The No. 7 OU football team elevated the program into an elite group Saturday night when it won its 800th all-time game by defeating the Utah State Aggies on at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
The Sooners are only the eighth Division 1 team in the NCAA to reach the 800-win milestone, joining Michigan, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State and Penn State.
“It’s pretty special because you look back through the years and you see that our championships span the decades,” coach Bob Stoops said. “We’re just proud of the whole history and tradition here.”
Coaches and players were unhappy with many aspects of the team’s performance, but the Sooners escaped with a 31-24 win at home. After the game, Stoops gave credit to Utah State.
“We knew Utah State was a much different team than they had been in the years before,” Stoops said. “They were very competitive last year with everybody.”
The Aggies hung with the Sooners for the first three quarters of the game, and were more productive than OU offensively as well, especially in the passing game.
“They gave it to us tonight,” redshirt sophomore quarterback Landry Jones said. “Even though we won we played really sloppy.”
Jones struggled throughout the game with his accuracy and timing with receivers, none of whom could get open consistently with the exception of junior wide receiver Ryan Broyles.
“We have to clean up some stuff,” Jones said. “Some of that stuff showed up in practice, so it showed up in the game as well.”
Broyles accounted for most of the team’s receiving yards and all of its receiving touchdowns, with nine catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns.
Jones never got into a rhythm, throwing for 217 yards on 17-36 passing with two touchdowns and 2 interceptions. One of Jones’ picks came in the fourth quarter deep in Utah State territory, when the Sooners were attempting to extend their lead to two scores.
“I was a little off tonight,” Jones said. “I didn’t play very good. It’s frustrating not playing the way you know you’re capable of. I’ll get better next week.”
Junior running back Demarco Murray gave OU a boost offensively as well, rushing for 225 yards on 35 carries, including a 39-yard run on the first play of the game and a 63-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
As productive as he was, Murray said there is still room for improvement in the running game.
“There were some times where the offensive line missed some blocks, and there were some times when I missed a cut, but at the end of the day we’re still trying to build and get tougher,” Murray said.
True to Stoops’ word during the preseason, Murray shouldered a majority of the carries during the game in the absence of No. 2 running back senior Mossis Madu, who sat out Saturday’s game for undisclosed reasons.
Utah State took advantage of some miscues in the OU secondary, with senior quarterback Diondre Borel throwing for more than 300 yards in the air.
Borel repeatedly used his mobility to extend plays and avoid the rush, finding OU defensive backs out of position.
The Aggies missed several opportunities to close the deficit and even tie the game. In the second quarter, Utah State attempted a fake field goal to score a touchdown, but the play was called back on a penalty.
During the first part of the fourth quarter, Utah State drove down the field but stalled at OU’s 33 yard line, and missed a field goal that would have put them within four points of the Sooners.
The Sooners finally sealed the win with an interception by junior cornerback Jamell Fleming late in the fourth quarter, allowing OU to run the clock out for the win.
Up next for OU is Florida State, a team that could present a greater challenge to the Sooners. Stoops said his team will take the experience and build on it for next week.
“We have a ton of work to do,” Stoops said. “So we’ll start at it first thing Monday. That’s not to say they haven’t been working hard and well, because they have. It just shows you have to bring it to the game.”
The Sooners face Florida State at 2:30 p.m. Sept. 11 at Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
jimbo 1 year, 8 months ago
they need to play some personnel that wants to play not feel like they are given to play...it was ridiculous how bad they looked against utah state...there are no excuses!!!!!!!!!!!
TheJR 1 year, 8 months ago
Hope our corners are doing some work in practice this week, otherwise our home winning streak won't be there for much longer.
jimbo 1 year, 8 months ago
Wort was a Total liability....there should be more options...Bird looked good play him OL and DL looked bad and the DB let their guys behind them....unbelieveble
jimbo 1 year, 8 months ago
Wort was horrible acting like an idiot and played terrible missed tackles over running out of position penalities lack of basic tackling skills way overrated...these are habits he hasnt broke in 2 years and isnt likely to break in a week
dbs letting their men behind them
OL DL getting pushed around