Everybody knew there was going to be a moment this season where it was going to sink in that Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler is a redshirt freshman.

But when OU was up 21 points in the second half, nobody could have predicted that would be the moment it would show up.

That’s how it shook out in another improbable loss for the Sooners, dropping a 38-35 game to visiting Kansas State in the Big 12 conference opener for both teams.

The numbers for Rattler look pretty nice, throwing for 387 yards and four touchdowns. However, as KSU made its comeback, there were few answers and his third interception ended up being the final blow to a wild final 20 minutes.

“It definitely will be a learning experience,” head coach Lincoln Riley said. “He had the one reckless interception in the first half where he just threw the ball up. That was frustrating. Other than that, he was really good in the first half. And then we just couldn’t keep him quite comfortable enough in the pocket. I didn’t think he was very comfortable there the entire day.”

OU did not make Rattler available for postgame interviews.

As KSU mounted its comeback, it was a collapse every way possible. OU only gained 50 total yards after taking the 35-14 lead. The Sooners had two turnovers (fumble, interception) and three punts.

And any big plays that were made, saw some of them being negated because of sloppy penalties, a problem for OU all day.

“Moved around, missed a few things, missed a couple throws,” Riley said. “Made a lot of big plays, had several big plays taken back by penalties. Again, there’s going to be several decisions that we are going to want back. That’s kind of the nature of playing that position.”

Rattler at one point was 24-of-26 with four touchdowns and two interceptions, going just 6 of 15 down the stretch run with the game-sealing interception.

“He did a lot of good things too,” Riley said. “No question – it’s a young guy in his second start. We’re going to continue to build on it. He’ll continue to build and get better. He’ll get continued to get coached better as well.”

Takeaways equal victory

If you’ve heard Alex Grinch say it once, heard it a thousand times. Takeaways equal victory. And through two games, OU has forced one takeaway.

And in this one, the Sooners gave it up four times and had a punt blocked. Conversely, the Sooners had some nice tackles for loss but never turned a good play into a great one and got the ball back.

“I think our problem is we’ll get TFLs and all that and we’ll get a lot of negative plays and we’ll hit guys in the backfield but those TFLs can turn into fumbles,” captain Pat Fields said. “Those sacks can turn into strip sacks. We’ve got to create more turnovers like that.

“Then in terms of the passing game, we’ve got to find a way to get interceptions. One interception through two games and then we lost the turnover margin today 4-0, 5-0 if you include the fourth down we failed to convert so…”

The goal is 26 takeaways in 13 games. We’ll talk more about if a 13th game is even possible now, but the 26 seems so far off from what OU has been able to produce.

For the first time, it sounded like Grinch didn’t have the answer.

“I wish I had the answer,” Grinch said. “Obviously if I did, they’d get done. At this point, we’ve been together for over a year. There’s no one else to blame but me for that. I’m missing on it. I’m missing on it somehow, and so I got to go back to the drawing board and say, ‘Why are we not able to do it? Why do we continue to look at plays being made?’

“A fourth quarter game feels awfully, awfully long to us to pay at some sort of standard for 64 minutes. I bring that up because I think takeaways are obviously a huge element to that. If you’re taking the field just hoping that enough plays are being made to get you off the field...maybe that mindset contributes to the lack of those plays being made.

“They win you ball games, they lose you ball games obviously, and I’m not getting the job done.”

Let off the gas pedal

OU players were definitely a little lost for words at seeing the second-half lead disappear and KSU outscore OU 17-0 in the fourth quarter.

Center Creed Humphrey didn’t feel as though KSU changed up its game plan, but there’s no doubt something was different down that stretch run.

“We just played flat. Can’t be doing that. I thought we had good energy coming out of halftime. We ended up playing flat,” Humphrey said. “We can’t let that happen again. We’re not going to let that happen again.”

Humphrey missed some time in the second half because of a cramp, and OU tried to get freshmen Anton Harrison and Andrew Raym more involved on the offensive line.

The group did some strong things in the first three quarters, but Rattler was uncomfortable throughout the majority of the fourth quarter.

One thing, Riley said, was really hoping OU could break out some long runs. Felt like on the cusp, but it never actually went down.

“I can't tell you how many times we were one on one with the safety and I don't know, we weren't able to get loose enough. You're counting on one of those eventually popping for a big play,” Riley said.

OU’s longest rush by a running back was 14 yards by Seth McGowan. OU was able to get Charleston Rambo for 21 yards on the first play from scrimmage on a reverse.