Tag: 2021 Week 8

Oklahoma Sooners’ Caleb Williams made ‘outstanding instinct play’

On ESPN’s Debatable, Mike Golic Jr. said Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Caleb Williams made an “outstanding instinct play” versus Kansas.

On ESPN’s Debatable, Mike Golic Jr. discussed Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams’ incredible fourth and 1 play where he snatched the football from OU running back Kennedy Brooks and picked up the first down.

Golic Jr. had this to say about Williams’ heroics:

Offensively and in this situation, hell no I’ve never seen this. And the reason I’m saying, ‘made a smart play’ is because I don’t believe Caleb Williams knew that in this instance on fourth down it could be a legal handoff behind the line of scrimmage that wasn’t somehow a penalty in this play versus if it had happened downfield. Caleb made an outstanding instinct play right here. He knew it was fourth down and he knew, hey, we had to get one yard come hell or high water and so he grabbed that thing and went for it there. – Golic, ESPN’s Debatable

Without hearing from Williams himself, it’s impossible to say exactly what he was thinking in the moment. Brooks did have this to say about their memorable connection late against Kansas.

“I felt somebody tugging at it and then I saw it was Caleb, so I knew that I couldn’t get tackled with the ball so I gave it to Caleb. Only thing I wasn’t sure about was if I was behind the line of scrimmage or in front of it, but I felt like I was behind it and I knew it was fourth down so I was like, ‘I can’t get tackled with the ball’ so I just gave the ball to Caleb and hopefully he can get the first down,” Brooks said.

Whether instinct or awareness, the pair combined to author up one of the highlight-reel plays of this season for the Sooners.

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Social Media Reactions to Oklahoma’s 35-23 win over Kansas

How did Social Media react to the Oklahoma Sooners 35-23 win over the Kansas Jayhawks? Come process the win with us.

Gloria (Rosie Perez) from White Men Can’t Jump summed it up perfectly.

Sometimes when you win, you really lose, and sometimes when you lose, you really win, and sometimes when you win or lose, you actually tie, and sometimes when you tie, you actually win or lose. Winning or losing is all one organic mechanism, from which one extracts what one needs.

Yesterday’s 12 point win over the Kansas Jayhawks will count as a win on the stat sheet, but it  actually felt like a loss. Not because of the final score, but because of the mechanism that led to the final score.

The Oklahoma Sooners slept through the first half. Kansas took the air out of the ball, dominating time of possession and limiting the Sooners to just three possessions.

Those three Sooners possessions went punt, interception, and turnover on downs.

Nothing worked.

Kansas had the Oklahoma Sooners befuddled on both sides of the football. Jayhawks’ quarterback had a career day completing 74% of his passes after coming into the game connecting on just 55% of his throws.

Thankfully, the Sooners found their game at halftime. And though it wasn’t always perfect and the game was in doubt until the final minutes, the Sooners stayed undefeated on the season.

And as we do after each game, let’s take a look at what social media had to say about the win.

5 Takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners 35-23 win over the Kansas Jayhawks

As the Oklahoma Sooners improve to 8-0 with their 35-23 win over the Kansas Jayhawks here are five takeaways from yet another close win.

The Oklahoma Sooners got everything they could handle from the Kansas Jayhawks in their 35-23 win. Though it was a 12 point game at the end, it was a much more closely contested game than the final score would indicate.

The Oklahoma Sooners came into this 38 point favorites over a Jayhawks team that hasn’t won since week one when they beat FCS South Dakota 17-14.

It was an ugly game for much of the first half, and the Oklahoma Sooners went into half-time trailing 10-0. Yes. A Lincoln Riley offense failed to score a point in the first half of a game for the first time in his tenure with the Oklahoma Sooners. Per the Oklahoma Sooners Sports Information Department, it was the first time OU’s been held scoreless since the 2014 Russell Athletic Bowl when Clemson shut out the Sooners offense in the first 30 minutes.

While they got the win, it’s one of those wins that feels like a loss and that will probably be the case when the latest USA TODAY’s AFCA Coaches Poll and the AP Top 25 are released tomorrow.

As we continue to recap this game, let’s look at 5 things that stood out from the 35-23 win.

Oklahoma Sooners Survive, beat Kansas Jayhawks 35-23

The Oklahoma Sooners survived, beating the Kansas Jayhawks 35-23 on Saturday to improve to 8-0 on the season.

Of all the ugly wins the Oklahoma Sooners have achieved in 2021, their 35-23 win over the Kansas Jayhawks was easily the ugliest. Kansas jumped on top of the Sooners with their first drive of the game, taking a 7-0 lead and that was the story for much of this game. In a game where they came in as 38 point underdogs, the Jayhawks went toe-to-toe with the No. 2 team in the country.

Oklahoma couldn’t do anything offensively or defensively for much of this game and the Jayhawks led the Sooners at halftime 10-0.

