Oklahoma Survives, But Tulane Makes Them Earn it

With a preseason ranking of #2 in the country, many likely assumed this matchup between Oklahoma and Tulane would be a bit one sided in favor of the Sooners. The reality turned out to be something much different, as Tulane scored late to make it a one possession game. Recovered an onside kick, giving their offense one final opportunity.

Rough Start for Rattler

Heading into the 2021 College Football season the Oklahoma Sooners have been on the receiving end of a lot of hype, a lot of which is due to the high expectations for the Sooners sophomore quarterback Spencer Rattler. Of all the ways he likely imagined the first drive of the season going, the result was one he would give anything to avoid.

Green Wave Out-Muscled the Sooner Defense

Whenever one of the top programs in the country faces off with what could be considered lesser competition, the underdog team is usually overwhelmed by the size and speed of the top tier opponent. Well no one gave that memo to Tulane, because they’re O-line was bullying the Sooner defensive front.

Controversial Pass Interference

What’s a College Football game without a little controversy. Just so everyone is clear, this was ruled as Pass Interference on Tulane, negating the interception and return. I get that the defender seems to be grabbing first, but interesting timing on the flag being thrown.

Rattler’s Troubles Rise Again Late

Despite the disastrous end to the first drive, Rattler was able to keep calm and move on as he helped lead the Sooners to a somewhat comfortable lead to close out the first half with Oklahoma leading 37-14. The real difference came in the second quarter the teams entered that quarter tied at 14-14, then the Sooners proceeded to outscore Tulane 23-0.

The Green Wave outscored Oklahoma 8-3 in the third quarter, so the score sat at 40-22 to begin the final quarter of play. It was at this point that Spencer Rattler decided to make things a little more interesting.

Oklahoma Holds On Despite Tulane’s Late Surge

After scoring to make it a 7 point game with two minutes left, the Tulane Green Wave lined up to attempt an onside kick. Football fans know how low the probability is for a kicking team to actually recover an onside attempt, but numbers be damned today. Tulane was able to recover the onside kick after an Oklahoma player runs up and somehow misses the ball that is right in front of him.

Conclusion

So in the end, Oklahoma gets the win but in no way can they be feeling good about today’s performance. A slow start combined with multiple mental mistakes nearly cost them big time early in the season. The Sooners should be able to bounce back comfortably over the next two weeks as they face some rather lackluster competition between the Western Carolina Catamounts and the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Who knows, perhaps Oklahoma will beat Nebraska so bad that they finally put Scott Frost out of his misery.