Game Primer: Oklahoma at Tennessee

September 12 | 5:01 p.m. | Neyland Stadium (102,455)

¹⁷ Oklahoma

²³ Tennessee

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OPENING KICK

• No. 19/17 Oklahoma plays its first road game of 2015 when it travels to face No. 23/23 Tennessee on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPN and will air nationally on Westwood One Sports radio.

• The Sooners are coming off a 41-3 home win over Akron. They outgained the Zips 539-226 on the night and outscored them 35-3 in the second and third quarters.

• Tennessee amassed 604 yards of total offense (399 on the ground) in a 59-30 win over Bowling Green on Saturday in Nashville, Tenn. The Volunteers surrendered 557 yards of total offense (433 through the air).

• Saturday's game will mark just the second for OU in the Volunteer State. The Sooners posted a 24-3 win at Vanderbilt (Nashville) on Sept. 11, 1976 (39 years and 1 day from this Saturday's matchup).

shepard notre dame

Sterling Shepard caught a touchdown pass to help seal Oklahoma's 2013 win at Notre Dame.

• OU is 11-4 in non-conference road games under Stoops and has won five straight such games dating back to 2009. Among the wins, OU has knocked off No. 22 Notre Dame in 2013 (35-21) and No. 5 Florida State in 2011 (23-13). The Sooners are 50-27 against AP top-25 teams under Stoops. Since he began coaching in Norman in 1999, that .649 winning percentage is third best in the nation behind USC's .677 mark (44-21) and Ohio State's .653 percentage (49-26). OU is 13-9 on the road against AP top-25 teams under Stoops.

• The Sooners are 47-6 in September under Stoops (have outscored their opponents by an average count of 42-16 in those games).

FIVE TOP STORYLINES

• OU owns a 2-1 record against Tennessee. The Sooners posted a 34-10 home win over the Volunteers last year (Sept. 13) behind 308 passing yards and two touchdowns (one throwing, one running) by Trevor Knight. The other meetings came in the 1939 Orange Bowl (17-0 Tennessee; was OU's first bowl appearance) and the 1968 Orange Bowl (26-24 Oklahoma).

• With a Neyland Stadium capacity of 102,455 (fifth largest in college football), Saturday's crowd will mark the largest to ever witness an Oklahoma football game. The Sooners' previous largest crowd was 96,009 (OU-Texas three times at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas; most recently, OU beat the Longhorns 55-17 in 2011). The largest crowd to ever see the Sooners play a true road game was 88,119 (OU beat Ohio State 29-28 in 1977).

Bob Stoops is 24-7 against current SEC programs

• OU head coach Bob Stoops is 5-4 against teams in the SEC at the time of competition and has won two straight (34-10 vs. Tennessee last year and 45-31 vs. Alabama in 2014 Sugar Bowl). Including former Big 12 Conference members Missouri and Texas A&M, Stoops is 24-7 against current SEC programs.

• As defensive coordinator at Florida from 1996-98, Stoops went 2-1 against Tennessee. In 1996, the fourth-ranked Gators won 35-29 in Knoxville over Peyton Manning and No. 2 Tennessee en route to the national championship. The next year in Gainesville, third-ranked UF won again, 33-20, over Manning and No. 4 UT. Stoops' lone loss to the Vols came in 1998 when the second-ranked Gators fell 20-17 in overtime at No. 6 Tennessee. UT went on to win the national title.

riley

Lincoln Riley's first outing as OU offensive coordinator resulted in a 41-point outburst, including 35 points scored in 18 minutes.

• With new offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley calling the plays, OU racked up 439 passing yards Saturday against Akron, more than in any game last season. Riley spent the last five years as offensive coordinator at East Carolina, setting the Pirates' top five passing seasons of all-time. Last year, ECU ranked third nationally in passing offense (372 ypg) and fifth in total offense (533 ypg).

SCOUTING TENNESSEE

• Butch Jones (Ferris State, '90) is in his third season as head coach at Tennessee, owning a 13-13 overall record and a 5-11 mark in SEC play. Jones is in his ninth season as a head coach and sports a 63-40 record with additional stops at Central Michigan and Cincinnati.

• Tennessee defeated Bowling Green 59-30 Saturday in a neutral-site game at Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Tenn.

tennessee

The Volunteers celebrate after defeating Bowling Green in both teams' season opener last week. (AP Photo)

• The Volunteers racked up 399 rushing yards, their highest total since running for 406 yards against Vanderbilt in 1994. Alvin Kamara ran for 144 yards and two touchdowns, while Jalen Hurd added 123 yards and three scores. It was the first time since 2009 that UT had multiple 100-yard rushers in the same game.

• Kamara's 144 rushing yards were the most ever by a Vol playing in his first game. He was rated as Athlon Sports' No. 2 junior college running back and Lindy's SEC Newcomer of the Year entering the season.

• Junior quarterback Joshua Dobbs, who went 4-1 as a starter last season, completed 15 of 22 pass attempts against Bowling Green for 205 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran 12 times for 89 yards and a score.

