Well, that explains it.
Oklahoma began the 2014 season a perfect 4-0 and was ranked fourth in the country before heading into Fort Worth for a showdown with No. 25 TCU. ESPN‘s College GameDay was in Oxford for the huge Alabama-Ole Miss matchup, with Katy Perry serving as that weekend’s epic guest picker.
At one point during the show, the pop singer famously -- or infamously if you’re an OU fan -- very seductively hit on Trevor Knight, telling the Sooners’ starting quarterback to “call her.”
Knight waited four months before publicly acknowledging the offer. Coincidentally or not, OU, including the 37-33 loss to TCU, went on to finish out the 2014 season on a 4-5 skid, including a 40-6 pasting at the hands of Clemson in the Russell Athletic Bowl. Knight missed three of those nine games because of injury, throwing nine interceptions in the six games he did play in after throwing three in his first four pre-Perry flirtation.
Monday, Baker Mayfield, the Sooners’ current starting quarterback who was a transfer from Texas Tech during that 2014 season, was asked what OU’s downfall that year was.
“I blame Katy Perry,” the 2017 Heisman front-runner said.
Way to go Katy. Or Trevor, for not immediately following up with a call and triggering the jinx that killed OU’s season.
That said, I’m fairly certain neither the call for action or the inaction to the call for a call had anything to do with the Sooners’ collapse that season. A defense that gave up more than 30 points in each of the losses, as well as once in one of the wins, though, is certainly a prime and more realistic suspect when it comes to laying blame for the collapse.
One final note: Katy Perry is easily Top 3 when it comes to all-time GameDay guest pickers. And that’s not up for debate.