W E E K LY E D I T I O N | O C T. 12 -18 , 2 0 2 1 | O U D A I LY. C O M
OU DAILY
TREY YOUNG/THE DAILY
Freshman quarterback Caleb Williams dons the Golden Hat after the Sooners defeated Texas in the Red River Showdown at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 9.
SUPER, MAN
Freshman quarterback saves Sooners in first major performance MASON YOUNG @Mason_Young_0
DALLAS — Caleb Williams stood tall amid his teammates as he donned the Golden Hat, yelled in celebration and threw Horns Down, the inverted Longhorn insignias on his fingernails burning orange in the 90-degree sunlight. Moments later, as Williams rested front and center for a team picture in the middle of the Cotton Bowl, Spencer Rattler was nowhere to be found. The freshman they call “Superman” had saved the Sooners’ season and upended OU’s quarterback situation, creating a battle that will take center stage in the weeks to follow. No. 6 Oklahoma (6-0, 3-0 Big 12) completed the largest comeback in the history of the Red River Showdown, resurging from a 28-7 first quarter deficit against No. 21 Texas (4-2, 2-1) for a 55-48 win, thanks in large part to Williams’ heroism. The No. 1 quarterback in the 2020 recruiting class, who, until Saturday, had seen only special package usage behind Rattler — the preseason Heisman Trophy favorite and second-year starter — took control of the Sooners’ offense and captained it to victory, finishing 16-of-25 for 212 yards plus 88 rushing yards and three total touchdowns. “Hell of a game, hell of a performance, no doubt about it,” Randy Trivers, Williams’
former coach at Gonzaga C o l l e g e Hig h S c h o o l i n Washington, D.C., told The Daily after the game. “Not a shock. That young man is a special talent who rises in special moments.” Entering the game to begin the second quarter and facing a fourth-and-one, Williams took the snap and cut left, breaking two tackles before finding a seam and sprinting 66 yards at 19.1 mph. Racing downfield like the red-caped blur he’s nicknamed after, Williams punctuated the run by stretching the ball across the goal line and flying in for a touchdown like the Man of Steel himself. Two drives later, Rattler, who’d previously thrown an interception, fumbled, leading to a touchdown that put Texas up 35-17 with six minutes and 41 seconds left in the second quarter. One year after temporarily benching Rattler before his quadruple-overtime comeback against Texas, Riley removed his starter again — two weeks after OU’s student section called for his benching — and entrusted his offense to Williams. “I think the playbook changes because (Williams is) a runner,” ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit said of the quarterback change on ABC’s broadcast at halftime. “Things change because you can now attack with him as an extra number for that defense to have to account for, and then you can still go play action. With Spencer Rattler, it was really more about what he could do if he had to create. With Caleb Williams, it’s designed to let him use his legs.” Williams promptly led OU to a field goal on its last drive of the second quarter, but the
Longhorns responded with their own, increasing their lead to 18 at the break. Before and after halftime, Williams had a spring in his step, waving his hands, rallying his teammates and hyping up the Sooner faithful. On the Sooners’ third possession of the second half, Williams finally completed his first collegiate touchdown pass after OU and Texas traded field goals again to open the third quarter. Unfazed by a fumbled snap — a blunder he similarly made last week against Kansas State that cost Oklahoma a potential touchdown — he scooped up the ball and fired a 14-yard dart between two defenders to sophomore receiver Marvin Mims. “He’s very poised, which I told Coach Riley when they were about to offer Caleb, that one of his best qualities is his poise under pressure,” Trivers said. “That’s why it’s not a shock to see him perform really well under a big spotlight.” Williams proved his old coach true again with OU trailing 41-33 midway through the fourth quarter. On thirdand-19 with a defender on his tail, Williams stepped up in the pocket and uncorked a 52-yard touchdown strike to Mims. Trivers had seen plenty of plays like that from Williams in similar situations before, as had Gonzaga offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Danny Schaechter. During the 2018 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship game against DeMatha Catholic, Williams and the Eagles were down 20-0 in the second quarter and later faced a 16-point-deficit with seven minutes left in the game.
