Rapid Reaction: Baylor Crushes Oklahoma

The good, the bad and the ugly: rapid reaction to Baylor's 48-14 romp over Oklahoma on Saturday.

Saturday, November 8th 2014, 3:48 pm

By: News 9


Rapid reaction to Baylor's 48-14 romp over Oklahoma on Saturday. 

The Good: Very little. The Sooners came out with good energy, got pressure on Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty and raced out to a 14-3 lead. Oklahoma really dominated the first quarter with a great mix of run and pass on offense and tight coverage and quarterback pressure on defense. If only the game could have ended after 15 minutes. Also, Keith Ford returned and looked pretty good and Michiah Quick had another great performance in place of the injured Sterling Shepard.

The Bad: Trevor Knight regressed to freshman Knight once again, and his second quarter interception was just brutal. Then things got worse when he was hit late in the fourth quarter and had to be carted off. Knight waved to the crowd as he left. The Sooners had plenty of mistakes, including a holding hat trick for tackle Daryl Williams, who had called last year's performance “embarrassing.” OU had a key roughing the punter penalty that kept a Baylor touchdown drive alive. But the biggest problem was the OU defensive game plan. While the Sooners did a good job of stopping the Baylor ground game and limited the big pass plays over the top, the secondary consistently gave 10-yard cushions to the Baylor receivers. Baylor quarterback Bryce Petty had no problems with that, hitting 32-of-42 passes, easily his best performance of the year percentage wise. In the second half, Petty completed 14 straight passes to open the half. The decision to give so much cushion looked even worse when the defensive line couldn't get pressure on Petty, or when blitzes didn't get to him in time before he threw the ball. All-in-all, it was a terrible day for the OU defense, even though OU did what it thought it needed to do to be successful on defense.

What it Means: Oklahoma's season is over and it's all about playing for pride now. Don't be surprised to see a lot of younger players getting more playing time at positions that are up in the air. The Sooners still want to win the last three games, but they'll be thinking of the future as well.

MVP: Michiah Quick

Quick stepped up once again for the injured Sterling Shepard and had a really nice game. He finished with six catches for 94 yards and the first touchdown of his career. On a terrible day in Norman, Quick gave a glimmer of hope for the future.

Game-Changing Moment: It's the clearest thing about this game. Up 14-10 in the second quarter with the ball, Oklahoma looked to respond to Baylor's first touchdown of the game. But Trevor Knight threw a pass right to Baylor linebacker Bryce Hagar, who returned it to the Oklahoma 1-yard line. The Bears scored on the next play and scored 45 straight points to run away with the win.

What's Next: With no hope for a conference title now, the Sooners are just playing for pride at this point. OU takes on Texas Tech at 2:30 p.m. next Saturday before returning home to play Kansas. Wonder if that game will even be 75 percent full.

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