Sooners Slam The Longhorns
Oklahoma made sure there would be no Texas comeback this time.
Josh Heupel led the No. 10 Sooners to touchdowns on their first five drives and linebacker Rocky Calmus returned an interception for another first-half score as Oklahoma beat the No. 11 Longhorns 63-14 Saturday in one of the most lopsided games in the 95-year history of the rivalry.
Quentin Griffin set a school record with six rushing touchdowns as the Sooners scored the most points in the storied battle of Red River neighbors. The 77 combined points were a series record and the winning margin was one shy of the biggest, a 50-0 OU victory in 1908.
Oklahoma (5-0, 2-0 Big 12) led 17-0 in last season's meeting, only to lose 38-28. Texas (3-2, 1-1) had won the last three meetings and eight of 11.
This time, the Sooners led 42-0 and 56-7 to put an exclamation mark on their best start since 1993.
When it ended, players ran along the stands slapping hands with fans and stopping to share hugs. Two guys planted a huge OU flag at midfield, then everyone gathered at the 20 for an impromptu team photo while the Sooner Schooner rolled up the sideline.
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Even blowout experts like the Wildcats and Cornhuskers will be impressed by this game film.
By halftime, the Sooners had scored on short drives (two, five and eight plays) and long ones (11, 14). Their six touchdowns were one more than the number of first downs Texas had. OU's 42 points were two shy of what the Longhorns had allowed in their previous four games combined.
Texas didn't cross midfield in the first two quarters, getting only as close as the 42. Then the Longhorns started the third quarter at their 43 after a short punt, but wasted it with an interception. Two plays later, the Sooners scored again.
This waTexas' most humiliating loss since a 66-3 pounding at home by UCLA in 1996, John Mackovic's last season as coach.
The Longhorns were confused from the start. Offensive and defensive linemen stood before every snap and pointed at Sooners to figure out who they were supposed to block yet they still didn't do a very good job of it.
Texas also hurt itself with penalties: four pre-snap ones on the offense, two on third downs, a pass interference that wiped out an end-zone interception and a 15-yarder for too many men on the field that turned an Oklahoma third-and-10 into a first down.
Oklahoma came in averaging 44 points, fifth-best in the country, but those were piled up against Texas-El Paso, Arkansas State, Rice and Kansas. Texas, which had the No. 13 defense in the country, was supposed to be a tougher test.
Hardly. To borrow a phrase from former OU coach Barry Switzer, the Sooners "hung half-a-hundred on 'em" and kept on going. And Switzer surely was happy to see so many touchdowns come on the ground.
Heupel, though, was the triggerman. Playing until midway through the fourth quarter, he was 17-of-27 for 275 yards.
His 29-yard touchdown pass and Griffin's first two TD runs made it 21-0 less than a minute into the second quarter. It was 35-0 about three minutes later on another of Griffin's TDs and a 41-yard interception return by Calmus, who was playing with a cast on his left hand.
An 8-yard TD run by Curtis Fagan made it 42-0 with 4:43 left until halftime. The Sooners had another chance to score with 2:48 left in the second quarter following a 7-yard TD catch by Texas' Hodges Mitchell but OU took mercy and ran five times to burn the clock.
Griffin added TDs in the third and fourth quarters as the Sooners enjoyed their highest-scoring game since beating New Mexico State 73-3 in 1989.
Oklahoma, which last beat Texas 30-27 in overtime in 1995, trails 55-35-5 in the overall series. This was only the third time in the last 13 meetings that the margin of victory was in double-digits.
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