Game Primer: OU vs. Houston

³ Oklahoma

¹⁵ Houston

September 3 / 11 a.m. CT / NRG Stadium / Houston

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OPENING KICK

• No. 3/3 Oklahoma begins its 122nd season of varsity football when it faces No. 15/13 Houston on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT in the AdvoCare Texas Kickoff inside NRG Stadium (71,795). The game will mark the start of OU's 18th season under head coach Bob Stoops.

• The Sooners are looking for their 14th season of at least 10 wins under Stoops. Oklahoma is the only FBS program to rack up 13 seasons of double-digit victories since 2000.

• Oklahoma is 93-22-6 all-time in season openers (15-2 under Stoops).

• OU has won six straight season openers, its longest streak since winning seven in a row from 1998 through 2004.

The last time the Sooners played in Houston was also the lone time they played at NRG Stadium (then named Reliant Stadium). In 2002, No. 8 OU beat 12th-ranked Colorado 29-7 in the Big 12 Championship Game.

• The last time Oklahoma opened the season against a team ranked as highly as No. 15 came in 1986 when No. 1 OU beat No. 4 UCLA 38-3 in Norman.

• In games where both teams are ranked 15th or better, Oklahoma is 30-15 (.667) under Stoops, including 21-6 (.778) when it is the higher ranked team.

• This marks just the second time under Stoops that Oklahoma is opening the season against a ranked team. The other occasion was in 2009 when the No. 3 Sooners lost 14-13 to No. 20 BYU in Arlington, Texas. Sooners QB Sam Bradford, who won the Heisman Trophy the previous year, missed the second half with a shoulder injury.

• The Sooners are 49-6 (.891) in September under Stoops, outscoring teams by an average of 42 to 17. OU has won nine straight September games and 19 of its last 20 dating back to 2009.

• Oklahoma is 55-28 (.663) vs. AP Top 25 teams in the Stoops era. The win percentage is the best in the country during the span and the win total is second behind LSU (57).

• Last year's Big 12 title was Oklahoma's ninth under Stoops, meaning he has won league championships at OU more years than he has not. No other program has claimed more than two Big 12 championships during the Stoops era.

FIVE TOP STORYLINES

• Oklahoma (11-2) and Houston (13-1) posted the best combined 2015 record (24-3) of any two teams that will meet in week one this season. The matchup will be the only one on opening weekend that features two teams ranked in the top 10 of last year's final AP poll (OU fifth, Houston eighth), and one of two between teams ranked in the top 15 of this year's preseason AP poll (No. 4 Florida State vs. No. 11 Ole Miss is the other).

• This is just the fourth time in its history that OU has opened the season at a neutral site, and the second under Stoops (2009 vs. BYU in Arlington, Texas). The only other such games came in 1896 when OU opened against Norman High (won 12-0) and in 1898 when OU opened against Arkansas City (won 5-0). Both games took place in Oklahoma City.

• Oklahoma has 42 Texans on its roster, including 10 from the surrounding Houston metro area: RB Rodney Anderson (Katy; Horn HS), RB Najee Bissoon (Humble; Summer Creek HS), QB Reece Clark (Cypress; Cypress Woods HS), OL Christian Daimler (Houston; Stratford HS), DE Matt Dimon (Katy; Katy HS), DT Du'Vonta Lampkin (Houston; Cypress Falls HS), LB Ogbonnia Okoronkwo (Houston; Alief Taylor HS), K Kyle Pfau (Spring; Klein HS), DT Matt Romar (Port Arthur; Memorial HS) and CB Jordan Thomas (Klein; Klein HS). OU defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux also hails from Houston (Westbury HS) and was a defensive graduate assistant at Houston from 2008-09.

• A litany of distinguished Oklahoma Football alumni were products of the Houston area. The list of OU All-Americans who hailed from that area include the likes of RB Greg Pruitt (Houston; 1970-72), RB Joe Washington (Port Arthur; 1972-75), DE Darrell Reed (Cypress; 1984-87), DE Cedric Jones (Houston; 1992-95) and RB Quentin Griffin (Humble; 1999-2002).

• Oklahoma is 2-0 all-time against Houston, including 1-0 under head coach Bob Stoops and 1-0 at neutral sites. The teams first met in the 1981 Sun Bowl when OU won 40-14 in El Paso, Texas. The teams met again in Norman in September 2004 with OU winning 63-13 (more details below).

