Improved play from a maligned offensive line, pin-point passing by QB Spencer Rattler, and the good eyes of replay officials came together to end Kansas State’s two-year reign over Oklahoma on Saturday.
The Sooners — aka the “Cardiac Kids” — managed a 37-31 win in Manhattan to continue their season unbeaten. The Wildcats had won the last two contests with the Sooners.
In getting the win, Rattler sent a message back home to the student section: No one is replacing me.
The second-year quarterback, whose Heisman hopes have dimmed with Oklahoma’s offense struggling to victories, led the Sooners to this victory over a tough Kansas State Wildcats in a tough environment — one of the loudest in the conference.
K-State’s very vocal purple-clad student section chanted throughout the game:
“F— you, Spencer.”
Rattler sent a message back home to the student section: No one is replacing me.
Unlike last week’s OU student section back in Norman — when chants for Rattler’s replacement were heard — the Kansas State students knew exactly who on the Sooners team would be most dangerous.
Rattler finished Oklahoma’s first road game with remarkable statistics:
He completed 22 of 25 passes for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He had no incomplete passes in the last three quarters of the game.
Marvin Mims had four receptions for 71 yards. Brayden Willis also had four for 31 yards. In all, nine different Sooners caught Rattler passes.
In what may have been the most NFL-ish pass of the year, Rattler zipped an on-the-run 14-yard touchdown pass to Mike Woods with 5:30 left in the third quarter that was spectacular.
Some of those passes had Rattler on play action or running outside the pocket.
“I love being on the run and making plays to my guys. Coach Riley did a great job this week implementing that into our offense and it really benefitted us,” Rattler said.
After the game, Rattler and teammates made a bee-line to the end zone to celebrate with Sooner fans who attended in Manhattan.
“Those are our real fans up there supporting us on the road. We appreciate them all the time,” Rattler said.
The officials became key in the second half when Kansas State recovered an onside kick trailing 27-10 in the third quarter. Officials confirmed the kick traveled 10 yards. But, Sooner Coach Lincoln Riley challenged whether KSU Ty Zentner had accidentally kicked the ball twice. Video replay confirmed he had.
The illegal touching gave Oklahoma the ball and managed to put a quash on impending Wildcat momentum.
The second officials review occurred with Kansas State marching down the field trailing 27-17 in the fourth. Landry Weber was ruled to have caught a pass converting fourth down, but the ball had hit the ground and another play was overturned.
Earlier, the Sooners offense began playing its best ball of the year after Kansas State’s second scoring drive to tie it up i0-10 in the second quarter. The Wildcats had a 19 play drive — one more than Oklahoma had until that point in the first half.
The Wildcats had the formula for beating the Sooners — minimize OU’s possessions by marching on long drives and controlling the clock. That’s exactly what K-State did in the first half.
But the Sooners were able to score each time they had the ball, including right after KSU’s second quarter score. On the last drive of the half, Oklahoma answered with a chip shot field goal by Gabe Brkic (thusfar the player of the year for Oklahoma).
The Sooners had the ball only 10:23 of the first half.
“He (Rattler) stayed patient. The way the first half played out it would have been easy to say, ‘ah shoot, here we go again’ — only getting this many plays or only getting this many drives or whatever, and he just kind of stayed and played and executed plays as long as it went. He was good,” Riley said.
On defense, Nick Bonitto scooped up a KSU fumble and returned it 70 yards — the longest in school history.
“I just picked it up and then my tank went on E real fast,” Bonitto said.
In was in the third quarter that the offense kicked into gear. Oklahoma opened the second half with a nine play 75-yard drive ending in pitch sweep touchdown run by Kennedy Brooks, putting the Sooners up 20-10.
Although Rattler commanded the drive, Riley put backup Caleb Williams in for one play — an 18 yard pass to Mario Williams.
That followed with a three-and-out mustered by the OU Defense, and then the Sooners went on a 90-yard drive to score again, taking the lead to 27-10 with the tip-toe pass to Woods. The drive included overcoming a big holding penalty that could have stymied the drive with a third and 14 pass for 20 yards to Drake Stoops.
The Sooners’ win moves their active win streak to 15 straight games, the second longest in the country.
“We took a step. We took a step of where we want to go. And had a statement game, and didn’t even play near to what we should have,” Rattler said.
NEXT: Oklahoma vs. Texas, Dallas, 11 am Saturday 
Featured photo: Trey Young/OU Daily
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