The good, the bad, the big-picture takeaways from the Sooners' Bedlam loss

STILLWATER — It’s a situation the Sooners had been in before.

Trailing Oklahoma State by three with under two minutes to go, Dillon Gabriel was tasked with leading the offense down the field to either tie it with a field goal or win it with a touchdown. The drive started great, as Gabriel found Drake Stoops for a 21-yard gain to the OSU 41-yard line.

But that’s when things broke down. Gabriel couldn’t connect with Nic Anderson on back to back plays, then found Jalil Farooq for a five-yard gain.

Facing fourth-and-5, the Sooners had to go for it. But Gabriel found Stoops for a three-yard gain, which wasn’t good enough to get the first down.

That sealed the Sooners’ gut-wrenching 27-24 loss to Oklahoma State.

Here’s a look at the good, the bad and the big-picture takeaways for the Sooners:

Turnovers cost the Sooners again: Last week, both the Sooners and the Jayhawks had three turnovers. The Jayhawks scored 12 points off OU turnovers, while the Sooners scored just six points off Kansas turnovers. That played a huge role in OU's first loss of the season.

Turnovers sunk the Sooners even lower against the Cowboys.

The Sooners committed three turnovers, which led to 10 OSU points. The Cowboys, meanwhile, committed just one turnover — Billy Bowman intercepted Ollie Gordon on a trick play early in the fourth quarter — but it yielded zero points.

In back to back weeks, OU's mistakes proved too costly to overcome.

For the most part, Sooners limit Gordon: The Oklahoma State running back had been on a hot streak coming into the game. In the previous five weeks, Gordon had ran for 978 yards on 122 attempts, averaging over eight yards per carry. The goal coming into the game for the Sooners was to find some way to make him less efficient.

Guess what? They mostly did. Gordon had 137 rushing yards on 33 carries, averaging 4.2 yards per carry. That’s his fewest yards in a conference game this season and only the second time Gordon has been held to under 5.8 YPC.

Gordon did have some chunk plays — he had rushes of 35, 20 and 12 yards, respectively — and had two touchdowns. But the Sooners largely executed at keeping Gordon contained, particularly compared to other Big 12 teams.

Another controversy hurts the Sooners: It's not complicated. Drake Stoops was blatantly tackled in the end zone late in the fourth quarter, which should've been flagged for pass interference.

It's particularly hurtful because the no-call forced the Sooners to settle for a field goal to cut the OSU lead to 27-24 with 4:48 to go. If it had been flagged, the Sooners would've had a fresh set of downs at the two-yard line with an opportunity to score and take the lead.

Fans were understandably livid. There's a ton of frustration at Big 12 officials right now, and rightfully so. But two things can be true — that was a huge miss that had a massive impact in the game, but the Sooners made so many mistakes on their own that proved to be more hurtful.

Penalties, penalties, penalties: The Sooners committed a season-high 11 penalties for a season-high 101 yards last week.

While they weren't flagged quite as much, there was still a major discrepancy in the foul department. The Sooners were flagged eight times for 55 yards, while the Cowboys were flagged just four times for 29 yards.

Just like last week, the Sooners committed back-to-back penalties on that same play that yielded 30 yards. It came on a fourth-quarter drive for the Cowboys, when Makari Vickers was flagged for a questionable pass interference on a third-down pass that fell incomplete. Brent Venables protested the call, and he was then flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Those penalty yards proved particularly helpful for the Cowboys, who capped off a 97-yard drive to take a 27-21 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

While the Sooners have been the victim of some bad whistles in recent weeks, the reality is the Sooners have often been undisciplined. They are the most penalized team in the Big 12, and that continued against OSU.

The Sooners find success on the ground: Though the running back situation was again confusing, they still turned in their most efficient performance of 2023.

Gavin Sawchuk got the start and promptly finished with 111 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries (8.5 yards per carry). That includes a 64-yard touchdown in the first quarter, the Sooners' longest of the season.

Tawee Walker also got involved in the second half, taking eight carries for 59 yards and a score.

Though the rotation continues to be baffling — freshman Daylan Smothers saw his first snaps in several weeks — the team finished with 148 yards while averaging 5.5 yards per carry.

— I'll discuss the Bedlam implications in a second. But the toughest part of this loss has to do with this season. The Sooners' College Football Playoff chances are gone. Plus, they no longer control their own destiny for the Big 12 title. Oklahoma State (7-2, 5-1 Big 12) is now tied for first in the Big 12 with Texas, who defeated Kansas State on Saturday. The Cowboys also have an easy schedule down the stretch.

The Sooners could still make it if Oklahoma State and Texas slip up. But they are also tied with Kansas State for second and would potentially need the Wildcats to slip up, too. The simple way to put it? The Sooners need a lot of things to go their way.

— After starting 7-0, the Sooners are now 7-2 and losers of back-to-back games. While they will objectively finish with a better record than last season, it's hard not to feel the parallels to the end of last season.

The Sooners can still regroup and finish with a respectable 10-2 record. But the microscope is certainly on this team now.

— From a bigger-picture perspective, there's no way to sugarcoat it. Losing the last Bedlam for the foreseeable future hurts if you're a Sooner fan. And for the second straight week, the opposing team's fans rushed the field in celebration of beating the Sooners. The Cowboys even played Taylor Swift's "We are never ever getting back together" over the stadium speakers after the game.

Yes, the Sooners will move on. Yes, they've dominated the rivalry historically. But there's no doubt it hurts to lose the "last one."