Oklahoma was terrible in the first and fourth quarters but they showed flashes of dominance in the second and third quarters. The result was a stressful 52-46 victory over TCU that not only evened their season record to 2-2 but put the Sooners on the right track in their pursuit of another Big 12 championship.
TCU’s Kenny Hill was able to pick on Oklahoma’s secondary to the tune of 449 and 5 touchdowns but, unlike the losses for Houston and Ohio State, OU was able to dominate the line of scrimmage and pound out 260 yards and 5 touchdowns on the ground. Joe Mixon averaged 6.6 yards per carry over 16 attempts and Samaje Perine averaged 5.8 over 17 attempts.
The offensive game plan was a fresh approach for Oklahoma after possibly putting too much on Baker Mayfield’s shoulders through the first month of the season. The emphasis on running (48 rushing attempts/30 passing attempts) helped Mayfield to be more proficient. The junior quarterback completed 23/30 passes for 274 yards, and two scores, while also running for 55 yards and two more touchdowns.
While we certainly wouldn’t want to make any excuses for a defense that has been torched to start the season. It’s worth noting that multiple starters were out with injury and the lack of depth certainly became an issue late in the game. Oklahoma was without at least one starter on all three levels of the defense and the guys on the field didn’t have much left in the tank during the final fifteen minutes. That said, the defense came up with a game-saving stop when it needed to.
More recapping later but let’s most definitely start hating Texas now!