The Odyssey in Oklahoma: The Agony & the Apathy

Which hurts more?  When nobody cares about you or when you want something in the worst way only to have it cruelly slip out of your hands at the 12^th hour?

The Odyssey travelled to Tulsa under  hypocritical protest.   We believe Friday night should be reserved for high school football.  Evidently the folks in Northeast Oklahoma feel the same way judging by the abysmal attendance when the Golden Hurricane faced a ranked Memphis team and their high powered passing attack.  The announced attendance was 17,000 and that might have been true if one was counting eyeballs and perhaps another body part or two.  In the school’s defense, Tulsa has the smallest student body of the 130 Division 1-A schools.  The Odyssey does like Friday night games because it allows us to schedule double headers at will  — a particularly important element when based in the Northern suburb of Tijuana.  We were in Tulsa because the trip to Stillwater, for the following day’s 112^th edition of Bedlam, was only an hour away.

The Golden Hurricane play at historic Skelly Stadium.  Originally built in 1930 at a cost of $350,000, the  stadium’s original capacity was 14,500 – plenty big enough to accommodate Friday night’s patrons,  as  subsequent expansion seemed a needless conceit on this evening.   The stadium reeked of history in the same manner one might regard a 65-year-old who was once a Hollywood starlet.  Tulsa football was once a big, big deal.   In 1946, the Golden Hurricane became the first school to play in five consecutive New Year’s Day bowl games. So big that the Arkansas Razorbacks, two hours east in Fayetteville, would regularly travel to Tulsa.   Mind you, the last time this occurred was in 1952.    Since this was my year of birth, I do not remember many details of the 1952 game.  But I vividly remember how many subsequent Septembers Tulsa would travel to Fayetteville,  For reasons I cannot understand, a couple of time Arkansas forced Tulsa to travel 200 miles further southeast to stage the game in Little Rock.  Since 1952, Tulsa has played Arkansas 39 times (72 in total).  That all 39 games have been in the state of Arkansas say volumes about the clear distinction between college football’s “haves” and “have nots.”

The Tulsa squads of the 1960’s were good enough to garner national recognition for the passing prowess of Jerry Rhome.  Rhome was the 1964 Heisman Trophy runner up to Notre Dame’s John Huarte.    Legendary Howard Twilley was the recipient of many of Rhome’s passes.  Twilley would not be the last legendary receiver at Tulsa. A decade later, Steve Largent’s springboard to great success as a sure-handed, record setting Seattle Seahawk receiver and election to Congress was provided by his record setting career at TU.

One of the weekend’s exciting elements was the opportunity to view what were almost assuredly the three best passing offenses in the country.  Memphis QB, Riley Ferguson, certainly did not disappoint as threw for 298 yards to a very talented receiving corps, featuring Anthony Miller and Tony Pollard.  Pollard, who doubles as a stellar kick returner, would have had his sixth kick return touchdown of his career, if not called back for a penalty.  The  surprise in Memphis’ 41-14 victory was that for the second week in a row the Tigers actually played decent defense, holding Tulsa to 301 yards.  Certainly, Las Vegas bettors were shocked by this development, as the total points for the “over/under” had skied to 80.  Watching Memphis defend against a reasonable TU rushing attack forced me to revise my opinion that the Tigers were “half a team.”

Ferguson’s 298 yards of passing needs some context because he did not have to throw in the later stages once Memphis grasped full control.   Regardless, 298 from a very talented quarterback would get even more context a day later in perhaps the wildest Bedlam ever.  Two fantastic quarterbacks, Mason Rudolph and Baker Mayfield, would each throw for almost as many yards in the second quarter ALONE!!

The first half in Stillwater will go down as one of the most exciting  in college football history, particularly given the game’s massive stakes for the two one-loss teams.  The Odyssey will not even attempt to summarize the first half highlights of a half that wound up at 38-38.  To do so would take the meticulousness and wordiness of a Michener clone.

In an emotional game like Bedlam, the fans were treated and subjected to a draining, non-stop roller coaster ride.  Particularly when the fans were literally on their feet for the vast majority of what would prove to be an epic thriller. That the Bedlam rivalry is truly unique in one regard just added so much more to the emotions of the home Cowboy fans.  Oklahoma is Oklahoma State’s big brother in this rivalry.  How many times had the Cowboys beaten the Sooners in their previous 111 games?  A paltry nineteen.  Not even Mike Gundy, one of the nation’s most likable and successful coaches, has been able to get the Sooner monkey off the back of the Cowboys, as attested by his 2-10 Bedlam mark heading into Saturday’s showdown.  A superficial fan might write off the rivalry’s imbalance as a byproduct of poor Cowboy football teams but the fan would be wrong.  Oklahoma State has produced four of college football’s best ever over the past 35 years:  Thurman Thomas, Hart Lee Dykes, Barry Sanders and Mason Rudolph.  The Cowboy triggerman who handed off to Sanders and threw to Dykes?  None other than a very accomplished quarterback named Mike Gundy.  So, for Gundy, who has  deeper  ties to his university than virtually every other coach in the country, this rivalry game on a picture perfect November afternoon had even bigger import.

