The finale has arrived.
Oklahoma was the preseason pick to win the Big 12 for the sixth-straight year. Iowa State was picked to finish fourth. The Sooners ended up losing two games and Iowa State just one to end up with a rematch in the Big 12 Championship.
The Cyclones handed Oklahoma one of its two losses in the second Big 12 game of the season. The Sooners just lost an inexplicable heartbreaker to Kansas State after leading by three touchdowns with just over 15 minutes left in the game, too. Iowa State used a huge kickoff return and scored two touchdowns late to give Oklahoma back-to-back regular season losses for the first time since 1999.
Then, Lincoln Riley and the Sooners responded. They strung off six-straight wins, including a historic win over Texas in quadruple overtime to start it off and a Bedlam beatdown. Thanks to Kansas State falling off and Oklahoma State dropping games to Texas and TCU, Oklahoma avoided any and all disaster from a tiebreaker scenario to get back into the Big 12 Championship game.
The Sooners and Iowa State will kickoff at 11 a.m. CT from AT&T Stadium in Arlington. Here is what to remember from the first game between these two. The Cyclones scored two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to win 37-30.
BREECE HALL HAD A TOUGH TIME
The 36-yard run at the end came on a missed tackle at the line of scrimmage. Take that away, he had 27 carries for 103 yards (3.8 yards a carry) and two touchdowns. Not his normal game.
NOT PURDY
Brock Purdy had one, maybe two, deep throws in the first game. The rest were either dumps underneath where a receiver missed a tackle and took off or a short underneath throw. Take away the long touchdown to Xavier Hutchinson, Purdy would have ended up with 11 of 23 passing for 189 yards and no touchdowns. He was flustered and pressured all night.
DRIVE EXTENDING PENALTIES
Oklahoma had six of them. The Sooners allowed so much invisible penalty yardage due to holding or pass interference penalties.
NO RONNIE PERKINS, NO RHAMONDRE STEVENSON
Just a friendly reminder. Oklahoma’s running game looks a ton better with Rhamondre Stevenson back and Oklahoma’s defense looks like one of the best in the country with Ronnie Perkins back.
PRESSURE, PRESSURE
The first Iowa State game was Nik Bonitto’s coming out party. He was in the backfield all night, regardless if he didn’t register a sack. Isaiah Thomas had a huge strip sack. The first game was one of the Sooners’ best pass rushing games of the year, despite the low sack total.
NO RUNNING GAME … until the end
The running game struggled the entire game until late in the third quarter. Oklahoma got two tight ends on the field and mashed Iowa State with its counter and zone schemes. The Sooners did struggle for majority of the game, but with the way Oklahoma ran it at the end, that makes what the Sooners do on Saturday even more interesting.
KICKOFF RETURN
Iowa State had a massive kickoff return after the Thomas strip sack turned into a go-ahead touchdown. The Cyclones’ special teams has been really good all year.
DROPPED TOUCHDOWNS
Oklahoma had two dropped touchdowns. One to Obi Obialo early in the game and then one late to Theo Wease.
SPENCER RATTLER PLAYED REALLY WELL
Up until the very final play, it was one of his best games of the year. Rattler went 25 for 36 for 300 passing yards and two touchdowns before the interception. Iowa State has given young quarterbacks a tough time before, but Rattler wasn’t all that rattled by it.
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