• Tennessee played 15 true freshmen against Bowling Green. Last season, the Vols led the country by playing 23 true freshmen, including a school-record 21 in the 2014 season opener against Utah State.

• The Vols opened the 2015 season ranked No. 25 in the AP and Amway Coaches Top 25 Polls. It was the first time Tennessee opened the season ranked since starting at No. 18 in both polls in 2008.

LAST YEAR AGAINST THE VOLS

• In a game that was closer than the final score indicated, No. 4 Oklahoma downed unranked Tennessee 34-10 last year in Norman on Sept. 13. OU outgained the Vols 454-313 on the night and had 21 first downs to UT's 18.

Samaje Perine average 7.4 yards per carry as the Sooners defeated the Volunteers 34-10 in Norman last year.

• Then-sophomore quarterback Trevor Knight passed for 308 yards and a touchdown, and ran for another score. He was 20 for 33 with one interception while running for 17 yards on five carries.

• Sterling Shepard caught five passes for a game-high 109 yards while Durron Neal had career highs of seven receptions and 71 yards. Samaje Perine ran nine times for 67 yards and Keith Ford carried the ball 15 times for 56 yards and a score.

• With Tennessee driving, OU senior cornerback Julian Wilson iced the win with a 100-yard interception return with 10:57 left in the fourth quarter for the game's final tally of the night.

• Tennessee quarterback Justin Worley was 21 for 44 with two interceptions and a touchdown en route to a 201-yard performance through the air. Jalen Hurd carried the ball 14 times for 97 yards.

RECAPPING THE OPENER VS. AKRON

• Holding just a 3-0 lead until the 6-minute mark of the second quarter, the Oklahoma offense kicked into high gear the next 18 minutes against Akron on Saturday in an eventual 41-3 home win. The Sooners rattled off 35 points during the stretch to win their sixth consecutive season opener.

• Junior quarterback Baker Mayfield, who sat out last year and lost a year of eligibility after transferring from Texas Tech, made his OU debut a successful one with 388 passing yards and four touchdowns (three passing) without an interception in less than three quarters of work. His 388 yards through the air were the most by a Sooner in a season opener (Sam Bradford held the previous record of 363 yards against North Texas in 2007).

• OU netted 100 rushing yards and was held to 3.0 yards per carry. Sophomore Samaje Perine led the Sooners with 33 yards on the ground on 11 carries and tallied his 22nd career rushing touchdown.

mixon

Joe Mixon caught three passes for 115 in his Oklahoma debut.

• Freshman running back Joe Mixon had quite the collegiate debut, catching three passes for 115 yards, including a 76-yard touchdown from Mayfield in the third quarter. It marked the longest reception by a freshman running back in OU history. Mixon also became the first OU running back since 2012 (Trey Millard) to record more than 100 yards receiving in a game.

• Ten Sooners caught at least one pass on the night, with six of those players recording the first reception(s) of their careers (Mixon, redshirt freshman Mark Andrews, sophomore Jeffery Mead [first catch was a touchdown], junior Daniel Brooks and junior college transfers Jarvis Baxter and Dede Westbrook [grabbed one for a touchdown]). Thirteen Sooners logged at least one catch all of last season.

• The Oklahoma defense was stout all night, surrendering just 138 rushing yards and 88 passing yards for an average of only 3.2 yards per play. Akron's lone points followed an OU fumble on a punt that gave the Zips a short field.

• The Sooners forced eight three-and-outs on Akron's 16 possessions. The defense was paced by junior Dominique Alexander's 10 tackles and career-high 2.5 tackles for loss (one sack).

• Five newcomers made their first starts at the FBS level, including three freshmen: junior college receivers Baxter and Westbrook, redshirt freshman Orlando Brown (left tackle) and true freshmen Dru Samia (right tackle) and P.J. Mbanasor (cornerback). True freshman Austin Seibert handled OU's placekicking and punting duties.

mayfield

Mayfield threw for 388 yards in his Oklahoma debut.

• Seibert was sensational in his debut and became the first true freshman in OU history to start a season opener as both the placekicker and punter. He made both of his field goal attempts (35 and 41 yards), was perfect on his five extra point tries and averaged 49.7 yards on six punts with a long of 53 yards. Three of his punts went at least 50 yards.

• The game was played in front of a crowd of 85,370, which marked OU's 99th straight home sellout.

OPENING KICK

FIVE TOP STORYLINES

SCOUTING TENNESSEE

LAST YEAR AGAINST THE VOLS

RECAPPING THE OPENER VS. AKRON

Players Mentioned

Dominique Alexander

Dominique Alexander

Mark Andrews

Jarvis Baxter

Daniel Brooks

Orlando Brown

Keith Ford

Keith Ford

Trevor Knight

Trevor Knight

Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield

P.J. Mbanasor

Jeffery Mead

Joe Mixon

Durron Neal

Samaje Perine

Samaje Perine

Dru Samia

Austin Seibert

Sterling Shepard

Dede Westbrook

Dede Westbrook

Julian Wilson

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