Oklahoma football: Notable numbers from a dominant Sooner display

Oklahoma football is back, and the message is clear: The Sooners are primed and ready to take on all comers as one of the teams to beat in college football in 2018.

Kyler Murray is the new sheriff of the high-octane Oklahoma offense, and he and his teammates served notice in the OU’s dominant 64-13 victory on Saturday over a better-than-they-looked Florida Atlantic team that the Sooners mean business in 2018 and have all the parts to prove it.

Most college experts were expecting OU to take a step back this season after losing college football’s best quarterback and sporting a questionable and very young defense that has struggled mightily the past few seasons. And an opening challenge from a team coached by Lane Kiffen that finished 11-3 last season was believed to be the perfect test to expose and validate some of those concerns.

Only there were no signs of any of that on Saturday, as Oklahoma put together a near-complete performance in all aspects of the game, letting the Big 12 and other Sooner opponents this season know that reports of OU’s purported decline this year are greatly exaggerated.

The win was Oklahoma’s 13th straight victory in a home season opener and the teams 13th in 15 games under second-year head coach Lincoln Riley.

With one game and an opening victory now under its belt, Oklahoma gets ready to host UCLA, a 26-17 loser at home to Cincinnati on Saturday.

Here are a dozen more notable numbers from Oklahoma’s Week 1 of the 2018 college football season:

1 — The blocked punt by OU’s Lee Morris in the first quarter that resulted in a special teams touchdown was the first of that type by the Sooners since 2002.

2 – Oklahoma freshman receiver Drake Stoops (son of Bob Stoops) caught two passes for 16 yards. According to the OU athletic department, he is believed to be the first walk-on, true freshman receiver to catch a pass in a season-opening game.

4 — Number of Oklahoma quarterbacks who saw action in the game (Kyler Murray, Austin Kendall, Tanner Schafer and Tanner Mordecai).

9 of 12 — Oklahoma scored nine touchdowns in 12 total offensive possessions against Florida Atlantic.

24-2 — Oklahoma’s record all-time as the No. 7 team in the Associated Press Top 25.

42 — The 42 first-half points by the Sooners were the most by OU since scoring 50 against Tennessee-Chattanooga in the first game if the 2008 season.

49 — Oklahoma’s 49-point victory margin is tied for the sixth largest in a season-opener in OU football history. It also is 28 points higher that the point-spread by which the Sooners were favored coming into their game against Florida Atlantic.

65 – The Sooners had three scoring plays of 65 yards in the first half against FAU.

133 — Total offensive yards by Florida Atlantic in the first half (3.4 yards per play); Oklahoma gained 408 yards in the opening half.

324 — Total yards allowed by the much-maligned OU defense to the Florida Atlantic offense, which averaged nearly 500 yard of offense every game last season. That is the sixth lowest total by the Sooner defense in the last 15 games.

650 — Yards of total offense by the Oklahoma offense (334 passing, 316 rushing) in the win over Florida Atlantic. It is the eighth time in the last 15 games that the Sooners have produced over 600 yards on offense and the third most during that time span.

86,402 — The attendance at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium for Saturday’s 2018 season opener with Florida Atlantic, the fifth largest crowd in that stadium’s history. It also marks the 117th consecutive sellout since the beginning of the 1999 season.