Oklahoma offense stumbles, more trouble ahead
With 7:11 left in the game, Isaiah Sategna began his punt return — riding the momentum that a revived offense and a stingy defense had presented after the halftime intermission, which saw the Sooners outscoring eighth-ranked Mississippi 16-3 in the third quarter.
The Sooners were behind 31-26, but despite a sloppy offensive performance most of the game, Sategna’s punt return presented the best opportunity for good field position when the Sooners needed it most.
Four seconds later, as his speedy wheels took him to the 50 yard line — a perfect place to launch the Sooners to a comeback winning drive — Sategna instead launched himself, hurdling an Ol’ Miss defender.
And on his way down, in that next second, at 7:04 on the clock, he fumbled.
The hope-filled balloon of those previous six seconds, the ones that carried a chance to take an Oklahoma lead late in the game and, if held, a win that would solidify the Sooners’ play off chances, burst.
Mississippi would later score another field goal. And the Sooners would lose the game 34-26.
There was no shortage of puzzling play call…a sideways run from the OU’s 2 yard line that resulted in Ol’ Miss defensive end Princewell Umanmielen tackling RB Tory Blaylock in the end zone for a safety.
Although Sategna’s fumble was a turning point late in the contest, his play on Saturday was not what cost the Sooners the game.
In fact, before his fumble, Sategna’s speed tied up the game 10-10 in the second quarter, scoring on a 76 yard touchdown pass which was more his run than John Mateer’s pass. He led all receivers with six receptions for 131 yards.
Sategna has developed into Oklahoma’s best receiver.
No, the Oklahoma rushing offense, which managed only 10 yards during five continuous possessions in the middle of the game, and an inability to convert short yardage third down plays (only 4 of 14), was a bigger factor.
In short, it was the offensive line’s poor play that stood out. Even one of the highlights of OU’s offense — a 65 yard TD run by Xavier Robinson (who finished with 109 yards and two touchdowns), was more Robinson’s skill, bouncing off a gang of tacklers and racing to the end zone, rather than successful blocking.
QB John Mateer’s passing was spotty. He finished 15 of 31 for 223 yards and ran for another 17 on 13 carries. When flushed from the pocket by the Ol’ Miss defense, Mateer did not seem to have open receivers, resulting in several tackles for losses. That, and his off-the-mark passes, stymied drives late in the game.
“We had it. We had the opportunity to do it and I didn’t get it done,” Mateer said.
There was no shortage of puzzling play calls, such as a sideways run from the OU’s 2 yard line that resulted in Ol’ Miss defensive end Princewell Umanmielen tackling RB Tory Blaylock in the end zone for a safety, giving Mississippi a 12-10 lead. The Rebels scored a field goal on their next possession.
Then, on Oklahoma’s next drive, it faced an important fourth-and-2 at midfield. Mateer went under center, but the Mississippi defense blew the play up, giving the Rebels a short field and allowing for another touchdown to give them a 22-10 lead at halftime.
What the national sports pundits may say about this game is that a high powered Ol’ Miss offense — the mastermind of head coach Lane Kiffin — played very well against Oklahoma’s highly touted defense. Especially QB Trinidad Chambliss’ passing (24 of 44 for 315 yards passing) and evading a Sooner pass rush (53 yards rushing), scrambling to make first downs nine of 12 times on third down and two of three times on fourth down.
While Twitter will be filled with doomsday Sooner fans announcing the demise of Oklahoma football (now 6-2, and 2-2 in conference play), the fact is Mississippi is a very good play-off caliber football team. Perhaps the best offense in the country, so long as Chambliss and his receivers play like they did in Norman.
What makes it difficult for Sooner Nation to swallow, is this was a much needed win for Oklahoma. The remaining teams on their schedule are all ranked teams.
“I hurt for the guys… but we have to get right off the mat,” Coach Brent Venables said after the game, obviously referring to the fact there is significant challenge ahead.
This game was consequently hyped as a “must win”, because it was at home. Frankly, not many people were putting much stock in the Rebels being an elite football team and had marked this as an OU win. Even Vegas had the Sooners a five-point favorite.
Walking back to the car, one Sooner fan asked, “Do you think we’ll win another game this year?”
I don’t know about wins, but there is a great chance every one of the upcoming OU games will be dog fights like this one.
And unless the offensive line can get some consistency, then only the defense is going to keep the outcomes in doubt down to the wire. This offense has problems.
Fighting like this every weekend is not something Oklahoma fans are used to. At all.
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