Oklahoma Sooners fall 51-48 in OT to Texas Tech Red Raiders

The Oklahoma Sooners lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders in overtime on a field goal from Trey Wolff. From @bendackiw

The long, neverending nightmare that is the 2022 season for the Oklahoma Sooners got a little worse in the final game of the regular season. The Sooners lost to the Texas Tech Red Raiders 51-48 after leading 14-0 in the first quarter and 24-6 in the second.

In the final seconds of regulation, Texas Tech lined up for the game-tying field goal. Brent Venables decided to ice the Texas Tech kicker. Venables called his timeout, but Texas Tech snapped the ball. The play proceeded as normal. OU blocked the kick.

No matter.

Since Venables called timeout, the play didn’t count. Trey Wolff did not miss his second attempt. After Oklahoma kicker Zach Schmitt missed his field goal on the opening possession of overtime and Wolff hit his attempt to give the Red Raiders their first win against OU in a decade.

There were over 1200 yards of total offense in this game. Jeff Lebby, for the most part, called an excellent game, and Dillon Gabriel looked phenomenal. The southpaw had a career-high six touchdowns on the night. Gabriel threw for 449 yards and six touchdowns.

Texas Tech’s secondary could not defend the deep ball, and Marvin Mims, Theo Wease, and Jalil Farooq all took advantage. The Sooners’ talented trio of pass-catchers each burned the Red Raiders downfield. Mims finished a yard shy of setting a new career-high in yards with his five-catch, 162-yard first-half outburst. After a dominant performance in the first 30 minutes, Mims didn’t have a reception in the second half. Wease stepped up to set a new career-high in yards with 123 yards and a touchdown on three receptions. Brayden Willis got in on the action as well, with seven receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown.

But the strong offensive performance was let down by another poor performance from the Oklahoma Sooners defense.

After last week’s phenomenal effort against Oklahoma State, the defense looked dreadful. There always seemed to be one Texas Tech receiver open downfield. Down the stretch in the fourth quarter, the pass rush got no push. Another quarterback that started the season as a backup sliced and diced the OU defense.

This time, it was Tyler Shough’s turn. Shough threw for 436 yards and two touchdowns and added 44 yards rushing, taking advantage of wide-open space in the scramble drill to kill Oklahoma’s defense. Texas Tech gained 599 total yards and converted 7 of 17 third downs and both of their fourth down attempts.

It was just an incredibly frustrating and, quite frankly, deserved loss. The Sooners did not deserve to win this game. They had their chance to bury Tech, much like they could have buried Oklahoma State, and they couldn’t.

OU will finish the season 6-6 and 8th in the Big 12.

[listicle id=76260]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz7cqqgxy50qwt player_id=none image=https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today. You can also follow Ben on Twitter @bendackiw.

Oklahoma Sooners at Texas Tech Red Raiders: Sooners Wire staff predictions

The Oklahoma Sooners look to finish Brent Venables’ first conference season on a high note as they travel to face the Red Raiders. Sooners Wire Staff predictions.

The Oklahoma Sooners (6-5 and 3-5) will go on the road to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders (6-5, 4-4) in primetime.

Coming off of their best defensive performance of the season, this week looks like another challenge for [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] and Ted Roof’s defense. The Red Raiders can put up some points and have thrown for a lot of yards in 2022.

[autotag]Spencer Sanders[/autotag] threw for 381 yards a week ago, but the Oklahoma defense came through in clutch situations to force turnovers and make stops to force the Cowboys into kicking situations.

Going on the road against Joey McGuire’s Red Raiders hasn’t been easy for anyone in 2022. Texas Tech is 5-1 in the friendly confines of Jones AT&T Stadium this season. On the road, they’re just 1-4. The Sooners are 2-2 in true road games but lost their most recent outing in Morgantown to West Virginia.

Lubbock isn’t an easy place to play, and Oklahoma will have to overcome a raucous crowd Saturday night.

