Tate Sandell

Take what the defense gives you.

And I think he did that well on that final drive to put them in position to win the game with the Tate Sandell field goal.

I still think they need to run the football a lot better.

But I think overall, if your quarterback is a lot more confident going into this game than he had been in the last couple of games, that should give you a boost really early on.

I had to, I had to get myself right.

Uh, and so that's why I went with Tate Sandell, the kicker for OU.

Look, it wasn't the greatest night at the office by any means.

He did miss some kicks.

But when the moment mattered most in Red River rivalry, it was go to overtime and maybe let Arch Manning bounce back or put this game on ice and stun the number one team in the nation.

This guy came in, laser beam right down the middle, no doubts about it, came right off his foot, and you knew the Oklahoma Sooners were winning this football game.

That's why I got Tate Sandell, the kicker, uh, for OU as my number one player this week.

Um, when we go to our social media, again on Twitter, Tate Sandell, Nick Marsh getting votes, as well as on Instagram, Gio Lopez getting thrown into the mix, though.

[laughs]

Tate Sandell, man, he went all Shane Gillis, didn't he?

He's a star, man.

And, uh, you know, they had him at, uh, the new Seven Brew the other day signing autographs and stuff.

He is a guy for a kicker that has really worked this thing well over the last couple of years.

He's got his T-shirts out.

I saw some people at the, uh, Cotton Bowl in short, short T-shirts with T- Tate Sandell on the, on the T-shirt.

So you don't see that often with a kicker.

Because if you're Will Stein and you're caught in fourth down and two in no man's land, and you're not scared of Oklahoma's offense getting first downs, What do you have to lose at that point? So the flow of the game and all that will certainly dictate those types of situations.

If Oklahoma's offense is saying, you know what, we can pick up two first downs, and if you turn the ball over to us at your own 45 and we pick up two first downs, what does that mean? We're in Tate Sandell's field goal range.

But if they're unable to pick up any first downs, Will Stein's saying, all right, let me go for it.

All I know is they're about to punt it right back to us.

Like, last year things weren't that way.

It was setting up field, uh, position, playing good defense, setting yourself up, getting, you know, Tate Sandell was massive last year in what he did for you down that stretch in November and getting you in field goal range, and that range is, is big with him.

So, but my expectation is, is you've gotta continue to keep taking steps forward.

You can't just flatten out and y- you're not going to be able to, to, to expect defense and, and special teams to bail you out in certain weeks and score points and put you in the position to win, that you've gotta do some of the work on your own.

The aura, uh, was incredible.

It was so good to see the smile on John's face, Peyton Bowen's face, Tate Sandell's face.

Those are the guys that joined us.

And, uh- Man, it was just great.

When we think back to those games, Travis, yes, the def- the defense i- in particular against Tennessee helped, right? R.

Mason getting that big return.

Obviously Tate Sandell sc- which, you know, especially since we're close to offensive points.

So, but Tate Sandell had the 350 yarders, right? But, you know, we had, we had passing touchdown, um, we had, uh, Xavier Robinson's touchdown as well.

Yeah.

Uh, it's, uh, kind of been a, not a pleasure cruise by any means, but from a special teams standpoint, you got a national award winner in, uh, Lou Groza, Tate Sandell.

Y- obviously, what they did at the Cotton Bowl last week and their contributions.

Yep.