The coronavirus hit Oklahoma hard.
The list of players missing for the Sooners’ matchup with Baylor Saturday night include redshirt sophomore RUSH linebacker Nik Bonitto, junior safety Pat Fields, redshirt freshman conerback Woodi Washington, freshman running back Seth McGowan, sophomore tight end Austin Stogner, freshman guard Andrew Raym, redshirt sophomore offensive tackle Brey Walker.
In additon to starting safety Pat Fields, both of his backups, redshirt freshman Justin Broiles and freshman Bryson Washington, are both out. In total, Oklahoma is missing at least 13 players, including four starters.
The Sooners had a COVID-19 outbreak last week ahead of the West Virginia game. Oklahoma shut down its facility and postponed the Mountaineers game until Dec. 19 in order to deal with the outbreak. Sooners Wire can confirm Stogner is not missing Saturday night’s game due to COVID-19.
Oklahoma is also returning a handful or so of players returning from COVID-19 issues stemming back to the week of Oklahoma State.
The Sooners are very familiar with the Bears after meeting them twice in 2019, including the Big 12 Championship Game. Not only were both game were decided by less than one score, one went to overtime while the other included a 25-point comeback in Waco.
The major difference-maker in this game will likely turn out to be the matchup between Oklahoma’s offense and Baylor’s defense. Both units are ranked favorably by advanced metrics such as SP+. If Spencer Rattler can spin it with ease and pick apart a talented Baylor defense, then this one has potential to get ugly, especially given the strength of Oklahoma’s defense.
Oklahoma and Baylor are set to kickoff at 7 p.m. CT.
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