Up Next: Sooners Wire Staff Predictions

From the Student Section: Sooners back in the saddle after Bedlam win

How big was Oklahoma’s win over Oklahoma State? @bendackiw provides his perspective “From the Student Section.”

After missing the previous two Oklahoma Sooners home games due to vacation/Oklahoma Hockey-related things, “From the Student Section” is back for OU’s home finale.

The Sooners’ 28-13 victory over Oklahoma State was one of the most satisfying victories I have had the pleasure of watching. Knocking the No. 22 Cowboys out of the rankings entirely after the pass-interference-related shenanigans in Stillwater last year was cathartic.

This was the first Bedlam I had ever attended. Well, at least in football, it was, and it was one to remember. I was slightly concerned about the turnout, both in the student section and otherwise, but I was pleasantly surprised. Oklahoma Memorial was a sea of crimson, and the student section was the best it’s been all year.

But hey, don’t take my word for it. What did Brent Venables think?

I will get to the performances of the offense and defense in a bit. For now, let’s take a look at what this game means for the OU football program as a whole.

Michael Turk had quite a night; in more ways than one. The superstar punter had over 500 punt yards on the night and downed three punts inside the 20-yard-line. However, the best part of his night was most likely proposing to Oklahoma Softball’s Grace Lyons. She said yes.

That’s two wins on the night for the crimson and cream.

Firstly, the Sooners are finally bowl-eligible, and not a moment too soon. Thank the lord. Had they lost to Oklahoma State, the Sooners would have needed to win in Lubbock in primetime to make it to a bowl. That’s not an ideal situation.

I went into this game expecting a classic Big 12 matchup. I thought that by the evening’s end, the scoreboard would read 47-42 or something to that effect.

I was incredibly, deeply, and extremely wrong.

Perhaps I underestimated OU’s defense or overestimated Spencer Sanders coming off an injury to his throwing shoulder. Either way, the OU defense played lights out for 60 minutes, something they hadn’t done in Big 12 play. Credit is due. They were phenomenal.

That is what a Brent Venables defense is supposed to look like. They were physical, they swarmed to the football, and they were just plain mean. Sanders’ jersey had more green than orange on it by the end of the game.

Mobile quarterbacks have been a bane to this defense all year, and while Sanders did get loose a few times, he wasn’t nearly as much of a pain to OU as Garrett Greene was just one week ago in Morgantown. That being said, Sanders looked off.

I have nothing to back this up, but Spencer Sanders looked like he was playing hurt. He wasn’t as explosive as he typically is in the running game, his throws were off, and he made some very bad decisions with the football. The Sooners jumping out to a 28-0 lead didn’t help, but there’s no way the Pokes planned on Sanders throwing the ball 67 times.

Considering that the defense got no help from the offense for about 45 minutes, their performance is all the more impressive.

I’ve long complained about Jeff Lebby’s clock management, but it has never been worse than it was against Oklahoma State.

The Sooners had every opportunity to go into clock control mode and ice this game, but for whatever reason, Jeff Lebby kept running tempo, and Dillon Gabriel kept snapping the ball with 20 seconds or more on the play clock. When it’s working, by all means, continue to run up the score. That first quarter was excellent. But every OU drive in the second half lasted less than two minutes of game time. They punted eight times in the second half.

Jeff Lebby gave Oklahoma State every possible opportunity to win this game, and the defense bailed him out. It’s that simple. Oklahoma State ran 102 offensive plays. They were held to 13 points. That’s not a reasonable thing to ask your defense to do week in and week out.

I don’t know if it’s a refusal to adapt or a lack of situational awareness, but Jeff Lebby has some changes to make with this offense in year two. When it’s working, this offense could go toe-to-toe with anyone else in the country. When it’s not working, the defense better be ready for a long day.

I don’t mean to shred Jeff Lebby. He’s a brilliant offensive mind, but this offense can be so much better than it has been.

This win against Oklahoma State means much more for the future of OU Football than it does in the Big 12 standings. After the game, OU received not one but two projections to flip Notre Dame commit Peyton Bowen. Five-star Texas A&M commit David Hicks and 2024 five-star David Stone were also in attendance. The Sooners could land all three.

