Oklahoma football: It’s been 24 years since Sooners have lost 3 in a row
By Chip Rouse
The 49-0 Oklahoma football pasting by the Sooners’ biggest rival, Texas, was as abysmal a performance as we’ve witnessed from a Sooner team in at least 25 years.
Oklahoma had not been shutout in 311 consecutive games, dating back to 1945, before Texas shut the door on an Oklahoma offense that had to resort to trick plays to compensate for the absence of starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
With Gabriel out of action after suffering a head injury when he was taken down hard by a TCU defender last week while attempting to slide, the Sooner offense appeared to be operating on two of eight cylinders against an aggressive and physical Texas defense on Saturday. OU managed just 195 yards of total offense against the Longhorns and just 39 yards through the air.
Here are some of the ugly numbers that tell the story of OU’s disturbing misadventure in the Cotton Bowl on Saturday:
-2 — Receiving yards in the game by OU’s leading receiver Marvin Mims, who has just one catch in the game.
-38 — On three consecutive possessions in the third and fourth quarters, OU totaled minus-38 yards.
0 — Saturday’s game was the first time Oklahoma had failed to score in a game since a 29-0 loss to Texas A&M in 1998.
0-3 — Sooner head coach Brent Venables is the first OU head coach to lose his first three conference games.
3-15 — The Sooners were 3 of 15 on third-down conversion attempts.
3.3 — Oklahoma ran just 59 plays for an average of 3.3 yards per play. By comparison, Texas ran 81 plays in the game and averaged 7.2 yards per play.
12 — Oklahoma has failed to hold a lead at any time in the last 12 quarters (three consecutive games).
24 — From the eight-minute mark of the third quarter to the end of the game, the Sooner offense had six straight three-and-outs for a total of 24 yards. On three consecutive possessions in the third and fourth quarters, OU totaled minus-38 yards.
36 — The Texas offense recorded 36 first downs. That was only three less than Oklahoma’s total passing yards.
49 — The 49-point win by Texas marked the largest loss by a Sooner football team since a 69-7 loss to Nebraska in 1997.