A much anticipated 2021 OU football season starts Saturday in unorthodox fashion — a game moved by a hurricane to a partially filled Memorial Stadium during a pandemic that has fans wondering if attending is a health risk best avoided by watching it all on a living room TV.
All of that still hasn’t dampened the usual enthusiasm that marks a season beginning. This week is the most exciting part of college football. All teams are undefeated. Until this weekend, anyway.
An anemic second half offense put the Sooners defense in the position of having to hold off an Iowa State comeback lead by scrambling and seasoned QB Brock Purdy.
And they did.
The win was sealed by the OU defense — specifically a last minute interception of a Purdy pass by cornerback Tre Brown.
And so Oklahoma won its sixth straight Big 12 Championship in a tremendous 27-21 win over Iowa State before the Covid-limited 17,827 spectators at AT&T Stadium on Saturday in Arlington, Texas.
Brown’s interception capped the game, but his important kickoff returns also factored heavily in a field position game that favored the Sooners most of the second half.
Sooner fans were on edge late in the game as Iowa State kept gaining momentum. With 5:15 left in the game it looked like the Sooners defenders might be wearing down, holding onto a narrow 3-point lead, despite a stellar pass rush led by tackle Perrion Winfrey that never gave Purdy much comfort in the pocket most of the game.
A tenacious Baylor defense stymied the Oklahoma offense all night.
But for perhaps the first time this season it was the Sooners defense that stepped up to keep OU ahead in the game, and secured not only a 27-14 win, but a berth in the Big 12 Championship game on December 19.
The Oklahoma defense has held opponents to 14 points or less in the last three games.
After an 0-2 start for the season, when it seemed unlikely they would wind up at AT&T Stadium at the end of the season, the Sooners return to the championship game.
Oklahoma has played in the title game 12 times and lost only once.
However, Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley wasn’t satisfied with the performance Saturday night..
“I think our guys weren’t coached worth a damn this week, to be completely honest,” he said in his post-game press conference.