The Bad: Keep Your Eye on the Ball Kid
After the Sooners forced a fumble at their own nine-yard line and returned inside the Kansas State 20, they picked up a fresh set of downs inside the Wildcats 10-yard line. A pass from Spencer Rattler to Marvin Mims took the ball down to the one-yard line to set up second and goal and in came true freshman Caleb Williams.
Per Josh Callaway of All Sooners on SI, the Kansas State student section was chanting “We want Caleb.” I for one thought it would be a great idea to insert Williams into the lineup in certain packages.
Please, Lincoln Riley, give the people what they want.
Even in short samples, They’ll regret it. https://t.co/fHf1LL92wt
— John Williams (@john9williams) October 2, 2021
Lincoln Riley thought it was a good idea too. Williams came in on second and one, presumably to give the Wildcats a read-option look that would allow Williams to use his athleticism to threaten the Kansas State defense. Unfortunately, Williams took his eyes off the ball on a snap that was just barely to the left, and it whizzed past him to set up a long third and goal from the 12-yard line.
A false start penalty on third down made it 3rd and goal from the 17 and with the Wildcats dropping seven into coverage, Spencer Rattler had nowhere to go with the football and wisely took a sack.
At a time when the Sooners could have gone up 7-0, they were forced to kick a field goal and Kansas State marched down the field for a touchdown to take a 7-0 lead.
Williams will learn from that mistake and get better, but it was a moment in the game that could have been bigger had the Sooners lost.