Game Grades: Baylor Bears 48, Oklahoma Sooners 14

The Oklahoma Sooners reached a low point in the Bob Stoops era on Saturday with a 48-14 loss to the Baylor Bears. After an offseason that seemed to bring a change in the direction of the program, the Sooners find themselves once again falling short of expectations.

The loss to Baylor wasn’t really unexpected, but the way in which they loss was. A closer look at how each unit performed will shed some light on the issues facing this Sooners team.

The Offense

Nov 8, 2014; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Trevor Knight (9) eludes a tackle by Baylor Bears safety Terrell Burt (13) during the first half at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports

TREVOR KNIGHT: C

Once again the offense failed to perform as needed. Anytime the offense only puts up 14 points you have to put some blame on the leader of the offense and that would be the quarterback.

Knight finished with a sub-50% completion rate only completing 12 of 27 passes for 146 yards. He did have two really nice touchdown passes, but once again had a costly interception that set up a Baylor touchdown.

It didn’t help that Knight was without his top target in Sterling Shepard and there were plenty of drops from the young receivers stepping in, but Knight was unable to make a difference running the ball like he did last week against Iowa State. Knight finished with only 45 yards on 13 carries.

RUNNING BACKS: C

For this Oklahoma offense to be successful they must have a strong showing from the running backs. While Keith Ford looked good early in his first game back from injury, he and the rest of the backs just couldn’t do much in the second half.

Ford finished with 40 yards on just eight carries and pulled in two catches for six yards. Ford seemed to be making some nice runs in the first quarter, but Baylor appeared to make some adjustments to slow him down.

Alex Ross was rarely used, but when he did get a chance in the second half he had a nice 50-yard run. Ross looked to have the speed to compete with Baylor, but just never got much of chance to show it.

Samaje Perine just didn’t show up on Saturday. The freshman ended the day with only five carries and 21 yards.

The Sooners really needed the running game to dominate in this game to help take control of the game by keeping the Baylor offense off the field. That just never came close to happening.

RECEIVERS: D

Things got off to a bad start for Oklahoma in the pregame warm-ups when it became clear Shepard would not be available. This left Knight without his top target and meant the Sooners would have to win a shootout with a Durron Neal and a bunch of freshman receivers.

Neal had four catches for 41 yards, but developed a case of the drops once again. While he did end up with a touchdown catch, some of his drops came at the worst times. Including what looked like a nice catch on the sideline that would have given Oklahoma a first down inside the 10-yard line, but instead he was not able to maintain control of the ball after falling out-of-bounds and the Sooners would miss a field goal on the next play.

Michiah Quick and K.J. Young were the only other receivers to make catches on the day. Quick looked pretty good with his six catches for 94 yards, but he also had some key drops. K.J. Young had just one catch for seven yards. After looking like the best of the young receivers early in the year, Young has not been able to make plays of late despite the loss of Shepard.

Blake Bell finished without a catch, yet he was still involved in two plays that left fans scratching their heads. On the Sooners first possession Bell came open on a pass over the middle with nobody between him and the end zone, but was unable to haul it in despite the ball hitting him right in the hands. Later in the first quarter Bell was open again on what looked like the same play, but Knight over threw him by a good 3 yards.

COACHING: F

Josh Heupel’s performance as the offensive coordinator/play caller in this game and this season can be summed up with one glance at the scoreboard: Baylor 48, Oklahoma 14.