Oklahoma football player wiped out by cheerleader doing backflips on field

An Auburn Tigers cheerleader left a mark on Oklahoma Sooners star defensive back Makari Vickers before their players could, knocking the rival flat on his back with a backflip.

The player was quickly picked up by a teammate, while the cheerleader was attended to by a fellow cheer squad member. "Best hit an Auburn student has delivered all season," one football fan quipped.

"Unsportsmanlike conduct. 15-yard penalty on the kickoff. That is the cheerleader’s 1st unsportsmanlike conduct of the game," another joked. A third reacted: "Why...why are the Auburn cheerleaders flipping when the OU players are running out? Like just seems like pure stupidity on Auburn's part."

A fourth tweeted: "That sounds like quite the incident! Accidental collisions can happen in the excitement of pregame festivities, especially with all the energy on the field.

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"Hopefully, both the cheerleader and the Oklahoma player are okay after the mishap. It’s moments like these that remind us how unpredictable game day can be! Did it seem to affect the atmosphere or the players leading up to the game?"

However, the big hit didn't inspire Auburn to victory on home soil. Auburn fell to a 27-21 defeat against the ranked team, who now have a 4-1 record in 2024. The defeat came despite the unranked Tigers led Oklahoma 14-7 at halftime, and forcing five consecutive punts after the Sooners' touchdown.

The Sooners' next outing will be their toughest of the 2024 campaign. They play the No. 1-ranked Texas Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl on Oct. 12. Defense against the Longhorns will need to be on tip-top form if they're to come out victorious.

There were promising signs against Auburn, with head coach Brent Venables saying he's proud of his team following the tight contest. "I’m proud of our guys," he said. "They’ve worked hard. They’ve invested a lot. They’re incredibly, deeply invested, not in themselves as much as they are in what Oklahoma stands for on defense. They’ve shown a lot more good than not through the first five games.”

However, they'll have to avoid costly penalties against the country's No. 1 team. They had the most in the conference heading into the weekend. Brent added: "Coming in today we were number one in the conference in penalties. … We gotta be better.

"We gotta be more physical. We can’t wait for them to decide where they’re going to be. We’ve got to come out, we’ve got to go strike people. Then maybe we don't get a holding penalty there. You’re defined by what you overcome, and not what you become.”