The Ugly: The Second Half Let Down (again).
In the second half, I think clearly our team felt like the game was over. That’s my job to make sure our mentality was right. I don’t think it was. – Lincoln Riley on Second Half Performance
What a coach says to the media can often be softened for public consumption. Riley admitting that the team didn’t have the right mentality in the second half is just a sign that the Sooners got caught up believing they’d put Tulane away after their 23 point outburst in the second quarter.
Tulane had other ideas.
After scoring a touchdown late in the third quarter to make it 37-22, the Sooners kicked a field goal to make to extend the lead to 18. In the fourth quarter, Tulane scored 14 unanswered points and recovered an onside kick with just over two minutes to play in the game.
This was a game that should have never been as close as the 40-35 score indicated. While Tulane and Michael Pratt had something to do with it, the Sooners attempted to coast to a win in the second half. This team is good, but they aren’t that good.
This is a team that watched leads slip away just last season in the loss to Kansas State. In the Iowa State loss, they were outplayed in the second half, getting outscored 24-13 and losing by seven. Though they ultimately won the game, they allowed a beaten Texas team to storm back in the fourth quarter to send the Red River Rivalry to overtime.
Oklahoma’s second-half trends are a disturbing trend to say the least. And it goes back further than 2020.
The Oklahoma Sooners need to find an edge in the second half of games. They come out hot in the first half, but for some reason, let their guard down at halftime and don’t look like the same team.
If they find themselves in a halftime deficit, are they going to be able to rally? Is this team capable of a second-half comeback? It’s difficult to answer those questions with a resounding yes with their history of second-half performances.
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