Numbers don't lie, and Oklahoma paid the price for poor play-calling and equally poor execution

Halloween came early for Brent Venables and the Oklahoma football team, which delivered a frighteningly poor performance at home against visiting Ole Miss on Saturday in a game that actually was more one-sided than the final score indicated.

A 76-yard touchdown pass from John Mateer to wide receiver Isaiah Sategna a minute into the second quarter tied the score at 10-10, but things began to quickly unravel for the Crimson and Cream immediately thereafter.

Tory Blaylock was tackled in the end zone for a safety on OU's next possession on an unusual call of a stretch run play while operating out of the end zone. But the the reason the Sooners were placed in that perilous position, backed up against their own end zone, was because a holding penalty on the kickoff that backed Oklahoma up to the five-yard line followed by an illegal formation call that moved the ball back five more yards to the three. Two totally unnecessary mistakes that set the Sooners up for a disastrous result.

Ole Miss capitalized on the safety, running off 10 more unanswered points before halftime. The high-octane Ole Miss offense ran twice as many plays as the Sooners (46 to 23) and gained nearly 100 more yards in the first 30 minutes to take a 22-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Both teams added field goals early in the third quarter to make it 25-13. Then with just a couple of ticks under six minutes remaining in the quarter, the game took a dramatic turn. Sophomore running back Xavier Robinson broke off a 65-yard touchdown run for Oklahoma to draw within five points, 25-20. After forcing an Ole Miss three-and-out, Mateer led the Sooners on a seven-play, 60-yard drive and, just like that, Oklahoma had taken its first lead of the game, 26-25.

Unfortunately, the Sooners' dramatic comeback was short-lived. Ole Miss responded with an 11-play, 75-yard drive of its own to regain the lead at 31-26. Oklahoma squandered an excellent opportunity a few minutes later to cut into or potentially regain the lead when Sategna returned an Ole Miss punt 23 yards to the Ole Miss 49-yard line, but he lost the ball while attempting to hurdle a tackler and it was recovered by the Rebels. That led to an Ole Miss field goal, extending the lead to 34-26.

Oklahoma had one final chance, gaining possession with just over a minute to go. The Sooners were able to advance the ball to the Ole Miss 47-yard line, but on the final play of the game, a Hail Mary pass by Mateer was batted harmlessly to the ground short of the goal line,

Ole Miss survived, and what the Sooners have to look forward to are three straight games against SEC teams that are ranked in the top 25.

With a few notable exceptions, this was a poor performance by Oklahoma on both offense and defense and even among the Sooner coaches, something that has happened just one other time this season, the 23-6 loss to Texas.

Numbers that vividly tell the story of how OU lost to Ole Miss

1 -- The win at Oklahoma on Saturday was the first by head coach Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss against a team ranked in the top 25 on the road.

1 -- Saturday's game was the first time in eight games this season that the Sooners have trailed at halftime.

3 -- Ole Miss settled for a field goal on its opening possession against OU. Those were the first points given up by Oklahoma to an opponent on its opening possession this season.

4 -- Oklahoma entered the game leading the nation and averaging 4.0 sacks per game. The Sooners recorded just one against Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss.

6 -- This was the sixth game in eight this season that the Oklahoma defense failed to get a takeaway.

11 -- Ole Miss held the ball for 11 more minutes on offense than Oklahoma (35:36 to 24.24).

16 -- Total rushing yards by Oklahoma before Xavier Robinson's 65-yard touchdown run a little more than midway through the third quarter.

42 -- The Ole Miss success rate in converting third downs (9 of 21). Entering this game, Oklahoma ranked No. 3 nationally, holding opponents to just a 25% success rate on third-down attempts.

65 -- Sixty-five of Oklahoma's 136 rushing yards came on one play (the touchdown run by Xavier Robinson in the third quarter). Robinson collected 109 of the Sooners' rushing total, including two touchdowns.

87 -- Number of offensive plays by Ole Miss, 27 more than Oklahoma (60).

120 -- All but 16 of Oklahoma's 136 rushing yards in the game came in the second half.

431 -- The most yards of offense given up by the Oklahoma defense this season. The previous most was 302 against Texas.