Oklahoma Stock Report Trending Down After Ole Miss Takes Down OU

After its best game of the season last week at South Carolina, Oklahoma turned in an all-around lackluster performance on offense, defense and special teams Saturday.

Against No. 8-ranked Mississippi, OU struggled with its discipline in critical situations in a rainy first half, and after a third-quarter rally the Sooners couldn’t finish the deal as the Rebels left Owen Field with a 34-26 Southeastern Conference victory.

John Mateer threw a 76-yard touchdown pass to Isaiah Sategna in the first quarter and Xavier Robinson raced 65 yards for a TD in the third quarter, and Robinson’s 10-yard touchdown run with 1:04 left in the third quarter put the Sooners in front 26-25.

But the No. 14-ranked Sooners, a 5.5-point favorite, couldn’t survive a fourth-quarter fumble on top of the shabby first half.

Oklahoma fell to 6-2 overall and 2-2 in SEC play, while Ole Miss improved to 7-1 and 4-1.

This was the best team the Sooners have faced so far this season. The Rebels were smooth and confident on offense, aggressive and assertive on defense, and in a steady downpour early, coach Lane Kiffin looked very much in his element.

Brent Venables’ Sooners, on the other hand, staged a furious rally in the third quarter but at times looked beleaguered in both phases. OU wilted in the second quarter with a pileup of penalties that produced an Ole Miss safety followed by a field goal, and Kiffin then directed a late touchdown drive to build a 22-10 lead.

Oklahoma went nowhere at the end of the half, then repeated that with a three-and-out to start the second half.

But Kiffin’s paid a big risk-reward penalty with his aggressive play calling. Another defensive substitution penalty wiped out another big play for the Sooners, and Kiffin decided to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the Ole Miss 25.

A bad snap set up the Sooners for an easy score at the 15, but the OU offense went backwards, settling for a 42-yard field goal by Tate Sandell that cut it to 22-13.

There was still 26 minutes to play, but the momentum had shifted to the Rebels and the game seemed lost at that point — especially when Ole Miss immediately answered with three third-down conversions and a field goal that made it 25-13.

But OU delivered its own answer in a big way as Robinson got untracked for the first time this year, busting out with the two third-quarter touchdowns.

The Sooners trailed by 8 again, 34-26, after Isaiah Sategna’s fumble on a punt return.

From there, Mateer missed a wide open Jaren Kanak on third down, and Mateer’s fourth-down throw to Javonnie Gibson fell incomplete with 1:30 to play. On the final drive, his Hail Mary throw toward th end zone was knocked down at the 5 as time expired.

It doesn’t get any easier for the Sooners, who visit No. 17-ranked Tennessee, followed by an open week, followed by a trip to No. 4 Alabama.

Here’s the Oklahoma stock report against the Rebels:

DOWN: Discipline

Oklahoma was sloppy with penalties again, including three straight penalties in the second quarter that wiped out a sack, added to a punt and pinned the offense at the 2 to set up an Ole Miss safety. The Sooners cleaned it up a bit in the second half but still finished with 8 penalties for 52 yards — a recurring problem for much of the season.

After the defense got a stop and forced a punt, Sategna fumbled at the end of a 20-yard punt return early in the fourth quarter. It was the Rebels’ third drive of the day to start at midfield, and they produced 13 points off those drives. (The other two were off a big kickoff return and a turnover on downs.) Instead of OU ball with a chance to take the lead, Chambliss hit a deep ball with seven minutes to play to set up a field goal that made it 31-26 with 4 1/2 minutes to play.

DOWN: Ben Arbuckle

Oklahoma’s offensive coordinator struggled in key moments against an Ole Miss defense that came in ranked 66th nationally overall and 98th in rushing defense.

On third-and-1 in the first quarter, Arbuckle called a handoff up the middle to Tory Blaylock, which gained nothing.

On fourth-and-2 in the second quarter, Arbuckle went with a bunch formation that included a backup tight end and two backup receivers, and had Mateer keep on a misdirection pass, on which he was sacked.

On first-and-10 following a cavalcade of penalties set up the offense at its own 2, he called a sweep to Blaylock, who never came close to getting out of the end zone, giving Ole Miss an additional 2 points with a safety.

After halftime — presumably spent working on adjustments and coming up with effective solutions to move the football — the Sooners weakly went three-and-out to start the third quarter, with Mateer keeping it twice and throwing under pressure on third down.

DOWN: QB John Mateer

The Oklahoma quarterback started 10-of-11 passing for 167 yards, but finished just 6-of-18 after halftime for 70 yards.

Mateer had three possessions after Ole Miss retook the lead, but those three drives produced zero points and never got closer than the Rebels' 30-yard line.

DOWN, then UP: The OU Run Game

After an encouraging rushing performance at South Carolina, the OU offensive line was without right tackle Derek Simmons (replaced by true freshman guard Ryan Fodje) and eventually turned to redshirt freshman Eddy Pierre-Louis at left guard, and the Rebels feasted.

Blaylock finished with just 10 yards on six carries, and the Sooners managed just 136 rushing yards, despite Brent Venables' assertion to the ESPN sideline reporter at halftime that, “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.”

Robinson finally changed things with 5:44 left in the third quarter with a 65-yard touchdown on which he broke a tackle at the line of scrimmage and then just outran the Ole Miss defense to the goal line. Robinson popped behind a block from tight end Kaden Helms and got just enough on the perimeter from Javonnie Gibson to break free and cut Ole Miss’ lead to 25-20.

He added a 10-yard touchdown late in the third quarter to give Oklahoma a 26-25 lead.

Robinson finished with 109 yards and two touchdowns on nine carries.

DOWN: Oklahoma’s Defense

Against an offense that came in ranked No. 8 in the nation overall and No. 8 nationally in passing, the Sooners went from looking dominant to defeated.

Kiffin’s squad started 8-of-15 on third downs (they finished 9-of-21), with quarterback Trinidad Chambliss frustrating them repeatedly with timely scrambles and clutch pinpoint passes on third-and-long.

It’s the same thing that happened against Texas and Arch Manning — breaking contain and getting the throw off just ahead of the pass rush and wide receivers making play after play.

The Sooner defense has been excellent all season, but they missed too many tackles, lost coverage on a short touchdown throw early in the fourth quarter, couldn’t generate enough pressure on Chambliss on early downs and seemed just a step behind anything Chambliss and his receivers did. They did hold the Rebs to just 116 rushing yards (2.8 per carry).

It was by far a season-high for points allowed for the Sooner defense. Going into OU’s final drive with 4:09 to play, Ole Miss had run 85 offensive plays (for 425 yards) while the Sooners had run just 43 (for 290). The final tally was 87 offensive snaps for Mississippi and 60 for Oklahoma.