Texas Tech Takedown: Sooners Total 854 Yards In Win Over Red Raiders

Despite a rowdy environment inside of Jones AT&T Stadium, No. 16 Oklahoma went into Lubbock and came away with a 66-59 road win over Texas Tech. The Sooners are now 5-2 on the season and improve to 13-5 against the Red Raiders under head coach Bob Stoops.

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Both teams set an NCAA record in the OU win with 1,708 total yards of offense.

After starting his career at Texas Tech before transferring to OU, quarterback Baker Mayfield was more than impressive in his return to Lubbock.

Mayfield set an OU single game record with seven touchdown passes and set a career high in passing yards with 545, but more importantly he helped set the tone of the game early on.

The Sooners got the ball first, and Mayfield made sure to take full advantage of the possession. On the fifth play of the game, Joe Mixon sprinted down the right hash, used a stutter move to freeze his defender before leaving him in the dust as Mayfield hit his dynamic running back in stride for the game’s first score.

It was only the start of a wild day through the air, as Mayfield went deep on the Sooners’ next offensive possession, this time to Dede Westbrook. OU’s speedy wide receiver, who now has 10 touchdowns in the last four games, was able to separate from the Tech defensive back and run untouched into the endzone for a 49-yard score.

It was only the first of two times Mayfield and Westbrook would hook up for a deep score, with the other coming from 23 yards out on the first drive of the third quarter.

While the Mayfield to Westbrook connection was a force throughout the entire game, it was Mixon who did most of the dirty work. Whether it was on the ground, through the air, with one hand or with two hands, Mixon was making plays. The redshirt sophomore made the most of his extra touches due to Samaje Perine’s injury and finished with 263 rushing yards to go with 114 receiving yards.

Along with Mixon’s deep score to start the game, he added an impressive run in the second quarter that dazzled the crowd. Mixon took the handoff right, patiently waited for his blocks to develop, before turning on the accelerator and bursting for a 46-yard touchdown.

If those two chunk plays weren’t enough, Mixon’s most impressive play came in the third quarter. With the Sooners’ holding a 37-31 lead, Mixon was able to use one hand to haul in a Mayfield pass on the right sideline before keeping his balance, breaking a tackle and sprinting for a 43-yard score.

While the one-handed catch was the most impressive, his two fourth quarter touchdowns were most crucial. Mixon caught a swing pass and wove through multiple Red Raiders defenders on his way to the end zone with just over nine minutes left in the game, then he rumbled in for a 43-yd touchdown just over four minutes later. Mixon is the first running back in OU history to total three receiving scores in a game.

Along with Westbrook and Mixon’s big day, fullback Dimitri Flowers got in on the fun as well and came down with a tough catch in the endzone for a 34-yard score. Receiver Nick Basquine came through in the clutch more than one time on third down, and finished with four catches for 77 yards and a score.

While OU’s offense was nearly unstoppable throughout the night, the Sooner defense struggled to slow down the Texas Tech high-octane attack. Led by Patrick Mahomes, the Red Raiders’ offense had a response for nearly everything OU was able to do.

Mahomes threw the ball a whopping 88 times in a losing effort, tying an FBS record for passing yards with 734 to go with five scores through the air and two more on the ground. Keke Coutee and Jonathan Giles finished with 10 catches apiece for the Red Raiders and totaled 172 and 167 receiving yards respectively.

OU had two bright spots defensively, the first coming whenever Jordan Evans recovered a fumble in the first quarter and the second when Steven Parker picked off Mahomes in the second quarter. Besides those two high points, the OU defense allowed Texas Tech to pile on 854 yards on offense.

Oklahoma is now 4-0 in Big 12 play and will be back in action on Saturday when the Sooners host Kansas (1-6) at 6 p.m.