• The Road Warrior Report - Kansas State Review - November 24, 2013

      MANHATTAN, KS (ICE PLANET HOTH) – Over 100 years ago, Jack London penned a fabulous short story about cold, and freezing to death, called To Build a Fire. We can only surmise that London was somehow clairvoyant, and inspired by this frozen day in Kansas. Alas, we had no matches or dogs, and had to make due with enough layers of clothing to dress four people on a normal day.


      And on this frozen day in Manhattan, Kansas State made the karmic misstep of honoring the 2003 Big 12 Championship team, rubbing the Sooners’ noses in that defeat all day on their tiny stadium screen. And, as is the usual result when something like that tempts fate (see Notre Dame), the Sooners spoiled the party. In fact, they gave a little shout out to history of their own, defeating the Wildcats by a 41-31 count that mirrored the final score in the 2000 “Red October” game in Manhattan. And Bob Stoops became the winningest coach in Sooner football history, to boot.

      For really the first time this season, Trevor Knight made us understand why he was named the starting quarterback coming out of fall practice, leading the Sooners to a rare first quarter TD and a 14-0 lead early. His passes were like lasers all day, and were mostly on target. He was excellent running the option and his speed and ability on the ground clearly opened up the passing game, at least enough to keep Kansas State honest. Frankly, with Knight, this offense has potential for the future. Certainly, we are not saying Knight is the answer or even that he will be the starter next season. But he’s clearly the starter the rest of this season, and has a chance to be a really good Sooner QB going forward.

      Brennan Clay had an even 200 yards as the Sooner offensive line dominated up front. This game included something not seen since the Switzer days, and probably not even then, a 98-yard second quarter touchdown drive in which not a single pass was attempted. Had the Sooner secondary not attempted to murder their coach, Mike Stoops, through giving him several minor strokes by failing to cover Tyler Lockett (We think he’s the last of the Locketts, and thankfully so) the game would've been lopsided.

      The decisive sequence of the game came early in the fourth quarter. The Sooners pinned the Wildcats on their own three with a great punt. KSU didn’t gain anything on three plays, and punted short into the wind. Jalen Saunders raced up to field the punt and returned it to the KSU three-yard-line. The official stats give Saunders credit for a 30-yard punt return, but he actually caught the ball at the 26. Regardless, it was almost the shortest punt return TD in history. When have you ever seen a stat line on a 26 (or 33) yard punt return TD? Clay busted in on one play for a 34-24 lead.

      On the ensuing KSU possession, they were moving the ball, but Zack Sanchez picked off a Jake Waters pass at the Sooner 26 and rode a convoy of blockers 76 yards the other way for a touchdown that would salt the game away. The Wildcats would spend way too much time scoring a touchdown to pull within 10 with 6:10 to play. However, they would only have the ball for two more snaps on offense, consisting of a sack and a pick by Quentin Hayes.

      Knight was, frankly, as sharp as we have seen an Oklahoma quarterback this year, at least other than Blake Bell's performance in the Notre Dame game. His one interception was the lone black mark against him on this day, and even that really wasn’t his fault. This certainly appears to be what this offense was supposed to look like from the beginning, with Knight throwing darts and keeping the defense honest with his running ability.

      Believe it or not, the Sooners are still in play for not only a shared Big 12 championship, but actually winning the Fiesta Bowl berth. Granted, we are not saying this is going to happen, and it is very unlikely, but stranger things have happened. Texas would have to lose to Texas Tech and Baylor, Baylor would have to lose to TCU and beat Texas, and we would have to beat Oklahoma State. In that scenario you would then have a three-way tie for first place at 7-2 between the Sooners, Oklahoma State, and Baylor.

      The tiebreakers would then fall, like it did in 2008, to the BCS standings. At that point, Baylor would likely have freefallen down the standings, having lost to a TCU team with a losing record, while we would be coming off a road win over a top-10 Oklahoma State team. Frankly, the chances are very good in that scenario that we would be the highest ranked BCS team and would head to the Fiesta Bowl. Once again, we are not saying this is going to happen and, in all likelihood, Baylor will destroy TCU, rendering the entire discussion moot.

      Regardless of the conference title situation, a win over Oklahoma State would, at the very least, keep the Sooners in at least outside contention for an at-large BCS berth, likely to the Sugar Bowl. Again, we are not saying this will happen, and we would have to move up into the top 14 of the BCS for it to even be a possibility. Realistically, regardless of what happens against OSU, we are likely headed to San Antonio to play Oregon.

      One thing is certain, after OSU throttled Baylor last night, we are going to hear for the next two weeks how great they are and how they are going to do the same to us on December 7. We freely admit that that might happen. However, if the Sooner offense can continue to click like it has since halftime of the Iowa State game, and if the Sooner defense can avoid giving up the big plays that it did against Kansas State, we like our chances against the Ags. Frankly, especially this season, we would not be surprised with another nail-biter, or for either team to win in a blowout. However, we have great confidence that it will be fun to watch, no matter what.

      See you in Stillwater.
      Comments 1 Comment
      1. 8timechamps's Avatar
        8timechamps -
        Great piece Phil.

        Especially love the first part about Knight. He was throwing darts most of the day, and the lone interception was on Saunders. Still, I couldn't help but think "this is what Heupel/Norvell envisioned the offense looking like over the summer".

        Good stuff.
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