College Football Musings from the Train: Bedlam 2014

The Game

The Sooners led OSU 35-21 with 7:54 to play.

Game over.

Tyreek Hill returns the ensuing kick off to the 40 of OSU. OSU three and out.

Game. Over.

How in the blue hell does OU lose?! No decent team loses this game. But OU is no decent team. They punt with just over 5 minutes in the game. No chance OSU comes back to win.

GAME OVER ... Right?!

Mason Rudolph to Brandon Shepard for the score with just under 5 minutes to play. OU goes three and out. No timeouts left for the pokes. Zach Sanchez picks the ball off with three minutes left. OU goes three and out. Punt, OSU runs into the kicker after OSU's Tyreek Hill fair catches at the 15. And instead of just dealing with the OSU offense at the 15 with no timeouts and under a minute left ...

GAME OVER DAMMIT!!!

Oklahoma and Bob Stoops do the unthinkable .. the idiotic - they take the penalty and kick the ball to Hill again. Literally the only guy on the field who shouldn't have the ball is given the ball is purposely given the ball. In space. Anyone want to venture a guess as to how this worked out?????

I realize I am not touching on overtime. You know, when the greatest kicker in OU history choked away yet another relatively easy field goal when it mattered most. When the offense could go nowhere against a gassed OSU D. Where the defense again showed it has no talent or a coach with a set of balls.

Oklahoma State isn't going anywhere this year, except maybe Shreveport or Memphis. But they found themselves a quarterback. Though Bob Stoops did his damnedest to lose Bedlam, credit must be given to the Pokes and their freshman quarterback Mason Rudolph. The guy made everyone throwing the ball in crimson look childish. He was 19 of 35 for 273 and two touchdowns in his first Bedlam. He did throw a late pick, but when you have the putrid stench of the OU offense, there is no concern when you commit what should have been a crippling turnover. But the stats don't tell the whole story - Rudolph absolutely looks the part. He can make every throw. He's a big bastard. He can move. He doesn't get rattled. Which is more than I can say for any OU quarterback.

Though, in the interests of fairness, Rudolph did get to play the worst secondary in the nation. After a grand total of 2 touchdown drives in 50, OSU has them an offense, scoring on 4 drives in Norman.. Kansas is amused by that development.

The OSU defense also held its own, especially after Samaje Perine went down. Yes, OU rushed for 304 yards, but it was on 66 carries. And the OU offense was awful in the 2nd half - 7 points awful. Of course, it helps when you continually throw the ball when you can't throw the ball, such as THREE straight pass plays in overtime. OSU completely held Cody Thomas from executing any semblance of a zone read.

It was a collassal collapse by OU and a great fourth quarter win for OSU.

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The Drive

Down by 2 scores with five minutes left, OSU put the ball in the hands of their freshman signal caller, who completed two passes for 57 yards, including a 43 yard touchdown pass to Brandon Sheperd, a play highlighting the triumphant return to the secondary by one Julian Wilson. If missed him, he was the guy flailing at Sheperd after he was burned ... again. Oklahoma would of course go three and out (the first of 3 to end the game), allowing OSU to tie the game with the aforementioned idiotic punt re-kick

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The Play

Well, I've been talking about it all column. Might as well show it to my loyal readers.

Punting the ball... again... after the last was nearly blocked... leading with under minute, and instead of forcing OSU to go 85 yards with ZERO timeouts, that mongrel idiot in the visor gave OSU another chance. And blah blah blah ... we all saw what happened..

With under a minute to play, Oklahoma accepted a running into the kicker penalty after the Sooners pushed the Cowboys down to the OSU 15 yard line. Instead of allowing OSU to attempt the game tying 85 yard scoring, the Oklahoma coaching staff made the ridiculous decision (yes, the dozen or times I have already harped on declining the penalty weren't enough) to allow the only true playmaker for the pokes to field a punt and return said punt 92 yards for the game tying touchdown.

The best player for OSU had the ball in his hands 5 seconds earlier and signaled fair catch in the red zone with under a minute to play. Oh .. just whatever the eff.

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The Statistic

Time of possession - Oklahoma 37 minutes. OSU 23 minutes. And OSU wins.

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The Texts

I had one of those evenings where the wife explains to me that it's probably not a good idea to drink so much, like ever. One of those come to Jesus meetings where perhaps I should re-evaluate my priorities in life. Such as not putting bourbon above my family and below OU football. But it was also one of those evenings where I engaged in several entertaining text chains with friends.

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The Aftermath

Oklahoma State beat Oklahoma. The Sooners were a three touchdown favorite. Mike Gundy had beaten the Sooners once the past ten years. Is there an OU fan who doesn't believe OSU has a brighter future? OU has nothing to look forward to next year outside of Perine. They have a tougher schedule, no quarterback, no back 7 on defense, and they're losing 3/5's of the offensive line. Oh, and two idiots calling the plays on offense and defense. OSU has a franchise quarterback and great skill position players. They had the youngest defense in the conference, and it held its own for most of the season.

Three weeks ago, OSU was staring down the barrel of a 7 loss season and no real prospects for the future. Amazing how one pass thrower and a complete meltdown by your rival makes things appear relatively bright.