Oklahoma football: Sooner offense outlasts resilient Texas Tech, 51-46
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma football rolled up 683 yards of offense and put up 51 points and still had to hold on for dear life in escaping upset-minded Texas Tech with a six-point victory on Saturday night in West Texas.
After falling behind 14-0 midway through the first quarter on back-to-back interceptions thrown by Sooner quarterback Kyler Murray, the Oklahoma offense finally got going, producing touchdown drives on four consecutive possessions. With 4:24 to go in the first half, the Sooners took their first lead in the game, 28-24, capping a seven-play, 99-yard drive on a five-yard touchdown pass from Murray to fullback Carson Meier.
The OU lead was short-lived, however, in a back-and-forth opening half. Texas Tech responded with a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive of its own to regain the lead 31-28 right before the half. Two plays before a one-yard touchdown run by Texas Tech running back Da’Leon Ward, quarterback Alan Bowman took a hard hit short of the Sooner goal line by OU linebacker Curtis Bolton on a play that proved to be very unfortunate for the Red Raiders.
Bowman, who outgunned Murray over the first 30 minutes, completing 21 of 26 passes for 227 yards and two touchdowns, suffered an undisclosed injury on the hit he took late in the second quarter and was unable to return to the game. He was replaced by sophomore Jett Duffey.
With Bowman unable to continue in the second half, it changed the offensive flow of the game for the Red Raiders. The Sooner defense rose up after a difficult first half and, with a new quarterback in the game, forced three-and-outs on Texas Tech’s first three possessions of the second half. Meanwhile Murray connected on a 46-yard touchdown strike to former high-school teammate Lee Morris, regaining the lead for the Sooners, 35-31.
The OU defense held the Red Raiders to 57 total yards in the third quarter (14 rushing and 43 passing).
Oklahoma had an opportunity to break the game wide open midway through the third quarter. The Sooners had driven to the Texas Tech seven-yard line, but a personal foul penalty was called on wide receiver CeeDee Lamb that pushed OU back to the Red Raider 37-yard line, where the drive stalled and the Sooners were forced to punt.
A 40-yard pass from Duffey to wide receiver Antoine Wesley set the Red Raiders up at the Oklahoma seven right before the end of the third quarter. The Sooner defense held, forcing a 26-yard Texas Tech field goal. That brought the Red Raiders within a point, at 35-34, with practically an entire quarter yet to play.
That was a close as the Red Raiders would get, however. as Murray led the Sooners on a couple of long scoring drives in the final quarter and added two more points on a failed two-point attempt following a Texas Tech touchdown. The Red Raiders pushed across one last touchdown with 1:05 remaining in the game to pull within five points, 51-46.
Texas Tech attempted an onside kick, which went out of bounds and was awarded to the Sooners. Murray took a knee twice and ran out the clock, preserving the Oklahoma victory and extending their nation-best winning streak in true road games to 19.
The Sooners survived another Wild West shootout in Lubbock, but they should stop and count their blessings because this game could easily have gone the other way.
OU put up plenty of points, which this offense seems destined to do, but the offense was sloppy and undisciplined far too often for the liking of head coach Lincoln Riley. And the Sooner defense appeared confused and couldn’t find an answer to Texas Tech’s fast-tempo, quick-pass offense, especially in the first two quarters.
OU’s soft coverage, pass defense allowed too many wide open Tech receivers, and the Sooner front seven was not able to get enough pressure on the Red Raider quarterback in the opening half. Texas Tech totaled 473 offensive yards against the Oklahoma defense, nearly 300 of those yards coming in the first 30 minutes.
OU received a huge break when the Texas Tech starting quarterback could not return in the second half. Otherwise, the outcome of this game might have been much different. The seventh-ranked Sooners, now 8-1 for the season and 5-1 in the Big 12, hurt themselves badly with penalties, a couple of which effectively killed potential scoring drives, and uncharacteristic dropped passes.
Oklahoma was flagged for 113 yards in penalties, a number of the 15-yard variety.
Murray finished with 360 passing yards and three touchdowns and also added 100 rushing yards and a touchdown. Trey Sermon rushed for a career-high 206 yards and three touchdown, the final one of which, with 2:51 left in the game, sealed the victory for Oklahoma.
Wesley caught a game-high 12 passes for 199 yards for the Red Raiders.
The loss all but eliminated the Red Raiders from the Big 12 title race. Texas Tech drops to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in the Big 12
The Sooners return home next weekend for a Bedlam battle with in-state rival Oklahoma State.