Oklahoma did exactly what they needed to do in Ft. Worth on Saturday but they didn’t exactly do it the way they needed to. While you have to be excited about the win you’d also be irresponsible if you didn’t point out lingering defensive woes and turnovers on offense. Turnovers aren’t just drive killers, they are potential game killers. There’s a specific reason why you want to force turnovers and not commit them.
We will cut the defense a little slack (won’t be indicated in the grades though) because of the lack of depth due to the injury situation. It’s fair to say that Oklahoma’s defense got gassed as the game wore on, but it’s also fair to say that coming off a bye week none of the players being held out due to injury came as a surprise.
Offense
Quarterback | We’ve heard the phrase, “vintage Baker Mayfield,” a whole lot since Saturday, and while his 274 passing yards, 55 rushing, and four total touchdowns were his best performance of the season, he was also liable for two fumbles. Both fumbles were the result of being sacked (the first led to a TCU touchdown) but you don’t lose the responsibility to take care of the football just because you were sacked. That’s kinda a part of being the quarterback. Overall Grade : B+
Running Backs | Joe Mixon and Samaje Perine were the boost that Oklahoma’s offense had been needing. The two combined for 203 rushing yards and three touchdowns. Perine averaged 5.8 yards per carry and Mixon 6.6 yards per carry. Overall Grade: A+
Receivers/Tight Ends | TCU did an excellent job by limiting Mark Andrews to just six total yards on two catches but it came at the expense of Dede Westbrook going off for 158 yards, and two touchdowns, on seven receptions. When the running backs are giving the type of production the Sooners got on Saturday (Mixon also had 70 receiving yards on 5 catches) this is really all you need from you receivers. Overall Grade: A
Offensive Line | With a team rushing average of 5.4 yards per carry, over 500 yards of total offense, and seven touchdowns, it’s hard to be picky with a makeshift offensive line that was down two starters. They still have those two quarterback sacks they are accountable for but the overall body of work was excellent. Overall Grade: A
Defense
Defensive Line | The Sooners absolutely dominated the line of scrimmage, holding the Frogs to an average of 2.2 yards per carry over 29 attempts. Austin Roberts recorded six tackles and a pass breakup. Matt Romar had three tackles and a sack. Charles Walker had two tackles and two pass break ups at the line of scrimmage. Overall Grade: A+
Linebackers | Jordan Evans led the team with 10 tackles and Emmanuel Beal was second with eight. Obo Okoronkwo recorded six tackles and had two of the team’s four sacks. This group didn’t shine quite as bright as the defensive line, mostly because of some underneath pass coverage issues, but they were still pretty solid. Overall Grade: B
Secondary | Here’s what you need to know about the secondary. TCU had 449 passing yards and five passing touchdowns. Steven Parker did record the team’s first interception of the season but it’s a drop in the bucket towards fixing the issues here. Overall Grade: D
Special Teams
Austin Seibert was 7/7 on extra point attempts, drilled his only field goal attempt (35 yards) and averaged 44 yards per attempt over five punts. His performance earned him the Big 12 Special Teams Player of the Week award. Overall Grade: A+