In lighter news, Mike Gundy now has the dubious honor of losing to three different OU head coaches: Bob Stoops, Lincoln Riley, and now Brent Venables.

A lot has been made over whether or not Venables was the right hire for the OU program. These questions were asked far too soon. The team is fine. Recruiting is more than fine. The Sooners will be a lot more than fine in the seasons to come.

This could be the last From the Student Section for OU Football for a while, so I’ll end this with one final message: Keep the faith, Sooners fans. Great things are coming.

[listicle id=76032]

[listicle id=75975]

[mm-video type=playlist id=01eqbz7cqqgxy50qwt player_id=none image=https://soonerswire.usatoday.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. Let us know your thoughts, comment on this story below. Join the conversation today. You can also follow Ben on Twitter @bendackiw.

Report Card: Oklahoma Sooners defense shines in Bedlam win on Senior Day

Oklahoma’s defense led the way in this week’s report card, while Oklahoma’s offense cooled off after a tremendous first quarter. From @thatmanbryant

In a game that didn’t have championship implications for the Sooners this year, a lot of other things were on the line for Oklahoma. Senior Day, over 20 prospects in the building, and the fact that in-state rival Oklahoma State was in the building. Oklahoma couldn’t take a loss, and they came out firing on all cylinders.

They won a 28-13 game that, for 15 minutes, looked like Oklahoma was going to put up 60 points on Oklahoma State. That wasn’t the case, but a win is a win, and Oklahoma handled its business.

With the win, they also became bowl eligible, an achievement considering how poorly Oklahoma has looked at times.

A Herculean effort from the Sooners’ defense is the biggest story of the day. Taking a big-picture approach, how did the rest of the team fare as we grade out the performance? Here’s a look at this week’s report card.

5 Sooners with tough decisions to make as the seasons nears its end

Oklahoma has multiple players facing tough decisions following the season’s end. Will they head to the NFL or return to improve their draft status? From @thatmanbryant

In a year where youth and a lack of experience has dominated storylines for Oklahoma, some of their more veteran players will be reaching a crossroads for their careers. Will guys like Marvin Mims, Anton Harrison, and Jalen Redmond opt to come back after a disappointing season for the team? Or was Saturday their last time playing in front of a sold-out crowd in Norman?

We decided to take a look at five guys that have some very tough decisions to make in the coming weeks.

5 takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners’ win over Oklahoma State

5 takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners 28-13 win over Oklahoma State in Bedlam. From @bendackiw

It wasn’t pretty, it wasn’t great, and it might not even have been good, but the Oklahoma Sooners held on to beat the Oklahoma State Cowboys 28-13 in Bedlam.

In what could possibly be the final Bedlam played on Owen Field, the Sooners stood tall on their senior day and finally achieved bowl eligibility with one game remaining on their schedule.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

Lane Kiffin discusses how Ole Miss, Arkansas, Tennessee’s offenses have grown apart

Lane Kiffin discusses how Ole Miss, Arkansas and Tennessee’s offenses have grown apart.

No. 14 Ole Miss (8-2, 4-2 SEC) will play at Arkansas (5-5, 2-4 SEC) Saturday in Week 12 (7:30 p.m. EST, ESPN).

Arkansas offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Kendal Briles served in the same capacity under Kiffin at Florida Atlantic in 2017.

Charlie Weis Jr. replaced Briles in 2018 at FAU.

Kiffin hired Weis Jr. as Ole Miss’ offensive coordinator during the offseason, replacing Jeff Lebby, who went to Oklahoma as the Sooners’ offensive coordinator. Lebby served as offensive coordinator under Josh Heupel at UCF before joining Kiffin’s staff.

In October 2021 ahead of the Ole Miss-Tennessee game, Kiffin discussed why he implemented Baylor’s veer and shoot offense while serving as head coach at Florida Atlantic. The veer and shoot has also provided success for Heupel as a head coach at Tennessee and UCF.

