Oklahoma's offense puts up 51 points in rout of Temple, but it was the defense that stole the show

The Oklahoma offense scored 51 points and quarterback Jackson Arnold threw four touchdown passes, but it was the Sooner defense that was the most impressive in a 51-3 season-opening win over Temple.

The star of the game, however, was the Oklahoma defense, which forced six turnovers and held Temple to just 197 yards of total offense and an average of 3.2 yards per play. It was a complete team effort on the part of defensive unit, which also recorded six sacks and nine tackles for loss.

Playing its first-ever Friday night game at Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium and their first game as a member of the SEC, the 16th-ranked Sooners scored on their first five possessions and led 34-0 at halftime. Despite rolling up 50 points on a very overmatched opponent, the OU offense, with the exception of Arnold and former Purdue wide receiver Deion Burks, was not all that flashy or particularly impressive.

Burks caught three of Arnold's four touchdown passes and finished the game with six receptions on seven targets for 36 yards. A very vanilla looking Oklahoma offense totaled 378 yards of offense, 220 of which came on the ground, led by freshman Taylor Tatum's 69 yards in five carries, including a 35-yard touchdown run.

Here are 10 more numbers that help tell the story of the Sooners' season-opening victory:

.083 -- Oklahoma's third-down conversion rate on offense vs. Temple (1 of 12).

1 -- Only one of Jackson Arnold's 17 pass completions was longer than 14 yards (a 47-yard completion to Jalil Farooq on the Sooners' first touchdown drive. Farooq left the game after that with a fractured foot.

2 -- Wide receiver Deion Burks never caught more than two touchdown passes in a game in 3 seasons at Purdue. He caught three in one half in OU's Friday night win over Temple.

4 -- Four of Jackson Arnold's eight incomplete passes were dropped balls by the receiver.

6 -- The last time Oklahoma had six takeaways in a game was in 2003 vs. Texas. The last time OU was plus-6 in turnover margin was 1987, also against Texas.

27 -- Twenty-seven of the Sooners' 51 points came from Temple turnovers.

50 -- Florida State transfer Tyler Keltner made a 50-yard field goal in the opening quarter, his first field goal attempt as a Sooner. It was the first FG of 50 or more yards by an OU kicker since 2021 and just the fourth of that length in a season opener in program history.

101 -- Oklahoma's win was its 101st in a season-opening game, Eighty-four of those wins have been at home

153 -- Friday night's attendance at Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium was 83,329 and marked the 153rd consecutive sellout of a regularly scheduled home game. That is the second longest current streak in college football.

158 -- Oklahoma's 158 passing yards was the fewest in a game by a Sooner quarterback since the 2022 season, when OU had 150 passing yards against Iowa State.