Sooners feast on Black Bears, deliver a 59-14 knockout punch over Maine

Maine threw the first punch but Oklahoma, hungry for a decisive show of force, struck back early, often and with complete dominance after that on the way to a 59-14 blowout victory.

Jovantae Barnes ran for a season and career-best 203 yards and Oklahoma amassed 662 yards of offense, by far its best offensive performance of the season as the Sooners notched their fifth win and are within one victory of becoming bowl eligible for the 26th consecutive year.

Oklahoma (5-4, 1-4) received the opening kickoff but was able to gain just 12 yards in its opening possession and was forced to punt.

Maine drove 68 yards in nine plays on its opening possession to take an early 7-0 lead, but it took the Sooners just three plays and 53 seconds to even the score. Barnes took a handoff on the first play from scrimmage and rambled 74 yards to the one-yard line. Two plays later, the junior running back finished what he had started, bursting into the end zone with the tying touchdown.

The convincing win couldn't have come at a better time for the Sooners, who were coming off three straight conference losses and looking ahead to three games against ranked SEC opponents to close out the 2024 regular season

Oklahoma scored four touchdowns and 28 unanswered points in five second-quarter possessions on Saturday. The Sooners had scored just three touchdowns in their last three games combined. Three of OU's five first-half touchdowns were scored in under 60 seconds.

Junior wide receiver Brenen Thompson was on the receiving end of a 90-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Arnold in the second quarter that put Oklahoma up 28-7. That is believed to be the longest touchdown catch by a Sooner player in the history of Gaylord Family--Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

This game was effectively over at halftime with the Sooners taking a 35-7 advantage into the locker room at intermission. Maine scored its second touchdown early in the fourth quarter following a 75-yard, six-play scoring drive. Other than the two long scoring drives, the Oklahoma defense allowed just 251 total yards for the game, the second fewest given up all season.

Arnold completed 15 of 21 passes for a season second-best 224 yards and two touchdowns. He also collected 45 yards rushing. With the game comfortably in hand, Arnold gave way to Michael Hawkins Jr. midway in the third quarter to finish out the game.

It's safe to say the Sooners accomplished nearly everything they wanted to in this game. They played with determination and discipline for a full 60 minutes, regained some confidence that had been waning in recent weeks and importantly built some momentum to help carry them into the three difficult games that loom straight ahead.

Oklahoma has now won 49 consecutive games against unranked nonconference opponents.

Next up: At No. 25 Missouri next weekend, home against Alabama on Nov. 23 and at LSU on Nov. 30.

Three main takeaways from the win over FCS opponent Maine

Jovantae Barnes and OU running backs run wild

Jovantae Barnes had a career game running the football. The junior running back collected 203 rushing yards on 18 carries, an average of nearly 11 yards per carry, and three touchdowns. Besides Barnes, though, five other OU players had at least 26 rushing yards in the game. As a team, the Sooners rushed for a grand total of 381 yards, the most by a Sooner offense since gaining 435 yards on the ground in the 2020 Cotton Bowl Classic versus Florida.

Offensive line shows up and shows out

The Sooners have had problems on the offensive line all season. A different O-line combination has started eight of OU's nine games this season. In the past two games, the offensive line has allowed a total of 19 quarterback sacks (nine against South Carolina and a program-record 10 last week against Ole Miss. Against an undersized Maine defensive front, the Sooner did not allow any sacks and just two tackles for loss. Oklahoma's 381 rushing yards and 284 passing yards were both season highs and due in great part to a terrific performance for the much-maligned offensive line.

Oklahoma scores on 9 of 11 offensive possessions

Oklahoma moved up and down the field with relative ease against Maine. The only Sooner punt in the game came on the Sooners opening possession. In the 10 possessions that followed the first time Oklahoma had the ball, the Sooners scored on nine of them. Only a fumble by Sooner running back Sam Franklin on OU's second possession in the second quarter prevented a potential perfect run of 10 out of 10 scoring drives.