OU-Kansas State: Q4 Report

NORMAN — Self-inflicted mistakes by Oklahoma and another fanatical effort from Kansas paved the way for college football’s biggest upset so far in the COVID era.

The No. 3-ranked Sooners were shocked — again — by Kansas State, this time 38-35 in the sparsely populated confines of Memorial Stadium.

OU went into its Big 12 Conference opener as a 28-point favorite, but withered as K-State scored the game’s final 24 points.

It’s OU’s second straight loss to the Wildcats, but this collapse had more a feel like the 2017 Iowa State game in Norman.

The Sooners blew a 35-14 lead but still had a shot before quarterback Spencer Rattler threw his third interception of the day to seal it in the final seconds.

K-State quarterback Skylar Thompson’s third touchdown run of the day — a 3-yard dive for the pylon — cut it to 35-28 and came with 12:28 to play.

That TD came eight plays after Seth McGowan’s third-quarter fumble. McGowan lost the ball after a hard hit by Jahron McPherson and Drew Wiley recovered.

Thompson had four TD runs in last year’s 48-41 shocker in Manhattan, so his performance wasn’t a surprise.

But his teammates’ ability to get behind the OU defense — a 77-yard gain on a short throw to Deuce Vaughn and a 78-yard gain on a deep throw to wide open Keyon Mozee, both in the third quarter — left Sooner Nation, eager to see this year’s defensive progress in Year 2 under coordinator Alex Grinch, quite distressed.

After K-State got a stop, Reeves Mundschau had his punt blocked by A.J. Parker. The Wildcats took over at the OU 28 and needed only two plays to tie it up.

On second down, Deuce Vaughn sprinted virtually untouched through the OU defense to make it 35-34. The Wildcats lined up to go for a 2-point conversion, but instead got hit with a delay-of-game penalty. That brought on kicker Blake Lynch, who tied it at 35 with 8:17 to play.

After another defensive stop, K-State — which trailed 35-14 late in the third quarter — finally took the lead when Lynch powered through a 50-yard field goal with 4:32 to play.

OU had an edge in total yards of 171-12 after the first quarter, and 288-98 at halftime. But the third-quarter defense and the fourth-quarter offense cleared the way for an epic K-State comeback.

The Wildcats finished 400 total yards, while the Sooners ended with 517. But of Oklahoma’s total output, the Sooners managed only 62 (on 18 plays) in the fourth quarter.

Last year’s game featured a big K-State lead and an OU rally. This year’s was just the opposite and was reminiscent of Iowa State’s stunning victory at Owen Field in 2017 — Lincoln Riley’s first career loss.

OU now faces a month away from home, starting with next week’s game at Iowa State, followed by No. 89Texas in Dallas on Oct. 10.

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