Hurricane Baker: OU Beats Tulsa 52-38

After a stagnant offensive start for Oklahoma just one week earlier against Tennessee, the Sooners wasted no time getting the ball rolling against Tulsa.

OU accounted for 773 yards on offense-- 466 in the first half-- on its way to a 52-38 win over Tulsa inside of Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Oklahoma’s quarterback Baker Mayfield emerged in Heisman discussions over the last week, and the former walk-on only added fuel to the hype with his performance against Tulsa on Saturday. Mayfield threw for 487 yards while rushing for 85 more to go with his six total touchdowns. His 572 yards of total offense set an OU record.

Mayfield began the game with a 39-yard pass to receiver Dede Westbrook, and then on the next play found Durron Neal for a 20-yard gain that brought the ball to the Tulsa one-yard line. After failing to reach the end zone on the next three plays, the Sooners had to settle for an Austin Seibert 20-yard field goal to give them a 3-0 lead with 12:03 in the first quarter.

The first drive was a great start, but the Sooners weren’t satisfied.

On the next OU possession, Mayfield led his squad on a seven play, 81-yard drive, which was capped off with a 39-yard touchdown run by Mayfield himself. The run gave the Sooners a 10-3 lead, but more importantly, it set the tone on how his offense was going to perform throughout the game.

After stopping Tulsa on fourth down at midfield, the OU offense was back at it.

Westbrook caught a seven-yard pass to start the drive, and then on the next play the Sooners were given the ball at the Tulsa 22-yard line after a pass interference call against TU.

Two plays later, running back Joe Mixon lined up on the left side as a receiver, and took a pass behind the line of scrimmage and broke a few tackles before carrying two TU defenders with him into the end zone.  OU led 17-3 with 1:18 in the first quarter.

Tulsa put together a solid drive on its next possession, and it appeared TU would end the drive with a field goal. Unfortunately for road team, Devante Bond made an athletic play at the line of scrimmage, and was able to block the field goal attempt before OU recovered the ball at midfield.

On the first OU play after the turnover, Mayfield hooked up with Durron Neal for an 18-yard gain to get the chains moving. A couple of plays later, Mayfield rolled to his right searching for option before signaling Shepard to come back on his route, and connected with him for an 18-yard catch to get OU in the redzone. Mayfield then took matters into his own hands, and scampered eight yards for his second rushing touchdown of the game to put OU up 24-3 with 13:31 left in the first half.

Tulsa’s offense ranked sixth in the nation coming into Saturday’s game, and it didn’t slow down against OU. The Golden Hurricane scored a field goal on their second drive of the game, but really got in a rhythm during the second quarter.

After a Semaje Perine fumble in the redzone midway through the second frame, Tulsa constructed a 92-yard scoring drive which ended with a Joshua Atkinson touchdown reception to make the score 24-10.

Two OU possessions later, Mayfield completed a pass to Mark Andrews across the middle of the field, and the tight end sprinted his way to a 61-yard touchdown. The score was the first of Andrews’ career, and put OU up 31-10 with 3:14 in the first half.   

In Philip Montgomery’s first year as head coach, it’s clear that the Golden Hurricane are much improved. A lot of teams would just put their heads down and go into intermission attempting to regroup, but Tulsa kept bringing the heat. TU went three-and-out on their next possession, but the Tulsa offense got the ball right back after another OU fumble in the redzone—this time by Mixon.

The Tulsa offense quickly surged down the field and finished off the drive with a 28-yard touchdown to Keevan Lucas with 13 seconds left in the half. With such little time remaining, most people assumed the first half was over.

That was before TU recovered a surprise onside kick with nine seconds left, and then quarterback Dane Evans heaved a Hail Mary pass to the endzone. It appeared the OU secondary was unprepared for the toss, and receiver Keyarris Garrett hauled in the touchdown, which silenced the sellout crowd in Norman. OU only led 31-24 at halftime.

Oklahoma rediscovered its swagger on the second possession of the third quarter. Mayfield connected with four different OU receivers on the drive before Jarvis Baxter took a pass on the right side and sprinted full steam ahead for 29 yards and a Sooner touchdown. The score put OU up 38-24 with 6:47 left in the third quarter.

It seemed as if the Sooners had taken hold of the game for good, but TU still had some fight left in them. Tulsa responded with a scoring drive of its own, finished off by a Zack Langer touchdown to put his team down by only a touchdown with 4:01 remaining in the third quarter.

After keeping the game close through most of three quarters, OU finally decided to put its foot on the gas and pull away for good.

As the third quarter was winding down, Mayfield put a cherry on top of his record setting performance. The OU quarterback scrambled right and appeared to be in trouble, but that was before he juked back from a TU defender, and positioned himself to throw a strike to Andrews for the tight end’s second touchdown of the game.

The throw from Mayfield put OU up 14 points while electrifying his team and the crowd. OU never looked back.

The defense surrendered one more passing touchdown in the final minutes, but OU sealed the win when Perine rumbled in for a touchdown with 4:28 left in the game to put the Sooners up 21 points.

Perine had his best game of the season with 152 yards rushing and two touchdowns, despite going to the locker room in the second quarter for X-rays on his arm.

Nine different Sooners caught passes against Tulsa, led by Shepard who totaled eight catches for 144 yards. Andrews ended his career game with 87 yards through the air and two touchdowns while Westbrook added 81 yards and Neal added 74 of his own.

Tulsa was impressive on offense, but OU’s secondary wasn’t very good against the Golden Hurricane. With Jordan Thomas suspended for violation of team rules, P.J. Mbanasor started at cornerback opposite of Zack Sanchez, and both players struggled throughout the game. The OU defense allowed 427 passing yards, and Mbanasor was eventually benched at the end of the third quarter.

Playing a dynamite offensive team such as Tulsa early on in the season will be beneficial for the Sooners down the road. OU faces other fast-paced offenses during Big 12 play, and the test against Tulsa can only make them better.

One defensive back who didn’t struggle was Hatari Byrd, who totaled 15 tackles from the safety position. Dominique Alexander added 13 stops while fellow linebacker Jordan Evans added 11. Ahmad Thomas also had double-digit tackles with ten.  

OU has a week off before it will be back in action when it hosts West Virginia on October 3.