For Oklahoma, a Fast Start and a Furious Defensive Finish to Beat Oklahoma State

The Sooners jumped out to a 28-point lead in the first quarter, then ground down the Cowboys with a defense that collected four takeaways and six sacks.

NORMAN — Wrapping up a football season filled with aggravation and disappointment and sometimes just outright fury, Oklahoma put on a show early, held on late and took out two months of frustration on Oklahoma State.

The Sooners jumped out to a quick start and beat the Cowboys 28-13 on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium, a Bedlam game that will go down as maybe the first elite defensive performance of the Brent Venables era.

“Really cool night for me as the head coach," Venables said, "and watching these seniors walk off the field holding a trophy and showing some joy.”

Oklahoma, a 7.5-point favorite, burst to a 28-point lead in the first quarter as OSU quarterback Spencer Sanders eventually threw four interceptions and was sacked six times.

The Sooners improved to 6-5 overall and 3-5 in Big 12 play, while OSU fell to 7-4 and 4-4. With the win, the Sooners clinched bowl eligibility — a big deal considering next week’s night game at Texas Tech was their final shot.

The Sooners’ authoritative start felt like 12 months of payback for last year’s 37-33 loss to the Cowboys in Stillwater. OU faded in the fourth quarter of that game, and the program has looked different ever since.

Lincoln Riley left the next day for USC, Brent Venables was hired a week later, Bob Stoops coached the Alamo Bowl and Jerry Schmidt came back.

It all looked like a nice bounceback from Riley’s exit — right up until the Sooners started losing games.

But maybe Saturday signaled a shift. Maybe the players are finally catching on to Venables’ defense. Maybe the buy-in to Venables’ new culture is actually starting to take. That’s what an absolutely dominating defensive performance seemed to indicate.

And maybe the Sooners’ future watched the whole thing unfold from the stadium seats.

On the same night Oklahoma symbolically sent off its seniors, the Sooner coaching staff hosted more than three dozen high school recruits — including a half-dozen 5-stars.

As OU transitions to the SEC (move-in date officially 2025, but in reality still TBA), the Bedlam opportunities are dwindling. In an historic and entertaining series the Sooners now lead 91-19-7, Saturday started out as an all-timer for Oklahoma.

OU amassed 299 yards total offense in the opening 15 minutes — the most in school history for a first quarter. (The record for any quarter stands at 312.)

That included a first-quarter OU record 224 yards passing by Dillon Gabriel.

Gabriel was 4-of-5 on the opening drive for 73 yards — highlighted by a leaping, turning 33-yard reception by Drake Stoops to the 2-yard line — then finished it off himself with a 2-yard touchdown run.

Gabriel then struck again with a perfect throw to Jalil Farooq up the right sideline for a 30-yard touchdown to make it 14-0.

After Spencer Sanders’ second interception of the night was picked off by defensive end Jonah Laulu and returned to the OSU 4-yard line, Eric Gray powered in for a 2-yard TD run that made it 21-0.

Gabriel wasn’t finished, though, as he made it 28-0 with another perfect throw to Drake Stoops in the end zone.

Laulu’s pick — he dropped into coverage on a zone blitz, a look that seemed to confuse Sanders throughout the first half — was one of three for the Sooner defense. C.J. Coldon easily grabbed one off what looked like Sanders trying to throw the ball away, and Billy Bowman snagged one at the OU 7-yard line just before halftime as OSU was trying to score.

Ethan Downs and Danny Stutsman also had their hands on Sanders throws in the first half, and Coldon almost had two more in the second half.

Sanders missed all or parts of the Cowboys’ last three games with a shoulder injury and his throws may have been affected by it Saturday night, but he didn’t shy away from contact as he ran the football.

Tanner Brown’s 24-yard field goal had put the Cowboys on the board with 4:05 to play before halftime, but that was all O-State could muster in the opening 30 minutes.

OSU managed just 153 yards total offense and averaged 2.3 yards per play in the first half, while OU compiled 365 yards and averaged 6.4 yards per play.

That all changed in the second half.

While the OU defense stayed mostly locked in, the Sooners’ offense stumbled significantly after their red-hot start. Gabriel was 14-of-18 for 224 yards in the first quarter, but over the second and third quarters, he competed just 5-of-18 passes.

He finished 20-of-40 for 259 yards with two TDs and the one INT.

After its fourth touchdown, the OU offense went punt, punt, loss of downs, interception, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt, punt and punt. None of those possessions lasted more than 91 seconds, and the Sooners finished the night converting 1-of-14 on third down.

Sanders stayed tough and kept Oklahoma State alive in the second half, engineering a seven-play, 61-yard touchdown drive and a six-play, 59-yard field goal drive that cut the Sooners’ lead to 28-13.

Sanders nearly drove the Cowboys to another touchdown, but his throw over the middle to Cassity sailed high and was intercepted in the end zone by DaShaun White with 5:42 to play.

Even with Oklahoma’s prolonged offensive problems — OU immediately went three-and-out — White’s interception all but clinched it as the Sooners clung to a two-score lead.

On the next drive, Jalen Redmond sacked Sanders on second down and White sacked him on third down, forcing an OSU punt.