From maligned to Red River Rivalry hero, how OU football's Tate Sandell found redemption
· Yahoo Sports
DALLAS — Tate Sandell wasted little time taking his celebration to the front of a section of fans decked out in burnt orange.
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Those Texas fans had been in the ear of OU football’s kicker.
“Just stuff that they say to the opposing kickers,” Sandell said, flashing a sly grin. “That’s all.”
It was more than that.
For weeks, Sandell had struggled. He uncharacteristically missed field goals. He missed one Saturday against the Longhorns.
Then he made a 53-yarder. And a 47-yard game-winner followed.
“When I went to the Lord, I didn’t ask him to help me make it,” Sandell said. “I just asked him to give me a chance.”
On a day OU stunned No. 1-ranked Texas 27-24, plenty of redemption stories came into focus for the Sooners.
Brent Venables. John Mateer. Ben Arbuckle.
But don’t overlook the rebound of a 5-foot-9, 180-pound kicker who was considered by many the best kicker in the nation just a season ago.
“I was very confident,” Mateer said as he sat beside Sandell at the podium in Cotton Bowl Stadium. “I’m not just saying that because he’s sitting right here.
“I see the work he puts in and I know the kind of man he is. I knew when we hit the back shoulder (pass to Isaiah Sategna III) that most likely the game was over. Something could happen but he’s nails.”
Sandell had not made a field goal in nearly a month entering the game.
He missed kicks against New Mexico and Georgia. For last season’s Lou Groza Award winner, that timeframe had to be pure agony.
Then he missed a 53-yard kick late in the first half. He watched it on the iPad to understand what went wrong.
“I just caught it a little fat,” Sandell said. “Just like any golfer, it really wasn’t a bad shot. It was just maybe in the rough … It’s just one of those things where you catalog, move onto the next one and you’re a better man for it.”
Confidence never wavered for Sandell or those around him.
He made a 53-yard kick on his second attempt. Then with 19 seconds left, Mateer connected with Sategna twice on big plays and the Sooners ran the ball to set up Sandell in his preferred spot for the final play.
Then Texas called a timeout.
It didn’t matter. Sandell put the football nearly down the middle of the uprights, becoming a Red River Rivalry hero.
And his celebration matched the moment.
He planted an OU flag on the field surrounded by teammates. He wore the Golden Hat trophy, flashed horns down and rode around the field on his teammates' shoulders.
“That was good stuff,” he said.
But nothing truly topped the kick and running to the section of Texas fans that had let him hear it all afternoon in the blazing heat.
That was worth everything.
“That's the dream as a little kid when you're out there on the field and you're giving yourself these scenarios — make believe, obviously, you're by yourself. ‘All right, well, this kicks for the Red River right here.’
“So for that to be a reality for me is — for the people who don't have religion, don't believe in a God, that's proof right there that there is one.”
Jacob Unruh is the deputy sports editor for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jacob? He can be reached at [email protected] or on X/Twitter at @jacobunruh. Support Jacob's work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: From maligned to Red River Rivalry hero, how OU football's Tate Sandell found redemption