Notable Numbers from Sooner Football’s Red River Redemption
By Chip Rouse
With big plays come big numbers and there were a number of those in the huge Sooner football win over hated archrival Texas on Saturday in the annual Red River Showdown.
To start with, there have been more points scored by the winning team in this longtime rivalry series, but before Saturday there had never been more collective points scored by both teams in one game.
The 85 combined points in the 45-40 Oklahoma victory eclipsed the previous high of 84 set just four years ago (a 63-21 Sooner victory in 2012).
And that’s just for starters. Here are a dozen more notable numbers from Saturday’s Oklahoma-Texas battle in the Cotton Bowl in Dallas:
2 – Long touchdown passes executed by Texas freshman quarterback Shane Buechele. This number doesn’t look as bad when you factor in that Buechele attempted eight deep throws against the Sooner secondary on Saturday.
3 – Oklahoma committed four turnovers against Texas on Saturday, but the Longhorns were only able to cash them in for a total of three points. The Sooners scored 14 points off of two Texas turnovers.
4 for 4 – Oklahoma scored touchdowns on all four of its possessions in the red zone against Texas. The Longhorns’ reached the end zone only twice in five trips inside the red zone.
5 – Oklahoma has won five of the last seven contests with archrival Texas, but still trails by a pretty sizeable margin in the overall series, 61-45-5.
7 – This was only the seventh time in FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision, previously referred to as NCAA Division I) history that a team has had a 200-yard receiver and a 200-yard rusher in the same game. Additionally, Oklahoma is only the fifth team that has had a 200-yard receiver, 200-yard rusher and a 300-yard passer in the same game.
9:20 – Advantage in possession time (nine minutes, 20 seconds) the Sooners had in the game over the Longhorns. Texas only had the ball for 9:25 in the entire second half.
11 – This was Bob Stoops’ 11th win over Texas. The Sooner head coach is now 11-7 in the Red River Showdown. Only former Texas coach and Oklahoma alum and player Darrell Royal has more coaching wins in this rivalry. Royal’s record against the Sooners, from 1957-76, was 12-7-1.
51 – Dede Westbrook wasn’t the only OU receiver to get into the long ball act with quarterback Baker Mayfield. Sophomore Dahu Green hauled in a 51-yard throw from Mayfield, his first career catch as a collegian.
232 – Receiving yards by OU’s Dede Westbrook in Saturday’s Red River rivalry, a new school record and a career best by the Sooner senior wide receiver. Westbrook had three touchdown catches in the game of more than 40 yards.
273 – Total offensive yards by Oklahoma in the third quarter on Saturday, the fifth most ever by an Oklahoma team in any quarter.
390– Baker Mayfield’s 390 passing yards in the 2016 Red River Showdown with Texas is an Oklahoma record for passing yards against the Longhorns. It broke the previous high-water passing mark of 387 yards set by Sam Bradford in 2008. The Sooners won on Saturday, but the 2008 OU team wasn’t as fortunate, losing a 45-35 shootout to Colt McCoy and the Longhorns.
595 – Rushing yards Samaje Perine needs in the Sooners remaining seven regular-season games plus the postseason to equal the OU career rushing record held by the great Billy Sims (4,118 yards). Perine had 214 rushing yards on Saturday on a career-high 35 carries.