OU Football: Sooners Motivated By Underdog Status

For the third time in the history of the two programs, No. 14 Oklahoma and No. 4 Ohio State will square off this Saturday in a clash of college football titans. 

Related: Dean Goes 1-On-1 With OU Offensive Coordinator Lincoln Riley

There's a lot of hype surrounding this year's matchup, and the OU players echoed their excitement for the game when talking with the media on Monday. Here are a few takeaways as the Sooners prepare to host the Buckeyes. 

Mark Andrews fastest OU player to 10 touchdowns

Oklahoma has a historical program, which makes Mark Andrews’ most recent accolade even more special. The Sooners’ tight end became the fastest player in OU history to reach 10 touchdowns in both games played (15) and amount of catches (23).

“It’s an honor just be in that sort of category with some of those guys like Ryan Broyles,” Andrews said. “It’s just an honor to be at a place like this and be productive and make plays and just be in the talking for that.”

With a big build and reliable hands, Andrews is one of the most dangerous pass catchers in the Big 12, and causes matchup nightmares with most any defense he comes up against. The redshirt sophomore already has three touchdowns on the year with two coming against Houston in week one.

“Just work on the speed,” Andrews said of his offseason training to get ready for the season. “Speed, route running, just finding myself in space and obviously getting chemistry with Baker [Mayfield] is huge, so he knows where I’m at on the field at all times. There’s just those things, getting stronger, just some of the things that have helped me this year.”

Buckeyes favored to pick up road win

Bob Stoops’ Sooners will be in unfamiliar territory when the Buckeyes roll into town this weekend, seeing Oklahoma is a home underdog for the first time in 96 games. Despite the Sooners opening at 9.5 favorites in the preseason, Ohio State is now favored to win by at least two points.

Regardless of what Vegas seems to think about the game, OU players appear to be motivated by the slight.

“Being the underdog, it makes you want to fight harder, it makes you want to practice harder, makes you want to basically prepare more, prepare better,” junior safety Steven Parker said.

The underdog role seemed to work out okay for Oklahoma last year, seeing plenty of people doubted the Sooners after losing to Texas, but OU used it as motivation to fuel their run to a Big 12 Championship.  

“I think we do well coming in as an underdog,” Andrews said. “I think it’s going to give us a chip on our shoulder. We’ll be ready to go no matter what.

“This is a big game for us, it does give us a little bit of an edge, it always does. I think we’ll be ready to go either way.”

Sooners understand significance of the matchup

The Big 12 vs. Big 10 showdown sets up as one of the primetime games of the college football season, but the game will also go a long way in showing what kind of season Oklahoma will have.

Related: Highlights from Bob Stoops' Weekly Press Conference

Since the Sooners struggled out of the gates against Houston in week one, OU will likely have to take care of business against the Buckeyes if they have any chance of making it back to the College Football Playoff.

“This is a big game, everybody knows that,” Andrews said of the matchup with Ohio State. “It’s going to be a big thing for our season. Going into it, we’re going to have to take an extra step to get all of our energy levels up and get ready for this game.”

Andrews also admitted that this week’s game reminds him of last year’s matchup with Tennessee.

“There’s a lot of hype around these games so I think they’re important for our season for sure,” Andrews said. “Last year’s game against Tennessee was a big turning point in our season I think, and it was a big win for us.

“I think going into this game knowing there’s a lot on this game there’s going to be some of the similar factors between last year and this year.”

With an off week the following Saturday, it would be huge for the Sooners to pick up a win of this magnitude before they rest up and prepare for their upcoming conference battles with TCU and Texas.

“Obviously it would be a huge boost, to be heading into Big 12 play the following week,” Coach Stoops said. “It’s always a huge boost to win a game like this.”