Sooners drops first road game 17-10 to Michigan
No. 11 Oklahoma dropped its first road game of the season, 17-10, at Michigan Saturday in front of a crowd of 111,240. It was the largest crowd to ever watch an Oklahoma football game.
The Sooners (1-1) scored on their first two possessions of second half to tie the game, 10-10, with 11:49 left to play. Following an interception deep in OU territory, the Wolverines (2-0) scored on a 1-yard rush by Jordan Marshall to take a 17-10 lead with 7:53 to go in the game. Oklahoma could not even the score with any of its final three possessions as the Sooners dropped to 2-1 all-time against Michigan.
A 0-0 deadlock was broken by a 38-yard touchdown run by Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood with 47 seconds left in the first quarter. The Wolverines led 10-0 at halftime after adding a Trey Butkowski 40-yard field goal with 2:28 remaining in the second quarter.
The Sooners answered out of the half, cutting the deficit to 10-7 after a 90-yard drive resulted in a 22-yard Mackenzie Alleyne touchdown reception. It was his first reception as a Sooner. Reggie Powers III sacked Underwood for a seven-yard loss to stunt Michigan’s next drive before Tate Sandell tied the game at 10-10 with a 34-yard field goal.
Mike: On the road
MIKE’S BLOG
Some thoughts about the weekend while on an overnight stopover in Chicago before heading home tomorrow:
College football is crazy. And that has little to do with my Sooners’ loss as much as what happened elsewhere on Saturday. Hapless Oklahoma State embarrasses playoff contender Oregon. A week after looking like crap against Tulsa. As they say, what a difference one week makes.
Which is the thought OU fans should remember to ease their irritability on an Sunday afternoon. One week can make a difference.
In retrospect, the Sooners defense played well. Take away Bryce Underwood’s touchdown run and he averaged less than three yards a carry. Oklahoma held Michigan to just 10 points (because I don’t hold Mateer’s interception that set the Wolverines up on the plus-six yard line and led to the game-winning score, against the D).
Offense has two problems: Mateer’s inaccurate passing. And OC Ben Arbuckle’s insistence calling a quarterback draw play (which, maybe, was his way of dealing with the passing accuracy issue). Michigan figured that play out pretty quickly.
Bottom line is you can’t turn the ball over and expect to twin. You also can’t have a dozen penalties.