A tenacious defense and an offense that stumbled mid-way but righted itself turned Bedlam into a blowout as the Sooners continued their domination of the series against the Cowboys 41-13 under the prime time lights on Saturday.
It was the 90th win for No. 18 Oklahoma over No. 14 Oklahoma State in the 115 years the in-state rivals have played.
“We wanted to play tonight like we were the hunter and not the hunted,” Oklahoma Coach Lincoln Riley said. “We had to play aggressive. You have to go take it to beat a good team like this. And we certainly did that.”
Although the Oklahoma offense has lead the team in recent years, this Bedlam game showed an emerging defensive strength that led to the Sooners playing complimentary football in a manner long hoped for by fans.
The OU defense stymied any chances OSU had to come back in this game, after the Sooners jumped out to a 21-0 first quarter lead.
“There was still a lot of game (left). But to get a chance to create some distance that certainly has an impact. Then you have to go finish. We played well early. We played well on all three sides,” Riley said.
The game turned into a defensive slugfest in the second and third quarters, with each team only scoring two field goals apiece in that span.
The OSU defensive line played well, slowing the Sooners run game for those two quarters.
But the O-line gelled in the fourth quarter and Sooners RB Rhamondre Rhemondre Stevenson found his groove, eating up the clock and setting up the passing game to put the Bedlam game away.
Stevenson ended the game with 141yards on 26 carries.
The dam broke for the ‘Pokes in the fourth quarter on a trick play — which coaches dubbed “The Godfather.”
It had Stevenson take a direct snap, hand off to Rattler, who then faked a reverse pitch to a receiver behind him, then tossed the ball to a wide open Jeremiah Hall who ran untouched into the endzone to give Oklahoma a 34-13 lead.
And later, on a fourth down and four with 6:21 left in the fourth quarter, Riley called a deep pass to Theo Wease that was the knockout jab that put OSU away.
QB Spencer Rattler spread the passing game around — completing passes to nine different receivers. He was 17 out of 24 for 301 yards passing. Marvin Mims had three catches for 65 yards to lead receivers. Mikey Henderson had three for 61 yards.
An injury to OSU’s starting QB Spencer Sanders kept him out of the second and third quarters. Backup QB Shane Illingworth was not able to get consistency in the Cowboys’ offense. OSU quarterbacks completed only 15 of 41 passing attempts.
OSU’s star running back Chubba Hubbard was held to 44 yards on eight carries and heralded wide receiver Tylan Wallace had only four catches for 68 yards.
Riley said the crowd was rocking, although he was limited to just 20,000 (very loud) fans.
“The crowd had as much of an impact as any game we’ve been a part of this COVID year. That was very much appreciated by our guys and our team. I guess you could say everybody associated with the university of oklahoma had a hand in this and did a great job — our fans, players, staff — everybody,” Riley said.
“Some of the players said 20,000 people certainly sounded like 80 tonight,” OU assistant Shane Beamer said.
The win means the Sooners are likely in the Big 12 championship if they can win on the road against West Virginia and at home against Baylor.
The likely opponent would be Iowa State, assuming the Cyclones defeat Texas and West Virginia in their remaining conference games.
Much of the defense’s aggressive tone keyed off Ronnie Perkins (he had two sacks), who joined Nik Bonitto, David Ugwoegbu and Brian Asamoah to pressure the Cowboys quarterbacks.
“He (Perkins) is an emotional leader for us. Not just an emotional leader but a pure leader. Our guys feed off of him and he’s got a really good presence with our guys.”
Ugwoegbu had an amazing play, batting down an Illingworth pass and making a diving interception.
No doubt Cowboys fans will complain about OSU Coach Mike Gundy choosing to punt away to the Sooners late in the fourth quarter.
It would not have mattered.
“We lost to a better team today. They outcoached us and outplayed us,” Cowboys Coach Mike Gundy said.
Photo credit: Trey Young/OU Daily
NEXT UP: At West Virginia, November 28.
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