OU Football: Sooners Blast Baylor For Seventh Straight Win

Bob Stoops and the Oklahoma Sooners made it 15-straight Big 12 wins on Saturday afternoon with a dominating 45-24 win over the Baylor Bears.

Related: Rudolph, Mayfield Make Davey O'Brien Semifinalists List

Baker Mayfield threw for 300 yards and totaled three touchdowns as the Sooners improve to 8-2 on the season.

Despite a hot start for both OU’s offense and defense, things got a bit snug in the third quarter with OU leading 21-10. The Bears were clawing back into the game and it felt like the Sooners were trying to hold on for the win.

But that was until Dede Westbrook took the game into his own hands.

On second down at midfield, Mayfield scrambled right to keep the play alive, before lofting the ball deep down the the right side towards the end zone. It looked like a surefire interception, but Westbrook was able to leap higher than the Baylor defender and snatch the ball out of the air before falling backwards into the end zone for a 40-yard touchdown.

Not only did the score put the Sooners up 18 points in the second half, but it completely deflated any momentum the Bears’ were attempting to build up.

It may have been the most important score of the day, but it wasn’t the first time Mayfield connected with Westbrook.

With the Sooners holding a 7-0 lead in the first quarter, Mayfield zipped a pass to Westbrook on the right side, who threw off a Baylor defender and tight roped the sideline before crossing the plane for a 29-yard touchdown.

Along with the passing game, OU brought the hammer on the ground as well.

Mayfield scored the first touchdown of the game on a scamper from 15 yards out, then Samaje Perine added a pair of short touchdown runs (four yards, one yard) in his first game back from injury.

While all three touchdown runs were pivotal in the outcome of the game, none looked better than Joe Mixon’s thundering run early in the fourth quarter. With OU leading 35-17, Mixon took the handoff up the middle, shed a Baylor tackler off his back, before turning on the burners for a 56-yard touchdown run.

Much of the talk entering the game centered around OU’s questionable defense against spread offenses, but Mike Stoops’ group showed up for the most part on Saturday.

The Sooners set the tone early on by limiting Baylor to only 37 passing yards in the first quarter and only 10 points in the first half. Baylor’s offense eventually got rolling in the fourth quarter, but the game was well in hand at that point.

Jordan Evans had a dominant game from the linebacker position. The senior captain became the first player in OU history to total two interceptions and two sacks in the same game. Along with Evans’ two picks, Will Johnson forced a clutch fumble late in the first half to help prevent Baylor from tacking on points before intermission.

Westbrook finished with four catches for 88 yards and two scores, while tight end Mark Andrews finished with four catches of his own for 53 yards.

Mixon rushed for 124 yards on the ground while adding five catches for 63 yards, while Perine also went over the century mark with 100 yards.

Oklahoma will be back in action next Saturday against West Virginia in Morgantown.