weekly overreactions piece, USA TODAY Sports’ Erick Smith takes a look at the Sooners offense and declares it back to the level of production we’ve come to expect.
Rattler looked like the 2020 version of himself that was brilliant in the second half. He hit 22 of 25 passes for 243 yards and also was effective running when lanes opened up. The 37 points scored Saturday almost equaled the combined 39 generated against Nebraska and West Virginia.
Yet, this was just one performance. The running game still needs to get going, starting this week against Texas. Rattler needs to prove he can’t build upon the performance and avoid shaky decision-making and the offensive line has to protect him. A big day against the Longhorns in the Cotton Bowl would start to generate belief than Riley was right when he said the unit wasn’t far off. And maybe it could be the catalyst for Oklahoma to start living up to its promise. – Smith
If you take away the 12-yard loss on the botched snap to Caleb Williams in the first quarter, the Oklahoma Sooners ran for 144 yards on 25 carries, averaging 5.76 yards per carry. The running game had six runs of 10 yards or more and three runs of 15 yards or more. It was a good day for the running game, even if it wasn’t dominant.
In his post-game press conference, Kansas State Head Coach Chris Klieman admitted that they made a concerted effort to take the deep ball away from Spencer Rattler and the passing game. So instead of forcing it, Rattler and the Sooners’ offense killed them with throws under 20 yards. Per Pro Football Focus, Spencer Rattler completed 21 of 22 passes under 20 yards. To put it into a percentile, that’s a 95% completion percentage.
Teams will continue to take away the deep ball from Spencer Rattler and the Oklahoma Sooners until they get tired of getting beat underneath. And Rattler’s proven that he can beat teams inside 20 yards downfield. With the running game operating as it did on Saturday and Rattler deadly inside 20-yards, opposing defensive coordinators will eventually have to walk a safety into the box to help. And that’s when Rattler and the Sooners can take advantage.
With a big matchup with the Texas Longhorns coming next week, the Sooners needed an offensive display like this to build confidence ahead of the Red River Showdown.
At 5-0, the Oklahoma Sooners have proven they can win games in multiple ways. As long as they keep winning, that’s all that’ll matter. With a defense that has played as strong as they have and an offense that came to life in week five, the Sooners look like they’re putting it all together.
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