Live Updates From No. 13 Oklahoma's Massive SEC Tilt With No. 8 Ole Miss

The No. 13-ranked Sooners host No. 8 Mississippi for the first time on Saturday in a contest with College Football Playoff implications.

Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer | BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

NORMAN — Sooners on SI offers real-time observations from Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium throughout Saturday’s matchup between No. 13 Oklahoma and No. 8 Mississippi. Just keep your browser open and refresh often.

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4:09 Fourth Quarter

After giving up the big play, OU’s defense again forces Ole Miss to settle for a field goal. 

Crneiro hits the 37-yard attempt to extend the Rebels’ lead to 34-26. 

— Chapman 

6:56 Fourth Quarter

Kiffin dials up a shot on first down and Chambliss converts. 

He connected with Winston Watkins down the sideline for 43 yards to move the ball all the way down to the 10-yard line. 

— Chapman 

7:04 Fourth Quarter

The ruling of a fumble is officially upheld, and the Rebels will take over on their own 47. 

Kip Lewis was trying to get the fans on the east side of the stadium fired up again, but Oklahoma had to head back to its sideline with TV taking the chance to go to commercial. 

OU’s defense needs another big stop after the special teams miscue.

— Chapman

Third quarter stats:

THIRD QUARTER

0:02 Third Quarter

Chambliss overthrows Bixby product and former Sooners TE target Luke Hasz on third-and-1, but Kiffin goes for it again on fourth and the conversion is good. Rebs ball first down to start the fourth quarter.

— Hoover

1:04 Third Quarter

Oklahoma takes a 26-25 lead as Robinson bulls into the end zone again, this time from 10 yards out. What a rally. Mateer’s 2-point conversion pass to Blaylock goes through Blaylock’s hands, but OU seems to have all the momentum.

Let’s see how Lane Kiffin, Trinidad Chambliss and the Rebels respond.

— Hoover

2:22 Third Quarter

OU’s student section is feeling it. They are Gator Chomping as Oklahoma inches closer to the goal line. 

Perhaps they feel that Ole Miss defensive coordinator Pete Golding is a candidate for the opening in Gainesville? Not sure if Kiffin will be able to wear his sideline hoodie in the Florida humidity. 

— Chapman 

4:52 Third Quarter

Kendal Daniels was coming on a blitz when he saw Chambliss was releasing the football. He adjusted his path from the QB to the wide receiver and planted Dae’Quan Wright to force a punt. What a play.

OU would seem to have all the momentum for the coming 20 minutes.

— Hoover

5:44 Third Quarter

Xavier Robinson busts a huge rush to get the Sooners back in the game.

After running into a crowd up the middle, he broke an arm tackle and bounced the play outside. He found nothing but green grass on the perimeter and outran the defense 65 yards to the house. 

After Sandell hit the PAT, the Sooners cut the deficit back to 25-20. That one-play drive took just 12 seconds. OU has now struck from 60-plus yards twice. 

— Chapman 

5:57 Third Quarter

Oklahoma’s defense rallied after the penalty to force Mississippi into a 29-yard field goal. 

The Rebels would have still been in field goal range before the flag, but that would have been pushing the edge of where Ole Miss would have wanted to attempt a field goal. 

Sooners down 25-13 and need the offense to get something going. 

— Chapman 

8:47 Third Quarter

That was a really bad call. Roughing the passer? Hitting him in the neck/head? Jayden Jackson actually DIDN'T hit him in the neck/head. Takes a bit of an imagination to call something that didn't actually happen. Bad break for the OU defense after a stop on third-and-long.

— Hoover 

8:47 Third Quarter

Jayden Jackson got flagged for roughing the passer on third-and-10. 

Brutal call. He hit Chambliss before the Ole Miss quarterback was even done with his follow-through. 

Now the Rebels have the ball with a fresh set of downs on the 26-yard line. 

— Chapman 

11:16 Third Quarter

The offense started the drive on the 15-yard line. 

Tate Sandell ended up kicking a field goal from the 24-yard line. 

Kiffin has no reason to be conservative the rest of the day with how his defense is holding up against the OU offense. 

Sooners trail 22-13 early in the third. 

— Chapman 

12:46 Third Quarter

Oklahoma’s defense delivers. 

The Sooners forced a fourth-and-1, then Lane Kiffin gets cute, and a direct snap results in a fumble that sets OU’s offense up in the red zone. 

New life for OU!

— Chapman 

13:47 Third Quarter

This feels like a make-or-break drive for Oklahoma’s defense. 

Anything more than a field goal for Ole Miss will stretch this out to three possessions, which feels insurmountable at the moment. 

— Chapman 

Halftime Stats:

Halftime

Brent Venables to ESPN's Molly McGrath at halftime: 

"They do a great job throwing, very accurate, but we missed too many tackles. We had some opportunities to get off the field there. We’ve clean up some tackling, play with better leverage and the perimeter, and it’s gonna be a hell of a game here in the second half.

