Oklahoma football: OU’s 5 best season openers since 2000
A 79-10 victory over North Texas, 2007
It might be the greatest quarterback debut in Sooner history. Sam Bradford was 21-for-23 for 363 yards and three touchdowns for a quarterback rating of 266.9 – all in just one half of play.
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Bradford completed 93 percent of his passes on a day the Sooners could do no wrong. IN addition to the team’s final tally of 403 yards through the air, they also added 265 on the ground. DeMarco Murray had 87 yards rushing and five touchdowns in limited work. Jacob Gutierrez and Mossis Madu both had a rushing score as well.
After racing out to a 49-0 lead at halftime it was clear the Sooners were spending most of the second half actively trying not to run the score up, but it kept climbing anyway. Backup quarterback Joey Halzle led the Sooners to a couple more scores and the defense added nine more points – seven on a Nic Harris interception and two on a late safety as Oklahoma notched its highest point total in 17 years and second-highest since the invention of the facemask.
The Sooners would go on to destroy Miami the following week on national TV 51-13 and climb all the way to No. 3 in the country before a27-24 upset at the hands of Colorado. Later in the year with Bradford knocked out of the game with a concussion the Sooners were upended again, this time falling 34-27 to Texas Tech on the road. The season would end with a 38-17 win over then-No. 1 Missouri in the Big 12 Championship Game and a 48-28 loss to West Virginia in the Fiesta Bowl.