SOONERS AND NRG STADIUM

The last time the Sooners played in Houston was also the lone time they played at NRG Stadium (then named Reliant Stadium). In 2002, No. 8 OU beat 12th-ranked Colorado 29-7 in the Big 12 Championship Game, outgaining the Buffaloes 401 yards to 193 and registering 25 first downs to CU's nine. Quarterback Nate Hybl was 14 for 25 for 114 yards with two touchdown passes, while Quentin Griffin led OU's ground charge with 188 yards and two TDs on 29 carries (6.5 yards per rush). The victory propelled the Sooners to their lone Rose Bowl appearance, a game they won 34-14 over seventh-ranked Washington State.

SCOUTING HOUSTON

• Houston is in its second season under head coach Tom Herman. Winner of the 2014 Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach while at Ohio State (Buckeyes' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach), Herman led the Cougars to a 13-1 record last season and to their first New Year's bowl game in 30 years. UH claimed the American Athletic Conference championship with a home win over No. 20 Temple in the league title game and then capped the year with a 38-24 win over No. 9 Florida State in the Chick-Fil-A Peach Bowl.

Greg Ward Jr. evades a tackler against Temple in 2015.

• Houston returns 23 full or part-time starters from its 13-1 squad from a year ago that ranked in the top five nationally in average scoring margin (+19.7) and turnover margin (+21), including team leaders in scoring, total offense, rushing, passing, field goals, kick returns, sacks and forced fumbles.

• Houston ranked 10th in scoring offense last year (40.4 points per game) and 20th in scoring defense (20.7 points per game), making it the only team in the nation to be ranked in the top 10 in scoring offense and top 25 in scoring defense.

• The Cougars controlled the line of scrimmage last year, as evidenced by their 235.8 rushing yards per game (ranked 13th nationally) and opponents' 108.9 rushing yards per contest (eighth nationally).

• The 2015 Earl Campbell Tyler Rose Award recipient, QB Greg Ward Jr. rushed for 1,108 yards and 21 touchdowns while also passing for 2,828 yards and 17 scores. He completed 67.2 percent of his passes and threw just six interceptions in 345 attempts.

• On defense, Houston will be led by OLB Steven Taylor, who logged 10 sacks a year ago to lead the AAC and rank fifth nationally among linebackers. He also recorded 18.5 tackles for loss, 92 total tackles and three interceptions.

SERIES WITH THE COUGARS

• Oklahoma has met Houston two times and came away with wins on both occasions. In the first meeting on Dec. 26, 1981, Barry Switzer's Sooners posted an easier-than-anticipated 40-14 Sun Bowl victory in El Paso, Texas. MVP Darrell Shepard, who began his career at Houston, scored two touchdowns against his former team. OU scored 30 fourth-quarter points to turn a close contest into a rout. Freshman Fred Sims rolled up 181 yards rushing in the game after running for 179 during the regular season.

• The second meeting — a 63-13 OU win — occurred in Norman on Sept. 11, 2004. Jason White threw for 257 yards and two touchdowns on 14-of-18 passing, while Antonio Perkins tied the NCAA record with his eighth career punt return for a score. Following a 3-yard touchdown run by Jackie Battle on Houston's opening drive, No. 2-ranked OU scored TDs on each of its first seven possessions to take a 49-7 halftime lead. Adrian Peterson ran for 117 yards and two scores on the day, while Mark Clayton caught five passes (all third-down conversions) for 122 yards and Travis Wilson added a pair of TD catches.

LOOKING BACK AT 2015

• Oklahoma finished the 2015 campaign with an 11-2 record, an outright Big 12 title (8-1 league mark) and a berth in the College Football Playoff (lost to No. 1-ranked Clemson as the No. 4 seed after holding a halftime lead). The 11 wins tied as OU's most in the last five years and resulted in a No. 5 ranking in the final AP poll.

Oklahoma is the highest scoring football program of all-time, and only two Sooner teams ever averaged more points than OU's 43.5 per game last season.

