Oklahoma football: Three takeaways from Sooners’ Saturday frog fry

Oklahoma football won consecutive games for the first time in 2020 with a win a 33-14 win on Saturday at TCU.

The unranked Sooners also raised their season record above .500 for the first time since the season-opening win over Missouri State.

A lot of things went well for Oklahoma on Saturday in Fort Worth, Texas. TCU is one of the more difficult road stops on the Big 12 schedule, and Oklahoma has prevailed in four of its five trips to TCU since the Horned Frogs became members of the Big 12. Three of those five games were decided by fewer than seven points.

Entering Saturday, TCU had won 78 percent of its home games (89-27) in 21 seasons under head coach Gary Patterson.

Oklahoma’s 9-1 record against TCU since the 2012 season is its best against current Big 12 team other than Kansas (8-0) over that span.

Here are three main takeaways from a highly satisfying Sooner win on Saturday:

Marvin Mims is becoming a main man

Marvin Mims has quickly become the Sooners’ leading receiving threat, and that was underscored by his performance against TCU. The talented wide receiver from the Dallas area had a breakout game against the Horned Frogs, hauling in four catches for a career-best 132 yards and two long touchdown receptions. He averaged 33 yards per catch on Saturday.

It was the second game this season with two touchdown receptions for the true freshman. His six TDs for the season lead the Sooners and are the most ever by an Oklahoma freshman through his first five games.

Mims had a 50-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter to put OU up 17-0 and caught a 61-yard touchdown pass in the third quarter, Oklahoma’s longest play from scrimmage this season.

Mims also contributed on kickoff and punt returns during the TCU game (19 yards on one kickoff return and 42 yards on two punt returns), accounting for 193 all-purpose yards.

With 132 receiving yards, Mims became the first OU receiver to go over the 100-yard mark this season.

Mims is tied with sophomore tight end Austin Stogner, another prime Rattler receiving target this season, for the most receptions through OU’s five games. Both have 19 catches.

Spencer Rattler aired it out and played an error-free game

Entering Saturday’s game, Spencer Rattler was among the nation’s leaders in touchdown passes, but also was among the leaders in interceptions thrown. He added two more TD passes in the win at TCU, and for the first time in four games did not throw an interception.

The redshirt freshman’s passing numbers on Saturday were 13 completions in 22 attempts for 332 yards and a couple of TDs. Rattler’s pass attempts and completions were his lowest against Big 12 opponents this season, as was his completion percentage (59.1), but he was throwing the ball farther downfield in this game, and it paid off with two long touchdown passes, both to Marvin Mims, who is quickly becoming Rattler’s deep-throw playmaker.

Against TCU, Rattler averaged 15.1 yards per pass attempt and 25.5 yards per completion. He also recorded his highest quarterback rating of the season against Big 12 competition (93.1).

Sooners played their most complete game of the season

Takeaway the season opener, which was an undeniable mismatch, the win at TCU represented the most complete game Oklahoma has played this season in terms of major contributions from the offense, the defense and special teams. All three phases played a key role not just in the OU victory but in the manner in which the Sooners won.

The offense once again put up big statistical numbers and 33 points making it the fifth straight game this season Oklahoma has scored at least 30 points and the 57th consecutive game the Sooners have scored at least 28 points. And the Sooners took care of the ball with no turnovers for the first time this season.

The OU defense held TCU to just 14 points (and seven of those were scored late in the fourth quarter when the game had been long decided), 13 below the Horned Frogs season scoring average, and allowed just 75 yards rushing. It was the third time this season the Sooners have held an opponent to 75 or fewer yards on the ground.

For the second game in a row, the Oklahoma defense has held its opponent close to 100 yards below its season average on offense.

On special teams, Marvin Mims’ 38-yard punt return set up an OU touchdown early in the fourth quarter, and Gabe Brkic kicked four field goal and would have been a perfect five for five on FG tries had a 54-yard attempt just before halftime not hit the middle of the crossbar.