Wow.
If I could only use one word to describe the atmosphere at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, that's the word. Wow.
From the second we arrived on Oklahoma's campus, I knew I was in Big 12 country. Tailgaters were everywhere. People were charging fans $20 to park in their front lawns. Roads around the stadium were closed off, which made for a headache when trying to get to the parking garage. This was just the scene outside the stadium before the game against Ball State.
Not Oklahoma State. Not Texas A&M. Not Missouri. Ball State.
Inside the stadium was probably even more electric once the fans piled in. Thirty minutes after the gates opened there were easily more fans in the seats than Scheumann Stadium has capacity. The crowd eventually grew to 84,921, making 77 consecutive sellout crowds at Memorial Stadium, and the energy could be felt from every single person there.
It started when Oklahoma was introduced onto the field.
I've seen a good number of team introductions, but the Sooner's introduction on Saturday was impressive. The introduction video had a voice talking about "swearing his allegiance to the Crimson and Cream," and what it means to be an Oklahoma football player. But the part that got the crowd fired up was when the line "and lift up my brother," was said when Oklahoma linebacker Austin Box, who died during the offseason, was shown on the video board.
After Oklahoma took the field, the famous "Boomer, Sooner" chant echoed throughout the stadium as Ball State took the field.
Ball State was able to quiet the crowd for a few minutes after recovering a surprise on-side kick to open the game, but after a three-and-out, the crowd was relentless. It became even more energetic in the second quarter when Ball State sophomore quarterback Keith Wenning threw a string of interceptions, all leading to Oklahoma touchdowns. The crowd could have gone into a utopian state in the third quarter when Oklahoma scored two touchdowns on its first three offensive plays of the second half to blow the game into a 52-6 rout.
I know I might come off as someone that's never been to any sporting event because of how impressed I was with the stadium, but I wasn't at all surprised by what I saw.
Sure, it was my first time at Oklahoma, but I've heard enough about the team and the stadium to know what to expect. Being at Memorial Stadium on Saturday was a complete culture shock.
The 62-6 result probably wasn't a shock to a lot of fans either. Oklahoma is ranked in the Top 5 of the AP Poll for a reason and is probably going to play in a Bowl Championship Series bowl at the end of the season, if not for the national championship.
Yes, Wenning had three interceptions and the offense didn't score a touchdown. Yes, the Cardinals had 464 punting yards in the game, but don't look into the results of this game too seriously. Oklahoma was the better team in every facet of the game. Coach Pete Lembo called the loss "a humbling experience."
If fans want to take a positive out of the blowout loss, Ball State hung with Oklahoma for about 20 minutes. Some teams from the Big 12 don't hang around for a quarter with the Sooners.
At the end of the day, Ball State is 3-2 as it finishes non-conference play and is 1-0 in the Mid-American Conference heading into next Saturday's game against Temple. The loss did leave some Cardinals hurt, but it shouldn't keep the fans from thinking this is the same team it was the previous two years.
It's no where near the same size as Memorial Stadium, but if fans can fill Scheumann Stadium to capacity, it might make someone else go "wow."
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