The 2020 Oklahoma Sooners football season has been an absolute disaster so far. At 1-2, they’re already out of contention for the College Football Playoff. Now, they simply want to try to save face against rival Texas in the Red River Showdown. Two early turnovers by quarterback Spencer Rattler has made that a lot harder to do today.
Rattler came into the game with a penchant for bad turnovers in recent weeks. While he was 31-of-40 for 387 yards and four touchdowns against Kansas State, his three interceptions were backbreaking. Last week, Oklahoma’s shocking loss to Iowa State was iced by a Rattler interception as well. He came into Saturday’s game with the hope that he could put the mistakes behind him and get the Sooners back on track.
Oklahoma was looking to pull away early, going up 10-0 in the first quarter. But their momentum was completely derailed due to a Rattler interception that seemed about as ill-advised as you can throw.
https://twitter.com/JimMWeber/status/1314977019252400133
That helped open the door for the Longhorns to get back in the game. Then, with the Oklahoma lead cut from 10-0 to 10-3, Rattler did whatever this was, which led to a fumble and a Texas touchdown to even things up.
What are you doingggggg Spencer Rattler?!?pic.twitter.com/H7HN8Jj42R
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) October 10, 2020
With their momentum gone, Rattler left the game, though it was unclear if he had been benched or was injured (or perhaps the injury gave Oklahoma the reason it needed to replace him). Regardless, Tanner Mordecai entered the game for the Sooners and immediately tried to settle things down.
Tanner Mordecai is in at QB for Oklahoma as Spencer Rattler is on the sidelines getting worked on pic.twitter.com/KolMHfIfEg
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 10, 2020
For better or worse, it looks like Mordecai gave Oklahoma the shot in the arm it needed and they’ve converted a blocked punt into a touchdown opportunity to retake the lead.
https://twitter.com/jasonkersey/status/1314980317208416259
Absolute chaos. https://t.co/2b47VmCVzn
— Unnecessary Roughness (@UnnecRoughness) October 10, 2020
💪 @Md24jr runs it in to restore @OU_Football's lead! pic.twitter.com/nBt5vqAetd
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 10, 2020
Long way to go in the Red River Showdown today but if Oklahoma wins and Mordecai stays in, we’re probably looking at a lot of interesting conversations in Norman this week.
UPDATE: It does look like the QB replacement is unrelated to any injury.
FOX's Jenny Taft saying Spencer Rattler is healthy, and that Tanner Mordecai's insertion into this game (three series and counting now) doesn't appear to be related to any sort of injury.
— Scott Bell (@ScottBellDMN) October 10, 2020