• The Sooners led the country in average scoring margin (+21.5) and boasted the second-best combined ranking (32) in scoring offense and scoring defense among Power 5 teams. They finished the year ranked No. 4 in scoring offense (43.5 ppg) and No. 28 in scoring defense (22.0 ppg). Ohio State had a combined ranking of 30 (No. 28 in scoring offense, No. 2 in scoring defense) to lead Power 5 programs.

• Oklahoma is the highest scoring football program of all-time, and only two Sooner teams ever averaged more points than their 43.5 per game last season. OU accounted for more than 500 yards of offense in each of the final seven regular season games, and three of the top five single-game yardage totals of the 17-year Bob Stoops era were recorded last year (including the top figure of 773 vs. Tulsa).

• In the season's first six games, Oklahoma averaged 158.8 rushing yards on 3.8 yards per carry. Over the last six regular season outings, the Sooners averaged 311.2 rushing yards on 6.4 yards per attempt (most per carry in the nation during the stretch). Meanwhile, OU allowed only 128.8 rushing yards (3.5 yards per carry) over those final six games.

• The Sooners held eight of their nine Big 12 opponents to yardage totals below what they were averaging at the time of competition against OU. The nine league opponents combined to average 491 yards as they prepared to face the Sooners, but averaged a combined 347 yards (-144) against OU.

• Over the last seven games of the regular season (all wins), OU outscored its opponents by 228 points (an average of 32.6) and outgained them by an average of 251.8 yards.

• Oklahoma led the Big 12 with nine first-team all-conference selections (five offensive and four defensive) and landed six more on the second team. Three more were honorable mention All-Big 12 picks. Stoops was named Big 12 Coach of the Year for the fifth time, quarterback Baker Mayfield was named Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year and wide receiver Dede Westbrook was named Big 12 Offensive Newcomer of the Year.

• Mayfield (Burlsworth Trophy) and center Ty Darlington (William V. Campbell Trophy, Wuerffel Trophy and Bobby Bowden Award) were national award winners. First-year OU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley was named the Broyles Award winner.

EXTRA POINTS

• The Sooners are 4-3-1 all-time in the city of Houston, but have never played UH there. Wins came against Rice in 1921 (27-0), 1938 (7-6) and 1979 (63-21), and versus Colorado in 2002 (29-7 in Big 12 Championship Game). Losses came against Texas A&M in 1912 (28-6), Texas in 1913 (14-6) and SMU in 1968 (28-27 in Bluebonnet Bowl). OU and Alabama tied in the 1970 Bluebonnet Bowl (24-24).

• Saturday's game will feature the past two Broyles Award (nation's top assistant coach) winners in OU offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley and Houston head coach Tom Herman. Riley won the honor last year and Herman in 2014 while offensive coordinator at Ohio State.

• James and Gina Mayfield, the parents of Oklahoma QB Baker Mayfield, are University of Houston graduates. James was on the football team (1966-69) as a quarterback and punter.

• OU is 64-10-2 (.855) all-time as the No. 3 team in the AP poll, including 13-7 (.650) under Bob Stoops.

• Oklahoma is 132-76-5 (.631) all-time in AP Top-25 matchups, including 50-23 (.685) under Stoops. When OU is the higher ranked team in such matchups, the Sooners are 99-37-3 (.723) all-time and 39-12 (.765) under Stoops.

• In the 17-year Bob Stoops era, no team has more AP top-five appearances than Oklahoma's 122. Alabama (114) is next and is followed by Ohio State (98), USC (86) and Florida (82) and Texas (82).

• Last year's Sooners posted the No. 1, No. 3 and No. 5 yardage totals of the Stoops era (773 vs. Tulsa, 710 at Kansas and 684 vs. Iowa State).

OPENING KICK

FIVE TOP STORYLINES

SOONERS AND NRG STADIUM

SCOUTING HOUSTON

SERIES WITH THE COUGARS

LOOKING BACK AT 2015

EXTRA POINTS

Players Mentioned

Rodney Anderson

Rodney Anderson

Najee Bissoon

Reece Clark

Reece Clark

Christian Daimler

Christian Daimler

Ty Darlington

Ty Darlington

Matt Dimon

Matt Dimon

Du'Vonta Lampkin

Du'Vonta Lampkin

Baker Mayfield

Baker Mayfield

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

Ogbonnia Okoronkwo

Kyle Pfau

Kyle Pfau

Matt Romar

Jordan Thomas

Dede Westbrook

Dede Westbrook

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