In the second half, the Sooners’ offense finally awakened as they outscored Kansas 35-13 to run get the win. But it was a much closer game than the score even indicates as the Jayhawks looked like they might pull off the upset.

The Sooners didn’t get their first lead of the game until there was 12:35 remaining in the fourth quarter. That on a Kennedy Brooks one-yard score.

Oklahma was then able to extend their lead to 28-17 after Caleb Williams 40 yard-touchdown run on fourth and 3. He’s making a habit of having big touchdown runs in critical moments of games.

In that moment, it felt like the Sooners were ready to take the game over, however the Kansas Jayhawks and Alex Grinch’s playcalling had other ideas. In prevent mode with just under eight minutes to play, the Oklahoma Sooners defense allowed Kansas to score in under two minutes to bring the score to 28 to 23.

The Sooners were able to blow up Kansas’ attempt at an end around to shut down the two point conversion and keep a five-point lead.

With the score 28-23, the Sooners then went on a 12 play, 75-yard drive that took 5:14 off the clock to put the game away with another Kennedy Brooks one-yard touchdown run.

Caleb Williams was 15 of 20 for 178 yards passing, two touchdowns, and an interception. Kennedy Brooks was held to 3.3 yards per carry, toting the ball 24 times for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Eric Gray led the way for the Sooners receiving corps with three receptions for 42 yards, and Jadon Haselwood and Jeremiah Hall added touchdowns for the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Kansas Jayhawks gave the Oklahoma Sooners all they could handle in a game that never should have been this close. The Sooners thought they could walk in and take the game without having to execute or play disciplined football. Kansas almost proved them wrong, keeping the game in upset alert until the very end.

The 8-0 Oklahoma Sooners next face the Texas Tech Red Raiders at home next Saturday at 2:30 p.m.. Kansas falls to 1-6 and will next travel to face the Oklahoma State Cowboys in Stillwater.

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WATCH: Caleb Williams converts 4th and 3 for a 40 yard Touchdown Run

Watch as Caleb Williams extends the Sooners lead with a 40-yard touchdown run.

This has been anything but the expectation for the Oklahoma Sooners. The Kansas Jayhawks came out and gave the Sooners everything they could handle in their Big 12 matchup.

The Jayhawks who haven’t won a conference game since 2019, made everything difficult for the Oklahoma Sooners who struggled through the first half and trailed 10-0 to the lowly Jayhawks.

After recovering a fumble with Kansas driving, Oklahoma got to the Kansas 45 yard line and faced a 4th and 3 and up just four. The Sooners attempted to draw the Jayhawks’ defensive front offside. When they didn’t bite, Oklahoma came back on fourth down and went for it.

Then Superman struck as Caleb Williams ran quarterback counter and Williams was off to the races.

The Jayhawks took it right down the field and scored on the ensuing drive, keeping this a one-score game. The Sooners were able to keep Kansas out of the endzone on the two-point conversion.

On the Sooners’ next drive, Williams came up with another great play, displaying heads-up awareness as he took the ball from Kennedy Brooks who was stopped on fourth and short. Williams took the ball and spun forward for the first down.

After a rough three and a half quarters, Sooner magic was on full display as Caleb Williams helped the Oklahoma Sooners find a way to score and extend drives.

Kansas Jayhawks in a familiar position as they get set to host the Sooners

The Kansas Jayhawks have shown signs of improved play at times this season, but after recent struggles have reclaimed the “top spot” in these rankings.

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After some promising performances through the first half of the season, the Kansas Jayhawks find themselves in a familiar place as arguably the worst team in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS). Tom Fornelli of CBS Sports ranks the bottom 25 teams and after a brief stint as the second-worst team in the country, Kansas reclaims the “top spot.”

Earlier this week, it finally got cool enough to put my fur-lined slippers back on. The sensation of sliding my feet into that soft, fluffy warmth was not much different than seeing Kansas at No. 1 yet again. Hello, old friend. Welcome back. Something tells me that the Jayhawks could be the first team to stay at No. 1, considering they’ve got Oklahoma this week and Oklahoma State the week after. But maybe, just maybe… (2) – Fornelli

There have been times this season where the Kansas Jayhawks have shown signs of life. They’ve gotten games close before the blowouts set in. They held Baylor to just 14 first-half points. The Jayhawks were leading the Duke Blue Devils in the third quarter before the game got away from them. They were within six of the previously undefeated Coastal Carolina Chanticleers before succumbing to a strong second-half effort from Coastal.

Head Coach Lance Leipold has made progress and they’re playing better football, but this is a team that still has some growing to do. They don’t have a Pooka Williams on this year’s squad to make life difficult for the Sooners’ defense.

The Jayhawks will come out playing hard, but that effort won’t be enough to make this much of a game on Saturday as the Sooners likely roll on to a blowout victory.

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