Undeterred, Williams needed only three minutes and three seconds to save the day. He rushed for one touchdown, then threw for another with 29 seconds remaining before DeMatha returned a squib kick for a score to retake a 43-40 lead. Refusing surrender, Williams got the ball back with 15 seconds left. Two plays later, he unleashed a 60-yard Hail Mary from the 41-yard-line, which was caught for a championship-clinching touchdown as time expired. “In his career, a bunch of times at Gonzaga we were down big. (He’d) never give up,” Schaechter told The Daily. “(He’d) keep playing, living the next play and making great plays where he needs to make great plays, because Superman always has his cape on.” Following Williams’ intrepid fourth-quarter touchdown Saturday, Riley put Rattler back in for what he called the most important play of the game — a two-point conversion he completed to redshirt junior receiver Drake Stoops. After Texas’ Xavier Worthy was stripped by another Caleb — OU’s sixthyear senior linebacker Caleb Kelly — on the ensuing kickoff, OU took a 48-41 lead, its first of the game. UT quarterback Casey Thompson, the son of former Sooners passer Charles Thompson, responded with a tying 31-yard touchdown pass to Worthy. Williams replied by marching the Sooners downfield, and then Brooks broke a 33-yard touchdown run with three seconds remaining to seal the win. “I get what’s going on with Rattler and everything, but I’ve been telling people for a
while that Caleb Williams is the best college football player right now,” Schaechter said. “He is an unbelievable athlete, unbelievable playmaker and quarterback, and so when he went in, I was just excited for him, because he has put a lot of work into it. ... I just want him to experience the success that he works for and deserves.” Afterward, many of the 92,100 in attendance stormed the field to celebrate, among them student section members who’d gotten their wish. Just two weeks ago, they’d chanted “We want Caleb” on an ABC broadcast after Rattler threw an interception against West Virginia. Rattler was scarce postgame, and Riley made neither quarterback available to reporters. The Sooners’ coach said he had planned to bring Rattler back into the game but changed his mind once OU’s offense began rolling with Williams. Ultimately, Riley was noncommittal on who he plans to start next week against TCU (3-2, 1-1). Should he choose Williams, the freshman phenom appears more than ready for the challenge. “There are a lot of competitive guys that are talented that in the moment don’t necessarily have that ‘it’ factor, and he’s just got it, man,” Trivers said of Williams’ abilities, not just in isolated situations, but also the biggest moments. “You just have those athletes that you’ve just gotta think, man, we’re gonna see the magic again, and he’s one of those guys that has the ‘it.’” masyoung@ou.edu
Mental health concerns loom over faculty Strains of anxiety increase amid lack of bolstered COVID-19 precautions ALEXIA ASTON @alexiaaston
The lack of mental health resources and the inability of many to work from home has caused several OU faculty and staff fear and anxiety under the university’s current COVID-19 policies. With mental health strains heightened by the pandemic, some OU faculty and staff have faced difficulties finding mental health resources due to long waitlists and unavailability. Others have opted to transfer
universities entirely. A university spokesperson said approximately 10 percent of the OU University Counseling Center’s patients were faculty and staff members. They said the UCC will continue to provide counseling and psychiatric services to faculty and staff throughout the pandemic. However, the UCC limits its counseling patients to 12 sessions per year, which several students reported restricts their ability to seek counsel amid mental health challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Former OU biology assistant professor Daniel Allen began his first day at Penn State University on Oct. 1 after frustration regarding OU’s response to COVID-19. Allen said
navigating his work at OU amid a pandemic was stressful, as he had a heavy workload and two kids ineligible for the vaccine. OU’s lack of a mask mandate or vaccine mandate has caused him anxiety, Allen said. Allen’s kids attend Norman Public Schools, where masking indoors is also “expected” but not required. Allen said he believes NPS would follow suit if OU enacted a mask mandate. Allen said switching from a virtual classroom setting to an in-person classroom this year was frustrating because the OU administration was “ignoring” the pandemic. The university’s mission to generate knowledge contradicts its policy-making, Allen said.
“It feels like, especially as a scientist, when they’re ignoring the science, it’s like, ‘Why am I putting all my effort here?’” Allen said. At Penn State, students are “encouraged” to share their vaccination status. On Aug. 30, Penn State reported 78 percent of off-campus students and over 86 percent of students living on campus submitted proof of vaccination and found 80 percent of students were vaccinated. They also reported about 83 percent of their full-time faculty and staff were vaccinated. Those who aren’t vaccinated are required to test weekly for COVID19, according to Penn State News. If one doesn’t comply, “significant consequences,” up to and including
expulsion, will be implemented. At Penn State, students, faculty, staff and visitors are required to wear a mask indoors. In contrast, OU “strongly encourages” masking indoors and in high-density settings. In classrooms where a student has tested positive, the given class is required to wear a mask for two weeks. At Penn State, Allen said he feels less stressed and anxious than he did during his time at OU due to administrators’ efforts to slow the spread of COVID-19. “I was walking around the (student) union today and it was packed full of people, but everyone was see STRESS page 2