Mayfield and Mixon Pace Oklahoma’s Offense in Record Breaking High-Scoring Win
Saturday night's Big 12 Conference game between Texas Tech and Oklahoma ended up being the embodiment of all-offense, no-defense, video game football.
Both offenses set records as Oklahoma (5-2, 4-0) won 66-59 in Baker Mayfield's first game in Lubbock after leaving the Red Raiders (3-4, 1-3) three seasons ago. The 60,400-plus fans at Jones AT&T Stadium were loud throughout most of the game, giving the Red Raiders one of the best game day atmospheres since the end of the Mike Leach-era seven years ago.
Mayfield set a Sooner record by passing for seven touchdowns in the game. Overall, his stat line was 27/36 passing for 545 yards, seven touchdown and no interceptions. Mayfield also rushed for 19 yards. On the field, Mayfield kept his team moving downfield throughout the game and kept his own composure as the Texas Tech fans peppered him with heckles, insults and profanities.
The Texas Tech defense was essentially powerless in stopping Mayfield, Joe Mixon and the rest of the Sooners offense. Four out of 14 drives ended with no points, but Oklahoma scored six consecutive touchdowns, spanning from 17 seconds left in the second quarter to the 5:03 mark of the fourth quarter.
Mixon started at running back in place of the injured Samaje Perine, and the Sooners didn't see any drop in production. Mixon's 377 all-purpose yards ranked 2nd all-time in a game for the Sooners. Mixon rushed for 263 yards and two touchdowns and also caught four passes for three touchdowns.
Meanwhile, for Texas Tech, quarterback Patrick Mahomes set records for both Texas Tech and NCAA FBS.
Mahomes generated an incredible 819 total yards of offense (734 passing, 85 rushing), which set single-game records for Texas Tech, Big 12 Conference and NCAA FBS. Mahomes' 734 passing yards also tied the single-game FBS record for most passing yards in a game. Finally, Mahomes set a new Texas Tech record for most pass attempts in a game with 88, breaking the previous mark of 72, which was set by Graham Harrell against Oklahoma on November 17, 2007.
Mahomes' stat line for the night was 52/88 passing for 734 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. Mahomes also rushed 12 times for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
Oklahoma jumped out to a 13-0 lead in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the game before the Red Raiders got onto the board. Texas Tech's first score was a 4-yard rushing touchdown by freshman running back Da'Leon Ward. That made the score 13-7 with 7:23 left in the first quarter.
All of the Red Raider defensive stops of the Sooner offense came in the first half. The three stops allowed Texas Tech to overcome the 13-point deficit to briefly take a one-point lead late in the second quarter.
With 37 seconds left in the second quarter, Mahomes found Jonathan Giles on an out-route in the front corner of the end zone for a shoestring 23-yard touchdown pass. After the extra point, Texas Tech took a 24-23 lead.
However, when Oklahoma started their next drive after a touchback, they didn't kneel down to run out the clock. Instead, Mayfield went deep and found Dede Westbrook open for a 52-yard gain. On the next play, Mayfield connected with Nick Basquine for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Within 20 seconds of game time, Texas Tech's lead and momentum evaporated right before halftime. Oklahoma took a 30-24 lead before the teams headed into the locker room.
For the rest of the game, Texas Tech continued to play catch-up trying to get the Sooner lead below six, but it just didn't happen. Oklahoma's scoring of five touchdowns on their first five second-half drives gave them enough points to keep the Red Raiders at bay.
During the postgame press conference, Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury was asked why he thinks his defense hasn't been able to cause any turnovers.
"When people are running that wide open, it's hard to get any," Kingsbury said. "And that was the problem. They'd create great separation with everybody, and so we weren't close to many balls."
Texas Tech next week is on the road at TCU for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, October 29. Countdown to Kickoff can be heard on SportsRadio 1340 The Fan with Rob Breaux from 11:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Listen on the air at 1340 AM or streaming online.
TEXAS TECH GAME NOTES
- Jonathan Giles recorded his fourth 100-yard performance of the season as the sophomore caught 10 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns. Giles entered tonight’s game as the Big 12 leader in receiving yards and touchdowns. He now has 917 receiving yards and 11 receiving touchdowns.
- Da’Leon Ward, making his first career start, found the endzone for the first time in his young career with 7:23 remaining in the first quarter. Ward finished with seven carries for 31 yards and one touchdown while becoming the first Red Raider true freshman running back to make his first career start in a Big 12 game since DeAndre Washington did so against Missouri on November 19, 2011.
- Clayton Hatfield connected on his 20th career field goal and his sixth of the season with a successful 37-yard attempt with 1:06 remaining in the opening quarter. Hatfield has currently made 87 percent (20-of-23) of his field goal attempts during his Red Raider career.
- Mason Reed made his way on the stat sheet several times tonight as he caught three passes for 49 yards. He did not have a catch during his Red Raider career coming into tonight’s game.
- Reginald Davis III helped Texas Tech escape a 2nd-and-25 with 9:33 remaining in the third quarter as he hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass from Mahomes. It marked Davis’ first touchdown grab this season and his team-leading 17th of his career.
- Malik Jenkins notched a career-high with 14 tackles, breaking his previous mark of eight that was most recently set earlier this season at Arizona State. It marked the third time this season where a Red Raider had recorded double digits in tackles. He also tied a career-high with two tackles for loss.
- Keke Coutee recorded career highs with nine receptions for 155 yards, 56 of which that came from Mahomes with 7:56 remaining in the game.
Texas Tech-Oklahoma Game Photos