Three Quick Takeaways From Oklahoma's Victory Over No. 19 Mississippi

NORMAN — Oklahoma gets the last laugh.

The contest between the Sooners and No. 19 Ole Miss was pushed to Sunday due to the Rebels’ travel issues, an occurrence that added fire to the fans who made it out to a rain-soaked Owen Field.

Their battle through the elements was rewarded as OU held on to beat the Rebels 24-17, essentially ending Mississippi’s College Football Playoff hopes.

Oklahoma scored on the first possession of each half, returned a punt for a touchdown and got another good defensive showing to improve to 6-4 overall and 4-3 in SEC play.

The Rebels fell to 6-4 on the year and 4-4 in conference action.

Here are three takeaways from the OU win.

Oklahoma Frustration Fuels Fast Start

Oklahoma Sooners, Manny Choice and Isaiah Sategna — Oklahoma receiver Manny Choice (0) springs Isaiah Sategna (1) with a block on a punt return in the first half against Ole Miss. | Carson Field / Sooners on SI

The college football world knew how Oklahoma felt about Ole Miss’ travel issues, and OU made it the Rebels’ problem early.

Venables’ defense swiftly forced a three-and-out to start Sunday’s contest, and then interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten dialed up a 13-play touchdown drive to start the scoring.

OU then put more points on the board without the offense stepping back onto the field.

Isaiah Sategna fielded the second punt of the game at the Sooners’ own 25 and got rolling off to his right.

He followed fellow receiver Manny Choice, who obliterated punter Oscar Bird, down the OU sideline for a touchdown that sent Owen Field into a frenzy.

Nobody inside the stadium seemed to care as the rain started to come down harder, as the Sooners built a two-score lead on the newly hated Rebels.

Trinidad Chambliss was able to lead a touchdown drive after the punt return to cut back into the lead, and neither offense was able to do much more in the sloppy conditions before halftime.

OU got back into gear as the third quarter wore on, but the Sooners put together the exact response the fan base wanted after everything that went into moving the game back a day.

Jason Witten: Master of Keepaway?

Oklahoma Sooners, Jason Witten — Oklahoma interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten looks on during warmups. | Carson Field / Sooners on SI

Oklahoma lost an offensive possession due to Sategna’s punt return, yet the Sooners still dominated the time-of-possession battle for the second straight week.

In Gainesville, OU held the ball for nearly 40 minutes as Witten made his play-calling debut.

Things weren’t quite that lopsided on Sunday, but Witten found ways to keep the Oklahoma offense on the field.

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The Sooners opened with a 13-play drive that ate 7:40 off the clock in which they ran the ball 11 times.

The offense’s second drive ended in a punt, but it still wound four minutes off the clock. Things slowed down before halftime, but OU opened the second half with a 12-play touchdown drive that included a pair of runs where freshman Jonathan Hatton Jr. pinballed around and a 22-yard reception by Lloyd Avant.

Oklahoma then took nearly eight minutes off the clock on a drive that ended in a Tate Sandell field goal miss.

Ole Miss scored to make it a one-score game following the miss, but Witten’s group responded with another long march.

John Mateer found tight end Rocky Beers on a pair of long third-down tries to help move the ball all the way down to the Rebels’ 24.

From there, Sandell hit a 41-yard kick to make it a 24-14 lead for the Sooners.

Mateer completed 10-of-19 passes for 111 yards, but he rushed the ball 16 times for 70 yards and a score to lead OU’s rushing attack to 188 yards for the game.

In the end, the Sooners held the ball for 36 minutes and 31 seconds.

Defense Holds Despite Chambliss’ Rushing Efforts

Throwing in the rain was always going to be a tough ask, but Oklahoma held up when asked in pass defense.

Linebacker Kip Lewis almost picked Chambliss off on the first pass of the game, but he instead settled for tipping the ball into the air to disrupt the drive.

Chambliss was only asked to drop back a handful of times until the Sooners went up 10 points late in the fourth quarter.

Where Chambliss was able to keep things moving was on the ground.

He carried the ball twice for 14 yards early on the Rebels’ first scoring drive to keep the offense ahead of the chains, but his big moment came in the fourth quarter.

Facing third-and-15, Chambliss broke contain and ran for 32 yards to get Ole Miss in striking distance.

Two plays later, he had the offense in the end zone to cut the deficit to 21-14.

Chambliss was able to lead a field goal drive late, and then the Rebels were able to recover an onside kick that bounced off multiple Sooners, forcing the defense to make one more stand.

Ole Miss moved the ball to the 29-yard line with seven seconds left, but Chambliss’ heave to the end zone fell incomplete.

The Sooners held the visitors to 306 total yards of offense and just 127 passing yards. The Rebels finished with 179 rushing yards.

The Sooners will return to action next week against Texas A&M. That kickoff time was moved to 2:45 p.m. by the SEC.

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