Stormin in Norman
Fansided

Oklahoma football: Sooners outgain Baylor by 86, lose by 3

By Chip Rouse

Baylor’s Blake Shapen (12) looks to pass as Oklahoma’s Jalen Redmond (31) makes a sack during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Baylor Bears at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022.Ou Vs Baylor
Baylor’s Blake Shapen (12) looks to pass as Oklahoma’s Jalen Redmond (31) makes a sack during a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) and the Baylor Bears at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022.Ou Vs Baylor /
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It’s become a common refrain weekly refrain from the Oklahoma football head coach: “We have to play with better discipline and make better decisions.”

You can add “more physicality” to Brent Venables description of what went wrong for the Sooners in a game Oklahoma contributed three turnovers and several costly penalties to Baylor’s three-point, 38-35 victory.

The Sooners were outmuscled most of the afternoon on both sides of the ball. The lack of physicality has been an issue all season for Venables and the OU coaching staff, who preach and teach a tough, physical style of play.

Oklahoma’s 499 yards of total offense was good enough to win the game, despite three interceptions thrown by quarterback Dillon Gabriel, but the Sooners’ failure to stop the run, especially the slashing, bulldozing Craig “Sqwirl” Williams who motored for 192 yards and a pair of touchdowns for Baylor, proved to be the difference in the game. When the Bears needed to make a play on the ground, Williams was the one who got the call.

Williams’ previous high rushing game in the 2022 season was 68 yards in a game against BYU much earlier in the season. The 5-foot, 9-inch, 168-pound running back averaged close to eight yards a carry against the Sooner defense.

Here are a dozen more numbers that help tell the story of the Baylor victory over Oklahoma on Saturday:

-2 — After gaining 131 rushing yards in the first half, Baylor’s Craig “Sqwirl” Williams was held to minus-two rushing yards in the third quarter.

2 — This is only the second time in 16 games Oklahoma has lost to Baylor in Norman.

6 — Billy Bowman’s interception in the second quarter was the first of his OU career and sixth by the Sooners in the past three games.

8 — In addition to 106 rushing yards, Sooner running back Eric Gray caught eight passes for 58 yards.

10 — Three Oklahoma turnovers led to 10 Baylor points.

23 — Rushing attempts for OU’s Eric Gray for 106 yards. Those were his most carries as a Sooner. His previous high for Oklahoma was 20 in each of his past two games. He had 31 carries in 2020 at Tennessee

35 — Oklahoma is now 84-6 since the 2012 season when scoring at least 35 points in a game.

112 — Marvin Mims had 112 of his 120 total receiving yards in the first half on three catches.

132 — Baylor had just 132 passing yards in the game, the second lowest output by an OU opponent this season.

238 — Oklahoma’s 238 rushing yards against Baylor is the most given up by the Baylor defense this season.

2014 — The loss to Baylor was OU’s second home loss this season and 13th in 145 games since the beginning of the 1999 season. The last time the Sooners lost as many as two games at home in a single season was in 2014.

83,456 — Attendance at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium on Saturday, the 145th consecutive sellout since dating back to the beginning of the 1999 season.

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