Whenever Texas Tech rolls around on the Sooner football schedule, you know you are going to be in for a real street fight and plenty of forward passing.
On Saturday, OU and Texas Tech met on the gridiron for just the 23rd time in history. That in itself is somewhat surprising to me, because it seems these two conference foes have been going at one another for much longer than just a quarter century.
Twenty of the meetings in the series have come since the Big 12 was formed, which means that only three times did the Sooners and Red Raiders play each other before that. That is surprising to me, given their geographical proximity.
Oct 24, 2015; Norman, OK, USA; Oklahoma Sooners running back Samaje Perine (32) scores a touchdown against the Texas Tech Red Raiders during the first quarter at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark D. Smith-USA TODAY Sports
Getting back to Saturday’s contest, however, there was indeed plenty of passing – on the Red Raiders’ side, at least. The Sooners have re-adopted the Air Raid-style of offense that former OU offensive coordinator and later Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach first introduced at Oklahoma back in year one of Bob Stoops’ coaching reign, but it was the Sooner run game that found new life and buried the Red Raiders on 2015 homecoming Saturday.
Samaje Perine led the Sooner ground forces that smash-mouthed their way through the Texas Tech defensive front on Saturday, shredding countless tackles and leaving Red Raider bodies in their wake in rolling up more than 400 yards in the process. Perine and teammate Joe Mixon enjoyed their best combined rushing game if the season, Perine going for 201 yards and Mixon slicing up 154 of his own carrying the football.
Oh, and did we fail to point out that Perine and Mixon are just in their sophomore and redshirt-freshman seasons, respectively.
In addition to setting a season high in rushing yardage in a game, the Sooners scored seven of their nine touchdowns on the day on the ground. Ironically, it also was the first time two OU players ran for more than 100 yards in the same game in almost a year. The Sooners last had two players go over the 100-yard rushing mark in the last game against Texas Tech, in November of last season (Perine with 213 yards and backup quarterback Cody Thomas with 103 yards).
Here are a few more interesting developments you should take note of from Oklahoma’s second consecutive dominating win over a Big 12 opponent:
- Oklahoma totaled 617 yards of offense in Saturday’s win over Texas Tech. The Red Raiders entered the game as the No. 2 team in the nation, averaging 623.7 yards of total offense. They managed just 436 yards of offense against the Sooner defense on Saturday.
- Saturday was the 50th time in Sooner football history that Oklahoma has gone over 600 yards of offense in a single game.
- The OU win was the 107th in regular-season Big 12 play under Bob Stoops. Oklahoma is the only Big 12 school with 100 or more wins since Stoops’ first season at OU in 1999. Stoops is now 94-8 in home games as the Sooners’ head coach.
- Texas Tech was forced to punt after going three-and-out in its first possession. It was the sixth time in seven game that the Sooners had forced a punt on their opponent’s opening drive of the game.
- Oklahoma is 48-0 under Stoops in games in which the Sooners score 50 or more points.
- In the last two games, Oklahoma has intercepted seven passes (three against Kansas State and four in the Texas Tech game). Three times in seven games, OU has intercepted three or more passes in a game.
- Most of the Sooners’ offensive damage against Texas Tech came on the ground (405 yards rushing). Oklahoma is 182-1 all-time when rushing for 350 or more yards.
- Tight end Mark Andrews caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Baker Mayfield on OU’s opening drive of the second half on Saturday. Five of his 10 total receptions this season have been for touchdowns. That ties him with Sterling Shepard for the team lead in 2015. With five TD catches as a freshman, Andrews is now tied with former OU receiver Kenny Stills for second on the Sooner career list. Ryan Broyles holds the OU freshman record for touchdown catches with six.
- The Texas Tech version of the Air Raid offense produced 253 passing yards against the OU defense in Saturday’s game. That was a season low for a team that was averaging 427.6 yards through the air this season, second best in the country.