"We gotta get the run going. That’s our only chance. We gotta come out with better balance, stick to it, be patient and make plays when we get our opportunity."

— Hoover

Halftime 

Oklahoma’s defense entered this week giving up 80.4 rushing yards per game, which was third in the nation. 

Ole Miss has 98 rushing yards at halftime and a pair of touchdowns on the ground. 

On the other side, the Rebels entered the game allowing 166.7 rushing yards per game, which ranked 98th. 

The Sooners head into the locker room with 16 rushing yards. Oklahoma’s offense only ran 23 plays compared to Mississippi’s 46 offensive plays. 

Outside of the 76-yard catch-and-run by Sategna, it was basically all Rebels. 

— Chapman 

HALFTIME

0:12 Second Quarter

So much for the Sandell plan. OU weakly goes three-and-out, and it’s a Grayson Miller punt — right after this Ole Miss timeout.

— Hoover

0:46 Second Quarter

Wow, Brent Venables had a slant on up front. Just about every defender slanted to his left, and Ole Miss brought in two jumbo blockers. Kiffin called a run play behind the slant and Lacy walked in untouched for the touchdown and a 22-10 lead.

OU gets the ball first after halftime, so this is a big opportunity for maybe Sandell to tack on a long field goal.

— Hoover

3:00 Second Quarter

Ole Miss goes for it on fourth-and-3, and Chambliss fires a quick throw to Wallace for a first down.

See, it doesn’t have to be all that hard.

— Hoover

4:32 Second Quarter

Umanmielen sacks Mateer on fourth-and-2. Can’t say that was a sound play call from Ben Arbuckle. Shifted a bunch formation — featuring Carson Kent, Ivan Carreon and Zion Kearney — from the left to the right, then Mateer got under center and rolled right. It looked like the Rebels defense had anticipated Mateer with some kind of rollout option and they were camped on it. There was no surprise in the play design (other than all the backup wide receivers and Mateer under center), and Ole Miss easily sniffed it out.

— Hoover 

4:32 Second Quarter

The fourth-down try did not go well for the Sooners coming out a timeout.

John Mateer nearly made a really bad decision, looking like he was trying to chest-pass the ball away, but ultimately took the sack to give Ole Miss the ball near midfield.

— Aber

4:39 Second Quarter

Big fourth down coming up for the Oklahoma offense, down 15-10, 4:39 til halftime. Burned second timeout there, but gotta get this call right. It's 4th and 2 at the Ole Miss 46.

— Hoover

7:33 Second Quarter

So all told, that’s a net of five free points (safety, field goal) for Ole Miss thanks to that mini-avalanche of OU penalties. 

Can’t give away points in a tough conference game like this, especially against the No. 8-ranked team in the country.

Sooners need to respond here and if they don’t, they’ll be fighting uphill.

— Hoover

7:33 Second Quarter

Well, I would expect that’s the end of the Austin Simmons looks for Ole Miss at quarterback. 

Kiffin fell to his knees on the sideline after the miss on second down, and was very irritated at the entire offense as they came off the field on third down. 

Sooners have to shake off that sequence and get back moving in the right direction here, and they’ll have a great chance after the field position reset following this kickoff. 

— Chapman 

7:37 Second Quarter

Interesting decisions from Kiffin there to bring in backup QB (former starter) Austin Simmons to split the second-down snap, then take out Chambliss and have Simmons throw into the end zone (incomplete).

Chambliss has mostly been having his way with the OU defense. They probably loved seeing Simmons replace him.

Rebs field goal makes it 15-10.

— Hoover

10:42 Second Quarter

Now it’s the Rebels’ turn to shoot themselves in the foot. 

After a flurry of penalties by OU, Ole Miss gets backed up into first-and-15 following a false start. 

Huge to possibly prevent Kiffin from dialing up a deep shot after taking over near midfield. 

— Chapman

11:15 Second Quarter

That’s five penalties on OU — three in a row, including one that wiped out a sack. The result is Blaylock getting tackled in the end zone and a safety for the Ole Miss defense.

OU has been snakebitten on some penalties this year, but they’ve also been extremely undisciplined. That’s a great example of the latter. Line up onside and the ball is way up the field. Don’t hold on the punt return, and you’re fine. Come out of the timeout in the correct formation and it’s only second down here instead of a free kick back to the only offense that has had success against your defense this year.

Bad, bad sequence of football for Oklahoma, offense, defense and special teams.

— Hoover

14:30 Second Quarter

Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin to ESPN’s Molly McGrath at the quarter break:

“It’s gonna be challenging. These guys are the best defense in the country.”

— Hoover

14:04 Second Quarter

Wow, Mateer had whatever he wanted on that play. 

Jaren Kanak was wide open as well, but Mateer settled for a 76-yard connection with Isaiah Sategna to score. 

The track speed on full display for Sategna. 

All tied up at 10.

— Chapman 

First quarter stats:

FIRST QUARTER

1:42 First Quarter

Chris Plank reports that Kobie McKinzie has entered the injury tent on the OU sideline. He said McKinzie “seemed to be favoring his left leg.”

