OU Football Point After: Sooners Batter Cowboys in Bedlam Bashing

An inexplicable midseason loss to archrival Texas was an emphatic game-changer to the OU football season. The Sooners were not to be denied over their next seven games, and after a resounding 58-23 statement victory over Bedlam rival Oklahoma State now own their ninth Big 12 championship in football.

Even more important, their dominant win over Oklahoma State, the third OU victory in as many weeks over a ranked Big 12 team, virtually assures the Sooners of one of the four spots in this season’s College Football Playoff. Clemson, Alabama and Iowa currently are the other three teams that fill out the top four teams as of Week 14, but with all three of those teams involved in conference championship games next weekend, there could still be changes in the four Playoff teams before next Sunday, when the official Playoff rankings are released for the final time this season.

When the Sooners fell to Texas the second weekend in October in the annual Red River Showdown, it seemed remote at best that Oklahoma would be the one team left standing at season’s end, especially with games against the three best teams in the Big 12 scheduled over a consecutive three-week span in November and with two of those three games on the road.

Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield (6) runs the ball for a touchdown in the second half against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. The Sooners defeated the Cowboys 58-23. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Following the Texas loss, Oklahoma responded with a vengeance. going on a seven-game seize-and-destroy mission, obliterating every opponent that crossed its path and completing a perfect run to the conference championship, with even higher aspirations still out there for the taking.

In those seven wins since the Texas loss, the Sooners outscored their opponents by a combined score of 364 to 136. That is an average score of 52-19. Oklahoma scored 50 or more points in four of those seven wins, clearly establishing itself as the best team in the Big 12 this season and a team more than worthy of representing the conference in college football’s version of this season’s Final Four.

Getting back to Saturday night’s Bedlam victory, after Oklahoma State took a 10-7 lead 10 minutes into the game, the Sooners responded with a run of 27 unanswered points and expanded that by 10 additional points to take a hefty 44-20 advantage at halftime. Oklahoma outscored the Cowboys 30-10 in the second quarter alone.

Oklahoma had 524 yards of total offense against Oklahoma State, the seventh consecutive game in which the Sooners had exceeded 500 yards of offense. But it wasn’t all about offense in OU’s seven-game winning streak to finish out the 2015 regular season, the defense had its heavy hand in the win streak as well. In all seven games, the Big 12 best defensive unit held the opponents well below their season average on offense.

In a nutshell, it was the Sooners’ balance, their completeness in all phases of the game, that has propelled them to an 11-1 season, a three-win upgrade in the win column and four fewer losses than the deep disappointment that was the 2014 season.

Nov 28, 2015; Stillwater, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners cornerback Jordan Thomas (7) returns a second quarter interception against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Credit the addition of high-energy, high-productivity Baker Mayfield at quarterback, a healthy Samaje Perine and Sterling Shepard for the full season, a much-improved defense, but most of all the willingness of veteran head coach Bob Stoops to make changes in the program, including a number of coaching changes, for the Sooners remarkable turnaround from last season to this one

A few more things that you might like to know from the Sooners’ dominant Bedlam win:

• Oklahoma now has nine Big 12 football championships, all under Bob Stoops. That is the most of any team in the conference. No other conference team has more than two championships in the Big 12 era.
• The win over 11th-ranked Oklahoma State was OU’s fifth win this season over a ranked team without a loss.
• Oklahoma’s 11-1 regular season record marks the 11th time under Bob Stoops that the Sooners have reached the 11-win level. The Sooners have had 13 seasons under Stoops in which the team has had at least 10 wins. OU is the only FBS team since 2000 that has 13 seasons with double-digit wins.
• Oklahoma is now 13-1 over Oklahoma State when both teams are ranked.
• The Sooners are now 85-18-7 all-time against Oklahoma State in Bedlam football.
• Samaje Perine had 131 rushing yards and two touchdowns in the win over Oklahoma State. He now has 3,004 rushing yards in 474 carries in his two seasons at OU. That places him in 10th place on the Oklahoma career rushing list.
• Perine and Joe Mixon both went over 100 rushing yards vs. Oklahoma State. Mixon gained 136 yards on the ground, including two rushing touchdowns. It was the second time this season that both players have gone over 100 yards rushing in the same game.
• Jordan Thomas intercepted a pass in the second quarter against Oklahoma State and returned it 32 yards for a touchdown. It was the Sooners third defensive touchdown of the season. Oklahoma is 32-4 under Bob Stoops when the Sooners return an interception for a touchdown.