NORMAN, Okla. — Iowa State planted the Iowa state flag on the big “OU” logo in the center of Memorial Stadium on Saturday.
It was one giant leap for the Cyclone program. But it was a stake through the heart of the Sooners — and perhaps the Big 12 Conference.
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“It’s expected,” OU quarterback Baker Mayfield said of the move, who did the same with an OU flag last month after a big victory at Ohio State.
What wasn't expected, though, was a 38-31 Oklahoma loss, a precipitous drop by the Sooners and the biggest upset so far of the college football season. No. 3 Oklahoma came into this game as a 31-point favorite, yet only scored 31 points.
“It’s embarrassing,” Mayfield said, “the fact that we let them come in here and win.”
The Cyclones (3-2 overall, 1-1 Big 12) hadn’t beaten Oklahoma since 1990 — before then, 1961. They had lost 20 straight games to ranked opponents, and had never beaten a top-five team on the road. But ISU came into Norman with a third-string, walk-on quarterback and a salty linebacker with an indomitable attitude.
“Very, very disappointing, just our effort today," Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “I thought we were really ready to play.”
Instead, Oklahoma — coming off a bye and perhaps looking to next week's game against Texas — was sent reeling by the program's biggest upset loss in decades. Making the loss sting worse is the fact Cyclones starting quarterback Jacob Park was absent from this game for "personal health issues." Iowa State used third-string quarterback Kyle Kempt, a walk-on from Massillon, Ohio, to upend the unbeaten Sooners. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 343 yards and three touchdowns.
“It says a lot about who he is and his demeanor,” Campbell said. “He doesn’t have a lot of flair, he’s very even-keeled. He’s a guy that stands for what you want your football team to stand for, and that’s great poise.”
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It complicated things for Oklahoma’s defense when Kempt went off, because that’s when last year’s starting quarterback, Joel Lanning — who has since moved to middle linebacker and is doing quite well =(he had a sack and a goal-line fumble recovery after 20 tackles at Texas last week) — came in to run the offense. Lanning hit 2 of 3 passes for 25 yards and carried nine times for 35 yards.
“I don’t think there’s a better story in college football,” Campbell said.
But for Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops, it's a horror story.
“Obviously extremely disappointed,” Stoops said. “We should have been better than that today. Obviously it’s disappointing in a lot of ways. Some of the old scars kind of repeated (themselves) again.
“We’re just not making enough plays. It seems like every time we get out there, they make all the plays, we don’t make any.”
The Sooners jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead, but just like two weeks ago at Baylor, collapsed defensively and gave it all back. ISU running back David Montgomery rushed for 55 yards and a touchdown and caught seven passes for 89 yards. Kempt threw touchdowns of 28 yards to Marchie Murdock, 54 yards to Trever Ryen and 25 yards — the game-winner with 2:19 left — to Allen Lazard. And the Cyclone defensive backs covered OU receivers tightly all day, forcing an impatient Mayfield into making errors.
The Sooners, on the other hand, missed tackles, blew coverages and got no pass rush on defense. The offense dropped two third-down passes, lost a handoff from Mayfield to Trey Sermon on the 4-yard line and missed a 45-yard field goal.
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“Probably the biggest sequence in the game was the fumble down there going in,” Riley said, “and they’re able to take it and go (94) yards to score.”
Simply put, Baylor wasn’t good enough to hold a one-score lead against the Sooners. Iowa State was.
“I said something last night to our kids: ‘At the end of this, it’s humility before honor,’” Campbell said. “I thought our guys played and practiced with great humility this week. In the face of some adversity, we continued to fight.
“There’s been a lot of adversity at Iowa State for a long time, and there’s been a cloud around us. I think our kids said, ‘I’m sick of it,’ and we were going to keep grinding, keep swinging and getting better one day at a time. So, at the end of it, here we are.”
And here is Oklahoma, whose clear path to the College Football Playoff is now ruined, as are its 14-game winning streak — longest in the nation — and 17-game Big 12 winning streak. OU’s 18-game win streak over the Cyclones ended abruptly as well. Oklahoma led the series 74-5-2, one of college football’s most lopsided series. Bob Stoops never really even came close to losing to Iowa State.
“It’s not about who comes in here,” Mayfield said. “It’s (that) we don’t lose on the home field. It shouldn’t be, no matter who it is, you don’t lose on your home field.”
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There’s also the little matter of the Big 12’s playoff future.
Oklahoma lost to Texas in 2015 and still made it in. But the Sooners needed help then, and need help now. The league has but two programs — Oklahoma and Texas — that can offer the selection committee blue blood status. Texas won’t come near the playoff this year, and now the Sooners have a shockingly bad defeat on their resume.
With Oklahoma State likely out of the picture following a loss to TCU, the Horned Frogs — who won a hard-fought battle against West Virginia on Saturday — are the league’s last unbeaten team.
But TCU, a Big 12 newcomer and hardly among college football’s elite, received no favors from the selection committee in 2014 when the Horned Frogs were ranked No. 3 and beat Iowa State 55-3 in their finale — and then dropped to No. 6 in the final rankings.
The Sooners are no longer focused on making the playoff, not with the litany of shortcomings this team showed Saturday. But they also think they’re not out of it.
“The season’s not over,” linebacker Ogbonnia Okoronkwo said. “It’s nowhere near over. We’ve got a lot of games. We’ve got a lot of football. College Football Playoffs is not out of reach at all.”