Every play matters in a college football game but some plays do a better job of explaining the outcome. Here are the five that told the story of Oklahoma’s 23-16 win vs. Nebraska.
No. 3 OU 23, Nebraska 16
Play No. 1: Raym enters, good things happen
We enter here early in the second quarter, and it’s only OU’s third drive of the game with the Sooners up 7-3. Andrew Raym has replaced Robert Congel at center, and here’s the first play.
Kennedy Brooks rushes for 23 yards, which ends up tying for the longest play from scrimmage for the Sooners in the entire game.
Coincidence?
“He’s just a baller man. He gets the job done,” Brooks said. “He goes out there and does what he needs to do, nothing more, nothing less. He just dominates. He did a great job. I’m happy he’s back. But everybody else on the offensive line did great too.”
The line just felt different with Raym in there, and OU was able to average 5.5 yards per carry with 194 yards on 35 attempts.
Play No. 2: Into the bag of tricks
Now almost midway into the third quarter, still 7-3, and only OU’s second play from scrimmage in the second half.
OK, Mario Williams was lined up in the backfield, you knew something was about to go down.
Rattler gave it to Williams, who threw it back to Rattler, who then found Marvin Mims for a 23-yard gain and woke the crowd up again.
“It’s something we’ve worked in practice. The look was perfect for it,” Rattler said. “No. 13 actually came – it was a split second when I had to get that ball out – Mario threw me a good ball and Marvin was wide open. I just had to get it to him.
“Luckily, I didn’t get blown up on that. We made it work. It was a huge spark for our offense to get going. I think you could see that after that play.”
OU would score on a Rattler touchdown pass to Jeremiah Hall to make it 14-3 to close the drive.
Play No. 3: The Block
It’s why you assume nothing in football, right? Nebraska had just scored to make it 14-9 with :08 left in the third quarter.
Don’t tweet out that 14-10 score just yet. Here comes Isaiah Coe with the block up the middle, with the ball falling right into Pat Fields’ hands so he can return it 100 yards the other way for the two-point conversion.
And 14-10 becomes 16-9 just like that.
“When Pat took that to the house, that’s what we needed, something like that,” cornerback D.J. Graham said. “But that’s the beauty of football, it can happen just like that. It’s not like other sports like basketball where you’re guaranteed to get the ball back. You have to get it when you can get it. It shows you the importance of momentum.”
Play No. 4: Graham (yea, you know)
If you saw it, you’re never going to forget the one-handed spinning interception made by D.J. Graham in the fourth quarter.
We’re done debating if it should have been batted down on fourth down. We’ll let Alex Grinch tell the story.
“From an instinct standpoint, you’re going after to the football,” Grinch said. “Sometimes you can make a point in terms of, you know, bat the ball down and those things and then you can end up batting it up. Even some Hail Marys situations, we talk about guys going up and attacking the football and going to catch it so you eliminate the tip that can sometimes happen. It's a two-way street.
“I like takeaways too much to tell them to put it on the ground. But in that particular situation, a guy goes to make a play, we’re excited for him.”
OU was up 23-9 with 8:19 left in the game. But the offense went three plays, zero yards on the ensuing possession. Welp.
Play No. 5: Sack masters end the drama
Nebraska is taking over at its 17 yard line with 57 seconds left in the game. OU’s defense needs to make a play, and it does. And then does it again.
First down is wrecked by a combo sack from Jalen Redmond and Perrion Winfrey. Third down is the icing on the cake with the sack from Nik Bonitto.
Adrian Martinez kept coming for Nebraska, but so did OU’s defensive line. When one big stop was required, the Sooners defense answered the call to make sure OU is 3-0 heading into Big 12 play.
