3 Sooner Takeaways: Sooners’ New Starting QB Confident, Not ‘Rattle’-d In Season Opening Win

We knew this would be Spencer Rattler’s team when Jalen Hurts stepped off the field for the final time last season. We figured this would be Spencer Rattler’s team when preseason camp began and head coach Lincoln Riley announced that he would indeed be the team’s starting quarterback on Sept. 1. It did not officially become his team until Rattler threw his first touchdown of the year.

Saturday, September 12th 2020, 10:13 pm

By: Nate Kotisso


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We knew this would be Spencer Rattler’s team when Jalen Hurts stepped off the field for the final time last season. We figured this would be Spencer Rattler’s team when preseason camp began and head coach Lincoln Riley announced that he would indeed be the team’s starting quarterback on Sept. 1.

It did not officially become his team until Rattler threw his first touchdown of the year. He threw a confident heave over the top of Missouri State’s defense that ended in a 58-yard scoring play.

One play, one touchdown, 10 seconds off the game clock.

Rattler finished the night 14-for-17 passing for 290 yards and four touchdown passes. A pretty efficient evening, if you ask me.

If you made the purchase, hopefully you felt this was worth the 54 dollars and 99 cents.


First Takeaway: In ‘Serious Jeopardy’

Missouri State President Clif Smart was a very concerned man.

A little more than 24 hours before OU and Missouri State’s 6 p.m. kickoff, Smart told his university’s board of governors Friday that the game was *this close* to being postponed or canceled.

All of Missouri State’s 72 football players traveling to Norman were tested without any of them testing positive for COVID-19. But Oklahoma?

"Oklahoma cannot say the same thing," Smart told the Springfield News-Leader on Friday. "The game was in serious jeopardy until we got final test results this morning and I better not say anything else because I don't know who's listening."

Smart’s comment comes on the heels of Lincoln Riley announcing that the football team will no longer release its COVID-19 testing results after the program made their test results publicly available in recent weeks. There’s probably a connection between these two events.

Oklahoma State, Baylor and TCU have had their openers called off already. This is life in 2020.


Second Takeaway: Mims Makes His Mark

Going back to Rattler’s first TD pass of 2020, it was Marvin Mims on the receiving end of that throw.

Like Rattler, Mims is a first-time starter as a true freshman and, yes, he is the truth.

In addition to the touchdown, Mims’s 80 receiving yards was tied for tops on the team. He also showed us why he’s a speed demon on special teams, returning three punts for 68 yards.

Mims comes to OU after a historic career at Frisco Lone Star down in the Metroplex. No one has more total receiving yards in a season (2,629) or career (5,485) in the history of Texas high school football. This is mind-boggling, considering the state’s history of producing great receivers and his 5-foot-11 stature.

The Mims train is leaving the station. Hop on while you have the chance.


Third Takeaway: Sun Belt Football > Big 12 Football

All the Sooners had to do Saturday was not lose Saturday because there were other teams doing plenty of that elsewhere in the Big 12.

Kansas State, whose season opener against Arkansas State was moved from cable to broadcast television, let the game slip away late versus the Red Wolves.

Iowa State received the worst of it. The Cyclones, ranked fourth in the Big 12’s preseason poll, failed to score a point in the second half in their 31-14 loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns of Louisiana-Lafayette.

To make matters worse, ESPN College Gameday host Rece Davis declared ISU QB Brock Purdy as the best quarterback in the Big 12. The so-called best QB in the conference completed 16 of 35 passes for 145 yards, zero touchdowns and an interception on Saturday.

Kansas, which, I'm told, also plays college football, lost to Coastal Carolina 38-23 in Lawrence.

Oklahoma is still far and away the Big 12 favorite, but if these trends of lackluster football continue, it could lock up the league in a month’s time.

OU winning the Sun Belt Conference championship, however, appears to be less of a surer thing.

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