Even more cruel to Cowboy faithful than the one-sided record is how OU always manages to pull the rug from under the Cowboys when OSU has a good team.  Saturday’s tilt marked the 16^th time that Bedlam matched a pair of ranked teams.  Oklahoma’s record in the previous 15:  14-1.  While the 5^th ranked Sooners came into the game ranked higher than 11^th-ranked OSU, the Cowboys were a slight favorite due to the game’s locale at Boone Pickens Stadium.

The frenzied OSU faithful went wild when Baker Mayfield was picked off in the opening series.  Justice Hill’s TD run was called back because of an illegal block by star receiver James Washington.  After taking a 3-0 lead,  the Cowboys’ fans had another chance to go crazy when an apparent fumble by OU resulted in a “scoop and score” for a 10-0 lead.  After an interminable review, the field ruling was reversed and ruling as an incomplete forward pass.  The Oklahoman’s Jenni Carlson summed up the play as follows:  “Officials determined that Abdul Adams hadn’t caught the ball despite taking multiple steps after first touching it and attempting to switch the arm that he was carrying it in.”

While the Cowboys would wind up scoring 5 touchdowns in the first half, the fact that two additional TD’s were called back in the tilt’s first four minutes fueled the notion that OU’s century-plus whammy over OSU would not be easily put to bed.

Unlike the surreal first half, the second half calmed down and started to resemble football as we know it.  Remarkably, there was no scoring in the first ten minutes of the second half!  A fateful moment occurred late in the 3^rd quarter.  The Cowboys, down 41-38, were poised to reclaim the lead with a first and goal at the OU 3.  You did have Justice Hill at your disposal.  Hill would tally 228 rushing yards in the game, breaking the Bedlam rushing record for an OSU running back  (You guessed it, the previous record holder was none other than the legendary Sanders).  Instead, a pass play was called.  Rudolph made an atypically poor decision, throwing into double coverage.  Picked off!  The Sooners used the momentum from this pivotal play to take a 48-38 lead they would not relinquish.

With under 4 minutes to go, OU, clinging to a 55-52 lead, appeared ready to apply the dagger with the ball deep in Cowboy territory. However, it was Mayfield’s turn to make a rare poor decision as he was picked off for the second time in the game.  Just another dramatic ebb and flow in a game that seemingly had an unlimited supply.  When Rudolph took the field , he would do so with one significant handicap.  Although OSU has a deep stable of receivers. their best, James Washington, was sidelined in the third quarter after an ankle injury,

OU seemingly won the game with an interception with under two minutes to go.  But wait!  Another very long official review followed.  When the referees ruled targeting on OU, the live ball foul was ruled to have been made prior to the interception.  The subdued crowd exploded when the announcement, wiping out the interception, was made.  The Sooners’ defense rose up, forcing a 4^th and 8 on the OU 38.

Except for a couple coaches who have the luxury of a field goal kicker with a bazooka, most coaches would have tried to get the first down.  The only coach with a mullet thought otherwise.  The Cowboys went for it — OK—but not for a first down but a touchdown.  Randolph heaved yet another deep ball toward the end zone.  The gutsy call made sense since no college quarterback has better touch on deep balls than the 4-year Cowboy starter.   However, on one of the most pivotal passes of Randolph’s career, the Senior overthrew his receiver by two steps.   The Sooners scored another TD as they attempted to run out the clock.  Oklahoma not only won 62-52 but Baker Mayfield’s moxie and his school record 598 passing yard put the OU Senior front and center in the Heisman race as he almost assuredly cinched an  unprecedented, third  designation as a Heisman Trophy finalist.  An incredible Sooner victory that kept their Big 12 and national championship hopes alive.

As I woke up on Sunday morning in a fog, totally sleep deprived so that I could catch my 6AM flight back to California, I felt even worse for Oklahoma State than I did the evening before as the enormity of their lost opportunity fully sank in.  And incredibly sad for Tulsa, as the Friday night game again proved that the program’s best days were more than a half century in the rearview mirror.