— Hoover

5:34 First Quarter

Blaylock is back on the field and seems to be OK with a 6-yard run off tackle. The drive stalls, however, and Brent Venables elects to punt on foruth-and-inches. Feels like a score ‘em-if-you-got ‘em kind of game today. That possession felt very rushed in a non-tempo sort of way.

— Hoover

4:44 First Quarter

Mississippi entered the week ranked 98th in the country in rushing defense. 

Oklahoma goes nowhere on third-and-1, and there were some groans from the crowd as Brent Venables opts to punt. 

Rebels will take over on their own 15.

— Chapman 

6:07 First Quarter

That third-and-8 throw from Chambliss to Wallace for 25 yards reminded me of some of the stuff that Arch Manning did this same OU defense. Good play, good route, clutch throw, great catch, drive stays alive, touchdown Rebs.

— Hoover

6:07 First Quarter

Lane Kiffin’s offense is having no problem whatsoever with Brent Venables’ defense. After a field goal on their opening possession, Kewan Lacy finishes off a drive with a 28-yard touchdown to put the Rebels up 10-3. It’s the first touchdown allowed by the OU defense this year in the first quarter, and it’s the first time a team has scored twice in the opening period.

— Hoover 

8:04 First Quarter

Tate Sandell knocks through his 13th consecutive field goal to tie it up at 3-3. Offenses will be a bit limited by the conditions today, so good FG kicking in tough weather could be the difference between winning and losing.

— Hoover 

11:36 First Quarter

Gabe Ikard reports from the OU sideline that RB Tory Blaylock has come off the field and “has something going on with his arm.”

— Hoover

10:25 First Quarter

Leading up to the game, offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle talked about the desire to push the ball down the field.

It didn't take long for the Sooners to take a deep shot Saturday.

On the fourth play, John Mateer hit Isaiah Sategna for a 39-yard pass to give the Sooners the ball at the Ole Miss 24.

12:30 First Quarter

Oklahoma’s starters on offense:

Fasusi - Ozaeta - Maikkula - Nwaiwu - Fodje

Gibson - Sategna - Kanak - Burks 

Mateer - Blaylock 

— Chapman 

12:30 First Quarter

Lucas Carneiro’s 45-yard field goal gives the Rebels a 3-0 lead. It’s only the second time this season the OU defense has given up points in the first quarter (Auburn also kicked a FG). OU is outscoring opponents 48-6 so far in the first quarter this year. It's also the first time OU gave up points on their opening defensive possession in the last 12 games.

— Hoover

12:30 First Quarter

True freshman Courtland Guillory comes up with a really nice pass breakup to halt the Ole Miss drive, forcing the Rebels to settle for a 45-yard field goal attempt. 

Lucas Carneiro hit it, and the visitors are on top 3-0 after one drive. 

The offensive tempo didn’t seem to bother the OU defense there, but Trinidad Chambliss did miss a potential touchdown on second down with a really bad underthrow.

— Chapman 

15:00 First Quarter

Oklahoma’s starters on defense:

Thomas - Halton - Jackson - Wein 

Daniels - Kip Lewis - McKinzie

E. Bowen - P. Bowen - Spears-Jennings - Guillory 

— Chapman

2 minutes until kickoff 

Oklahoma won the toss. The Sooners elected to defer. 

OU’s defense up first. 

Let’s football.

— Chapman 

34 minutes until kickoff

John Mateer just ripped a beautiful deep shot in the corner to Deion Burks. Mateer was standing on the 35-yard line on the left hash and he hit Burks in stride at the right pylon. 

— Chapman 

41 minutes until kickoff

Oklahoma’s projected starting offensive line per warmups from left to right:

Fasusi - Ozaeta - Maikkula - Nwaiwu - Fodje

A pair of true freshmen at tackle. Bill Bedenbaugh’s youth movement is here! 

— Chapman 

46 minutes until kickoff

Tate Sandell was making field goal attempts from 55 yards in the warmup. He doesn’t seem phased by the conditions today, which would certainly be great news for Oklahoma. 

— Chapman 

90 minutes until kickoff

No real surprises on the final SEC availability report. 

Running back Jovantae Barnes and defensive back Gentry Williams have been downgraded to out. 

They’ll join receiver Keontez Lewis and offensive linemen Troy Everett, Derek Simmons, Jacob Sexton and Jake Taylor. 

Running back Taylor Tatum was also ruled out for the contest, as is defensive back Kendel Dolby.

Offensive tackle Logan Howland is available, but OU Insider’s Parker Thune reported on Friday night that true freshman Ryan Fodje will start at right tackle across from Michael Fasusi at left tackle. 

It’ll definitely be wet today. It’s not pouring rain, but a haze is still hovering over the stadium. 

The equipment crew on both sidelines will have to work to keep the footballs dry today, but I’m not sure it’s raining hard enough right now to prevent any passing or anything like that. 

— Chapman