Oklahoma's Offense Laid a Foundation it Needs to Build on in Second Half of Red River Rivalry

DALLAS — Oklahoma didn’t win the rushing battle Saturday, but it did enough to knock off No. 1 Texas.

Tate Sandell’s 47-yard field goal as time expired sealed the Sooners’ 27-24 victory over the Longhorns at the Cotton Bowl, but the offense started to find its groove right at the end of the first half on a drive that resulted in Sandell’s only miss of the day.

Down 14-7, OU moved the chains for the first time with about nine and a half minutes left before halftime.

Running back Tory Blaylock then caught another pass and moved the chains again with a rush, plays that finally got the offense moving.

“We had some self-inflicted wounds there in the first few drives and really kind of found our stride right there before half,” offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said.

The Sooners got going in the third quarter.

OU marched 52 yards on seven plays to put a field goal on the board, and a six-play, 47-yard drive stretched into the fourth quarter and saw Lloyd Avant punch the ball in from the 2-yard line to knot the game at 17-17.

Oklahoma out-gained Texas 96-41 in the third quarter, and the Sooners rushed for 80 yards to the Longhorns’ nine yards in the 15 minutes after halftime.

“The cool thing was we got there at halftime and there was no blink, there was no hesitation or anything from the guys in there,” Arbuckle said. “… Came out, got behind their pads. Lloyd Avant was running hard. Jonathan Hatton was running hard and the big boys up front were creating lanes for them to get through.”

Avant finished with 10 carries for 72 yards. Freshman Jonathan Hatton added five carries for 12 yards and Avant had two receptions for 16 yards and Hatton’s catch on OU’s first play of the game went for six yards.

The efforts allowed OU to put the Texas defense on the field for nine minutes and 53 seconds in the third quarter, which in turn helped flip momentum inside the Cotton Bowl.

“There's nothing we changed up going into halftime,” Avant said. “It was just the will and the mentality to come out and just execute the plan that we had, and just to come out and just to do it. That's all it took for us to just to come out and play the game that we love to do.”

Oklahoma’s offense stalled momentarily again in the fourth quarter.

That is, until John Mateer connected with Isaiah Sategna on back-to-back passes to set Sandell up for the game-winner.

But the performance in the second half provides something for Arbuckle’s unit to build on moving forward as Oklahoma hopes to turn its season around after bringing the Golden Hat back north of the Red River.

“They showed a lot of poise and they showed a lot of great adversity response and they came out ready to play,” Arbuckle said. “And so, really proud of those guys. Stuff to build on. We have to continue getting better. We have to.”

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