The Sooners escaped a pre-Halloween home scare and put up serious numbers against the Red Raiders. Check out our highlights from the 52-21 victory:
Filmed by Justin Jayne and Collin McDaniel
Edited by Justin Jayne
Thirty seconds remained in the fourth quarter of No. 4 Oklahoma’s eventual 52-21 win over Texas Tech as Nik Bonitto approached Isaiah Thomas on the Sooners’ sideline.
The two watched as OU’s second team offense drained the clock in a statement victory over the Red Raiders. Bonitto, a redshirt junior, turned to Thomas, who finished the game with a sack, two pass break ups, three tackles, one and a half tackles for loss and a forced fumble, which he recovered. Although Thomas had a career day, Bonitto was quick to point out Oklahoma’s toughest challenge might still lie ahead.
“It’s time for Championship November,” Bonitto told the redshirt senior defensive end, referencing the moniker OU has coined around the final full month of regular season play. His sentiment was echoed by strength coach Bennie Wylie, who interrupted the duo’s conversation to declare he’s already in Championship November.
“The older guys, (and) even the coaches, know it's just a different aura around here,” Thomas said. “It's just a different environment, different type of atmosphere. For us, as a team, we know we gotta play our best ball, because that’s what we do here. It's not just something we say, it's a culture. … We play our best football in the month of November. We’re (trying) to let the young guys know that, but we want to show them that as opposed to just telling them.”
Oklahoma (9-0, 6-0 Big 12) strung together arguably its most complete performance this season in its defeat of Texas Tech (5-4, 2-4) Saturday, achieving Thomas’ goal of demonstrating how good OU can be. For the third time this year and first time since its Sept. 11 matchup against Western Carolina, the Sooners defense forced three takeaways, which came from interceptions by senior safety Pat Fields and redshirt senior defensive back Justin Broiles alongside Thomas’ forced fumble. Oklahoma also held the Red Raiders to 373 total yards, the second fewest its allowed to an FBS opponent this season.
The Sooners’ win also marks their ninth straight victory in as many weeks, making them the first team to accomplish such a feat since TCU and Auburn in 2010. Oklahoma enters a bye week before heading to Waco, Texas, to face No. 16 Baylor (7-1, 4-1) on Nov. 13.
“We did what we were supposed to do,” Broiles said. “We dominated our job. The first two letters of ‘dominate’ are ‘D’ (and) ‘O’ — ‘Do’. … That’s not the first time we could’ve played like that, but I mean we just executed at our job. We prepared a lot better (and) we respected the game more, and it showed tonight.”
OU’s off-week allows it to receive some much-needed rest, as the team is currently without redshirt sophomore defensive back Jeremiah Criddell, redshirt freshman safety Bryson Washington, sophomore cornerback Woodi Washington, freshman receiver Cody Jackson, junior receiver Theo Wease and senior receiver Mike Woods. Freshman defensive back Jordan Mukes also left Saturday’s game prematurely after a helmet-to-helmet hit.
Broiles, whose interception was the first of his OU career, believes now’s the perfect time for his team to catch a break, but wants the Sooners to stay focused next week and sustain momentum.
“Preparation requires recovery,” Broiles said. “It’s really not two separate things. … It’s not just a bye week. It’s a week of preparation without a game.”
Since head coach Lincoln Riley arrived in Norman in 2015, then as offensive coordinator, Oklahoma has yet to lose in November. The Sooners’ last November loss came in 2014, when Baylor routed OU 48-14 in Norman.
The Sooners have tallied four appearances in the College Football Playoff and won six consecutive Big 12 championships in Riley’s time with the team, all of which was made possible by the team’s Championship November play. After OU strung together a few lackadaisical practices leading up to its 35-23 comeback win over Kansas last weekend, Fields said Riley held multiple team meetings where he emphasized effort.
“He just talked to us about the importance of practicing, the importance of competing harder, having a greater appreciation for the game and enjoying the game,” Fields said. “If you look at this game, if anything, you’ll see that excitement level the entire game. … I think we kind of just went back to the simple things. Going out there on the football field and having fun … that’s the biggest thing we did this week.”
With their battle against the Bears looming, and bouts with No. 22 Iowa State and No. 15 Oklahoma State coming after that, Oklahoma’s effort against the Red Raiders has confidence high heading into the home stretch of the season.
“I’m proud of the win, proud of the way we played,” Riley said. “We’ll get on to the bye week, get some work done, get a couple guys back healthy, hopefully a couple more key contributors back here pretty quick and get ready for our favorite month of the year.”
