The Road Warrior Report - Missouri State Review - September 13, 2020

NORMAN – It seemed at times like it would never come, but the Sooners finally opened the 2020 football season last night in front of a COVID-19 sellout crowd of 22,700 – the smallest home crowd in Norman since the 1940s – with a 48-0 win over Missouri State. The game was not as close as the score indicated, if that’s possible.

Redshirt freshman QB Spencer Rattler was spectacular, even against the poor competition, going 14 of 17 for 290 yards and four TDs in only a half of play. Two of Rattler’s incompletions were drops, including one that would have been his fifth TD of the day. With the losses of CeeDee Lamb, Trey Sermon, and Kennedy Brooks, true freshmen Seth McGowan at RB and Marvin Mims at WR stood out. McGowan led all rushers with 61 yards and a TD on nine carries. He also added a TD on a 37-yard swing pass from Rattler. Mims, meanwhile, had three catches for 80 yards and two TDs and looked very dangerous returning punts.



Charleston Rambo had four catches for 80 yards and two TDs. Marcus Major looked good with 31 yards on 11 carries for the night. A number of Sooners missed the game for undisclosed - presumably COVID-19 testing related - reasons, including kicker Gabe Brkic.

Missouri State won the toss and took the ball. After a three-and-out, OU took over on their own 42. Rattler hit Theo Wease for six yards, then Austin Stogner for 17. After a Rattler 10-yard run, he hit Jeremiah Hall coming back to the ball at the one-yard line. One play later, McGowan took it in and it was 7-0 Sooners with 11:24 to play in the first quarter.



Another three-and-out and the Sooners had it on their 42 after a 17-yard Mims punt return. Rattler then hit Mims on the next play for a 58-yard TD and it was 14-0 with 9:48 to play in the first quarter.

Yet another three-and-out, and OU had it on their own 35. Major ran for nine yards, then four more, before Rattler hit Theo Howard for six. McGowan ran for eight, then lost three, then Rattler went over the top again to Rambo for 53 yards and another TD. The Sooners led 21-0 with 6:16 to go in the first quarter.



Missouri State again failed to make a first down on the ensuing possession, and another 17-yard punt return from Mims gave OU excellent field position at the Missouri State 37. On the next play, Rattler swung the ball out left to McGowan and he split a couple of defenders and went down the sideline for the score. That made it 28-0 with 4:28 still to go in the first quarter.

Still another three-and-out gave the Sooners the ball on the Bears’ 28, after an electric 34-yard punt return from Mims. The Sooners could not make a first down for the first time all night, and had to settle for a 42-yard field goal from Steven Johnson, and it was 31-0 with 1:22 to go in the first quarter. Another field goal on the next possession made it 34-0 with 11:10 to play in the first half.



The Sooners’ final scoring possession of the first half started from their own 48. McGowan ran for 23 yards, then Rattler hit Mikey Henderson for nine yards to the Bear 20. Four plays later, Rattler hit Rambo for a 15-yard TD and it was 41-0 with 5:37 to play in the first half.

Tanner Mordecai completed the evening’s scoring with a 16-yard TD pass to Finn Corwin with 14:20 to play in the game. Missouri State did challenge the scoreboard once, but a 36-yard field goal try was wide right in the fourth quarter.



Overall, it was an encouraging opener, not least because it happened at all. The level of competition was inferior, to be sure – Missouri State is not only an FCS school, but a bad one with a new coach, even if that coach is Bobby Petrino. Still there have been too many openers where the Sooners couldn’t seem to get out of their own way, regardless of who they were playing. That was not the case Saturday night. The Sooners looked crisp and executed well in all three phases. That’s about all you could have asked.

Next up, Kansas State comes to Norman two Saturdays from now. The Wildcats are coming off a humiliating home loss to Arkansas State, which doesn’t mean a thing for the game in two weeks. They bit us in Manhattan last season, and we need to be prepared to bite back.