Tory Blaylock Ensured Oklahoma Kept Momentum in Key Stretch Against Mississippi State

STARKVILLE, Miss. — Oklahoma was never able to separate away from Kentucky, and it paid for it.

Tory Blaylock ensured the second half in Starkville followed a different script.

The Sooners marched 96 yards on 16 plays just before halftime to take a 10-0 lead over Mississippi State on Saturday. Ben Arbuckle’s offense was due to get the ball out of the break, and they needed a touchdown to truly start to thin the crowd at Davis Wade Stadium.

Enter Blaylock.

The sophomore popped OU’s longest rush of the season — a 47-yard scamper — to start the party.

Two plays later, John Mateer found tight end Rocky Beers for a 32-yard score to extend the lead to three possessions. Oklahoma still had work to do to secure the 23-15 win and move to 4-3 on the year and 2-2 in SEC play, but the start of the second half put the Bulldogs in a hole they struggled to climb out of.

“Coming right out, it was awesome,” Mateer said after the win. “First play, that’s huge. That’s momentum right there. I thought he was going to score. He was a 4x100 state record holder, national record holder. I thought he was going to score, and I told him that in the locker room — I’m just messing.”

The scoring drive let OU’s defense tee off on Bulldog backup Parker Puckett, and it eased the pressure on Mateer for the rest of the afternoon.

Oklahoma went on to rush for 111 yards on 21 carries, a 5.3 average per rush, in the second half and the Sooners finished with 184 rushing yards — the most since OU ran for 192 yards in last season’s win over Tennessee.

Getting sophomore Michael Fasusi back at left tackle helped the rushing attack, but the offensive line still had to battle adversity.

The Sooners still played without guards Eddy Pierre-Louis and Heath Ozaeta, who have both started games this season, and center Jake Maikkula exited the game in the second half with an injury.

“Our guys hatted things up,” Arbuckle said. “Our runners ran hard and they were tough to tackle.”

Blaylock led the team with 71 rushing yards on 12 carries. Lloyd Avant added 55 yards on 13 carries, Mateer rushed nine times for 37 yards and receiver Isaiah Sategna even tallied a trio of rushes for 24 yards.

Freshman Jonathan Hatton Jr. helped out in the passing game as well, catching three passes for 19 yards, and Avant added a reception for nine yards.

The Sooners didn’t break any rushing records in the win over Texas, but they were able to move the ball on the ground effectively enough that the Longhorns had to respect that Mateer could turn and hand the ball off at any time.

Against Mississippi State, OU was able to mix up its playcalling as the game went on due to the success it had running the ball.

“We did a good job of mixing it up,” head coach Brent Venables said. “Again, we created some explosive plays. We put together several really good drives.”

There’s plenty of growth needed for the offense to be relied on consistently, but it was at least able to do what it failed to do against Kentucky on Saturday against the Bulldogs.

“It was good,” Mateer said. “It was awesome to see for the o-line to work it and be successful.”

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