“I saw it very close watching the Washington-Baylor bowl game that was in the 60s,” Kiffin told Vols Wire on the SEC teleconference last season. “I just was kind of enamored with it for awhile and started to study some of it and use some it at Alabama. I just said, ‘Alright, if I get a head job again, this is what I want to do’.

“It really is amazing — the system — and credit to Art Briles because all three of those teams are the top rushing teams in the country. You look at the SEC, where some people listening to us are saying, are great rushing teams, and they’re really not. I give a ton of credit to Art Briles.”

The three teams Kiffin was referring to is Ole Miss, Arkansas with Briles and Tennessee with Heupel calling plays as the Vols’ head coach.

Kiffin discussed the three team’s offenses again Wednesday and highlighted how they have grown apart from the true veer and shoot scheme Heupel is continuing to execute at Tennessee.

“There is a difference in the offenses and have kind of evolved in different directions,” Kiffin told Vols Wire on the SEC teleconference. “I think all three snap the ball fast, have similar mechanics of how it’s run from a tempo standpoint, but I think the systems have kind of grown apart.”

Mesh and more compact formations, combined with wide splits and tempo, have been used more with Ole Miss, Arkansas and Oklahoma under Lebby compared to Heupel and Tennessee. As Tennessee’s head coach, Heupel executed mesh on a fourth-down play at Florida in 2021.

Below are examples of mesh executed in Ole Miss, Arkansas and Oklahoma’s offenses that are not used with Heupel’s offense at Tennessee.

5 takeaways from Oklahoma’s 23-20 loss to West Virginia

Oklahoma lost to last-place West Virginia, and we have five takeaways from the 23-20 loss. From @thatmanbryant

In the spirit of full transparency, we deemed Oklahoma’s loss to Texas as rock bottom. Truthfully, that may have been because it was a rivalry game, and Oklahoma didn’t have key guys available, notably starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel.

Saturday’s loss to West Virginia has forced us to reevaluate that stance. After minimal discussion, it’s become quite apparent that the loss to West Virginia is truly rock bottom. On a wet and chilly day in Morgantown, Oklahoma lost a game to the worst team in the Big 12.

It wasn’t even the worst they’ve looked all season.

The game was competitive from start to finish, and that in itself was the issue. West Virginia should’ve never sniffed a meaningful chance to win this game, but somehow it did, and it was not pretty.

With two games left, Oklahoma is still one win away from gaining bowl eligibility. However, before we can look forward, here are five takeaways from the Sooners’ loss to West Virginia.

5 keys to an Oklahoma Sooners win vs. the West Virginia Mountaineers

When Oklahoma kicks off against West Virginia, the Sooners need to make it “Dime Time” to pick up a win on the road. From @john9williams

Game time is less than 24 hours away, and the Oklahoma Sooners take on an intriguing West Virginia team that could cause some problems Saturday in Morgantown.

The Mountaineers have had some success on offense this year, averaging 32.1 points per game and 161.3 rushing yards per game on the season. About a month ago, they ran for more than 200 yards and scored 43 points against Baylor.

Despite their last-place position in the Big 12 and coming off of three-straight losses to Texas Tech, TCU, and Iowa State, the West Virginia Mountaineers can pose problems for the Oklahoma Sooners.

Here’s what Oklahoma will need to do to pick up a win.

[lawrence-related id=75269]

5 Sooners to watch on offense vs. West Virginia

Getting ready to take on one of the worst pass defenses in the country, which Sooners are due for a big game on the road vs. West Virginia. From @bendackiw

After an uncharacteristicly sloppy day from the Oklahoma Sooners’ offense, OU heads into Morgantown to face the 3-6 West Virginia Mountaineers.

Bowl eligibility has become a tiresome topic, but it’s going to continue to be brought up until the Sooners get that elusive sixth win.

The offense needs a more consistent performance against the Mountaineers. Let’s take a look at five players to watch on Jeff Lebby’s offense.