Oklahoma football: Counting down to TCU kickoff
By Chip Rouse
If you are a fan who yearns for a gridiron fight to the finish between fully loaded offensive firepower and lightning-quick, in-your-face defense you won’t want to miss the return to action of Oklahoma football on Saturday against TCU.
The game this weekend between the top-10-ranked Sooners and last season’s Big 12-runner-up Horned Frogs features a the Big 12’s highest-scoring offense (OU’s 48.0 points a game) against the top scoring defense in the conference (TCU is allowing 20.2 points a game).
That is just a sprinkling of the numbers that will play a part when Oklahoma and TCU get together for the 19th meeting all-time and eighth in the Big 12 era. The Sooners own a 13-5 advantage in the all-time series and are 6-1 versus the Horned Frogs as members of the Big 12. That one loss in Big 12 play came in a game at TCU in 2014.
Baker Mayfield and the Sooners got the best of TCU last season, defeating the Horned Frogs twice: a 38-20 victory in Norman in the regular season and again in the Big 12 Championship, 41-17.
But this is a new year, with a pair of new quarterbacks leading both teams and a different venue. What happened in the past between these two teams makes for fun copy, especially if you are a Sooner fan, but has little relevance or bearing on the outcome of Saturday’s game. Sooner fans are hoping, and others in college football world will be watching to see if, the same holds true in OU’s response to the disappointing loss to Texas in its last game.
Oklahoma comes into Saturday’s game with a 5-1 overall mark and 2-1 in the Big 12. TCU stands at 3-3 overall and 1-2 in league play.
As long as numbers are on our mind, here are some to get us ready for OU-TCU on Saturday:
7 — Five of the last seven games between Oklahoma and TCU have been decided by seven or fewer points.
9/20 — Oklahoma ranks 20th the country in Red Zone offense (22 of 24, .917, 17 TDs). TCU ranks ninth nationally in Red Zone defense (9 of 13, .692, 5 TDs).
12 — OU junior wide receiver Marquise “Hollywood” Brown has 12 receptions of 50 or more yards the past two seasons; nine of the 12 have been for touchdowns.
17 — Consecutive true road games won by the Sooners, the longest active such streak in college football. It is also the longest true road winning streak in Big 12 history. Oklahoma’s last true road loss against TCU, on Oct. 4, 2014. The Horned Frogs prevailed 37-33.
18.8 — Punt return average for TCU senior KaVontae Turpin, including one touchdown, best in the Big 12.
26 — Touchdowns accounted for this season by Sooner junior quarterback Kyler Murray (21 passing, 5 rushing). Over the same time frame last season, Baker Mayfield had accounted for only 18 TDs (17 passing and 1 rushing).
27 — Oklahoma has won 27 of its last 29 games against Big 12 opponents.
28 — The Sooners have ranked in the Associated Press top 10 in 28 of the last 30 weekly polls.
29.8 — OU sophomore Tre Brown leads the Big 12 in kick-return average (29.8 yards per return,
58.7 — Average number of offensive plays by Oklahoma through six games. That ranks 129th out of 130 FBS teams. Despite this, OU is averaging a nation-best 8.94 yards per play ths season and ranks fifth nationally in points scored (48.0 per game).
Statistical information contained in this article was extracted, in part, from the Oklahoma Football Game Notes prepared in advance of the TCU game.