S P O RT S
BY: CHRIS PLANK
SOONER MAGIC
But, just as the party was reaching its crescendo at McClane Stadium, the Sooners whipped up an improbable batch of Sooner Magic that left the Baylor Bears looking for answers. It was a come-from-behind ending the Sooner Nation had never seen before.
This is the story of one of the wildest days in Sooner football history with twists and turns, dizzying highs, preceded by soul crushing lows. Somehow, in the end, it all came together to give the Sooners a memorable triumph.
PREGAME MYSTERY The Sooners are familiar with the media circus surrounding ESPN’s College Gameday broadcasts, and OU was making its 37th appearance in the featured game. With Baylor sitting at 9-0, this was the biggest match-up of the 2019 Big 12 season.
Lee Corso donned the Bear mascot head with guest pickers Chip and Joanna Gaines projecting a Baylor win. As soon as Gameday signed off, the rumors started.
Talented Sooner wide receiver and Biletnikoff Award semi-finalist, CeeDee Lamb might not play. As kickoff drew closer, the rumors intensified. A report from The Oklahoma Daily student newspaper listed Lamb as questionable and any flame of concern was fanned into a full-fledged, five-alarm fire.
But in one of the day’s first odd twists, Lamb participated in pre-game warmups. He was dancing, catching passes, going through drills. He looked ready, but unfortunately, he was not. “Ceedee Lamb will not play tonight,” 60 | December 2019
Sooner Radio Network sideline analyst Gabe Ikard said, moments before kickoff. “The decision has been made to hold him out.”
It sent shockwaves through the Sooner Nation and even surprised the ABC/ ESPN broadcast team. “You don’t often have a player who is ruled out medically sit down and do a feature for GameDay, do a phone call with Maria Taylor, go through warmups with pads on,” Chris Fowler said on the broadcast. Analyst Kirk Herbstreit responded, “I’ve never seen that.”
Lamb has become the Sooner offense this season, and now, a young receiving group would have to step up against the physical Baylor defense. As the pre-game invocation wrapped up, it became glaringly obvious the Sooners were in for an interesting night.
COULD NOT HAVE GONE ANY WORSE The circus that surrounded the build up to kick-off was quickly old news, thanks to a traditional fast start for Oklahoma. Defensively, the Sooners forced a first drive punt for the 10th straight game and jumped on top thanks to a Gabe Brkic field goal 3-0. Then the bottom fell out.
Baylor proceeded to score touchdowns on its next four possessions, grabbing a 28-3 lead. During that stretch, the Sooners ran just 16 offensive plays for 56 yards and turned the ball over twice. Jalen Hurts fumbled and then threw an interception to fuel the Baylor run. McClane Stadium was electric. The crowd was roaring as the stadium big screen trolled the Sooners with messages like “OK, Boomer” and 50,000-plus fans sang in unison to the popular song “Truth Hurts.” Add in a shot mocking the crashing of the Sooner Schooner, and the only thing lacking from the first half celebration would have been storming the field and tearing down the goalposts. But the Sooners did not panic. On the sidelines, there was no finger pointing
and no doubt, at least not outwardly. Lincoln Riley, with his team down 28-3, brought the entire team to a huddle to get everyone’s mind right.
“I said at that time we had 41 minutes left in the game. I didn’t want us to panic,” Riley said. “I knew we were going to fight our tails off. You just knew that. Our team knew that. They felt that.” Riley also had a message for his quarterback, and it resonated. “I told him that I think we’re moving it well at this point,” Riley said. “Hold on to the damn ball. Score every drive.”
A SECOND HALF FOR THE AGES Hurts was still struggling. He was playing the worst game of his short OU career, and the Sooners’ defense had allowed points on five consecutive Baylor possessions. Even though the Sooners exited to the halftime locker room trailing 31-10, team confidence was surprisingly high. “It’s gonna be one hell of a story one day to tell our kids,” Sooner Defensive Coordinator Alex Grinch told Hurts as they took the field for the second half.
“Just add another one to the list,” Hurts responded. “One of many.” In fact, Grinch had prepared the Sooners in a round-about way for what it would take to dig out of a hole. Cornerback Parnell Motley mentioned that the team was shown a clip of the New England Patriots overcoming a 28-3 deficit during Super Bowl 51 last week. It is the largest comeback in Super Bowl history. But, why were they shown that?
“Because our last game (against Iowa State), things didn’t really go our way. We were up 35-14, but it’s the way we went about things. It showed us how to face adversity,” Motley said. “We just found a way. Seeing how a Super Bowl team responded in that situation, we looked at the scoreboard the same way.” The Sooners scored on their opening drive of the second half to cut the score to 31-17.
Photo provided by: The Oklahoman
I
t was a party in Waco, Texas, and for good reason. The Baylor Bears were making a statement early with a dominating performance on national television against the Oklahoma Sooners. The Bears were trying to place themselves into the Big 12 Championship conversation, but also into the National Championship conversation.
