Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford passed for 372 yards and two long touchdowns and the Sooners led 28-0 after one quarter as they beat the Bears 49-17 at Floyd Casey Stadium on Saturday.
“The guys were really solid, really focused and they played really well,” said Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops, whose team now heads into its Red River Rivalry showdown with fifth-ranked Texas on Saturday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas. “We played well in all parts of the game.”
The Sooners (5-0 overall, 1-0 Big 12), who were voted the top team in the poll for a record 96th time, got things going early.
After forcing the Bears (2-3) to punt on their opening possession, Bradford found a wide-open Manuel Johnson down the left side for a 53-yard touchdown 1:10 into the first quarter.
“That is the thing OU has been able to do all year,” Briles said of the first quarter. “They really start fast. We knew they would surge. We were going to try to surge, take it to them and try to equal it out.”
It looked like Baylor might be able to get a break it needed when on Oklahoma’s second drive Baylor linebacker Joe Pawelek intercepted a Bradford pass in the end zone.
But a pass interference call behind the play nullified the interception, and on the next play running back DeMarco Murray ran in from 2 yards out for a 14-0 Oklahoma lead.
“You can go back to four plays in the first quarter that might have had a chance to determine the outcome of the game,” Briles said. “Undoubtedly (the interception) was one of them. At that time it’s 7-0, they get back down the field a little bit and we needed a spark. Sometimes you need a spark to get some life and momentum.
“For a 35-second span there, we felt good about what was happening. Then we look back down there and see the yellow flag.”
The Sooners added two more scores before the end of the quarter for a 28-0 lead and had already outgained the Bears 226 yards to just 44.
“I loved the way that we started off,” said Stoops, whose Sooners have outscored opponents 103-3 in the opening quarter. “I think it was a break that we won the toss and deferred just because of the wind conditions. We played such great defense to start with that it gave our offense great field position to start with.”
The Bears played decidedly better after that. Griffin broke free for a couple of long runs and Baylor outscored the Sooners 14-7 in the second quarter to make it 35-14 at the half.
Griffin, a former Copperas Cove standout, finished with 102 yards on 29 carries, including both Baylor touchdowns, and became the first player to rush for more than 100 yards against the Sooners this season.
Griffin completed 11 of 26 passes for 75 yards. But he admitted that the overturned interception and the first quarter might have been a bit too much for his team to overcome.
“It’s a game of momentum and a game of inches,” he said. “When they get the ball right back and basically walk into the end zone, that was an emotional letdown and a big shift in momentum right there. (Coming back from 28-0) is hard to do against any team. We tried. All we know to do is try and fight.”
But the Sooners fought just as hard, and Bradford and company went right back to work on the opening drive on the second half.
After back-to-back completions to Ryan Broyles, Bradford found former Killeen standout Juaquin Iglesias for a 37-yard gain, giving the Sooners a first down at the Bears’ 12. Four plays later, Chris Brown put the Sooners up 42-14 with a 3-yard run.
After the Bears got a field goal, Murray (96 rushing yards, two TDs) added the final score with just under eight minutes to play on a 1-yard run.
But it was Bradford’s passing that did most of the damage. He completed 23 of 31 passes and left the Bears’ secondary out of position most of the day.
“(Baylor) was playing kind of a soft (coverage),” said Iglesias, who had six catches for 133 yards and three kick returns for 67 yards. “So we had a lot of opportunities to get misdirection and get underneath on routes. Sam put the passes on the mark. We just played well and we were just clicking today.”
Despite Oklahoma being the nation’s top-ranked team, the Bears weren’t ready to concede that the win was as much about what Oklahoma did as it was what the Bears failed to do.
“We definitely made a lot of mental mistakes,” said Baylor safety Jordan Lake, who had the game’s lone interception. “We had some missed gaps and missed assignments, which gave them at least 21 or 28 points. Hat’s off to them because they beat us, but at the same time, we didn’t help ourselves.”
Added Griffin: “I don’t think they are the best defense we’ve played this year. They are definitely fast. Those linebackers will bring pressure and make you run, but it’s my job to make them miss.”
But like the teams that had already seen Griffin, the Sooners were the next in line to be impressed with Baylor’s rising star.
“That guy is fast,” Sooners defensive end Jeremy Beal said. “He escaped me a couple of times. He had a couple of big runs, but I thought we did a good job overall of just containing him.”
The Bears will host Iowa State at 6:05 p.m. Saturday.
NOTES: Baylor fell to 0-18 all-time against Oklahoma, the only Big 12 team Baylor never has beaten. The Bears fell to 0-11-1 against No. 1-ranked teams. . . . Oklahoma has been ranked No. 1 in 96 weeks, including 25 under Stoops. Notre Dame is second at 95 and Ohio State third at 93. . . . The Sooners have been ranked in the AP poll 126 of 156 times under Stoops.
mhood@temple-telegram.com
