New Season, New QB, Same Result

The Oklahoma football team began a new season with a new quarterback and a new defensive coordinator, all of which combined to bring the same old result.

The No. 4-ranked Sooners opened with a 49-31 victory over Houston in a nationally televised game on Sunday night before a sellout crowd of 84,534 at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

There were good and not as good moments for OU. Its defense looked dominant early, then had some breakdowns. Graduate transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts set a school record for a player in his Sooner debut with 508 total yards, but also lost a fumble.

But as is always the case, the scoreboard took precedence.

“The day that we get tired of winning, I'm done,” OU head coach Lincoln Riley said afterward. “We beat a good football team. I thought our team responded well. Really proud of the way that we played a majority of the football game.”

Out of 130 FBS teams, the OU defense ranked last in passing yards allowed, 127th in red-zone defense, 114th in total defense and 101st in scoring defense last season.

Now under the guidance of first-year defensive coordinator Alex Grinch, the Sooners' defense faced a stern test against a Houston offense that last season ranked No. 5 nationally in scoring, No. 7 in total offense, No. 9 in first downs, No. 16 in passing yards and No. 24 in rushing yards.

The Cougars luring head coach/offensive guru Dana Holgorsen away from West Virginia during the offseason added some uncertainty for the OU defense.

The Sooners pitched a shutout in the first quarter, allowing just one first down and 21 total yards. However, the defense surrendered 24 first downs, 387 yards and 31 points in the final three quarters.

“Obviously, number one, you want to have a fast start,” Grinch said. “Along with that, you want to be elite finishers. We certainly couldn't make that claim tonight. I saw some positives early on. As much as anything, I look at it and we've got to be better at the end.”

Returning for the Cougars was senior dual-threat quarterback D'Eriq King, who set an American Athletic Conference record with 50 touchdowns last season (36 passing and 14 rushing) in 11 games.

“Thought our defense was extremely active and extremely disruptive a majority of the game,” Riley said. “I love how our guys moved around I loved how disruptive our front was. We've got to keep building on that. A lot of positives there… That's the fun with first games. They're always like this.”

After a slow start, King finished with 103 yards rushing and one touchdown and also completed 14 of 27 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns.

“A quarterback that certainly is nationally known for his talent and I felt like we did some good things, but is it good enough? No, it's not good enough,” Grinch said.

Even with a transfer quarterback making his first start, OU's 686 total yards were its most ever in a season opener. Despite losing Heisman Trophy winner and No. 1 NFL Draft choice Kyler Murray, who was in attendance, the Sooners still rushed for 354 yards and threw for 332, marking the fifth time in their last eight games they have gone for 300/300.

Hurts had a career-high 176 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 16 carries, averaging 11.0 yards per carry despite having a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs. He completed 20 of 23 passes for 332 yards and three more TDs. The Alabama transfer set a career-high by accounting for six total touchdowns.

“He played good,” Riley said of Hurts. “Several things he could do better. I thought he handled the moment good. You could tell out there that he'd been in it. Certainly, I'm sure he had some nerves, but he did a good job managing them.”

Hurts had 128 rushing yards on 11 carries before intermission, tying an OU first-half-only rushing record by a quarterback (Jamelle Holieway vs. Kansas in 1985). Hurts became just the fourth quarterback to rush for 100 yards in his OU debut, joining Kerry Jackson (109 vs. Utah State in 1972), Steve Davis (110 vs. Baylor in 1973) and Trevor Knight (103 vs. ULM in 2013).

Hurts also became the first OU player ever to throw for at least 300 yards and rush for at least 150 in a game. He is the only player in Big 12 history to throw for at least 300 and rush for at least 150 while completing at least 80 percent of his passes.

The OU defense held an experienced Houston offense to 408 yards (5.91 per play) while the Sooners' offense countered with 11.25 yards per play, the third-highest figure in school history.

Junior linebacker Kenneth Murray, the Big 12 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, led OU with 13 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss while recording a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry.

The Sooners missed both of their field-goal attempts and were flagged seven times for 94 yards in penalties, one of which wiped out a long kickoff return by Tre Brown that would have set up the offense in Houston territory.

Although the Sooners bit themselves at times in the opener, Holgorsen evidently was impressed with what he saw on both sides of the ball.

“Credit to them,” Holgorsen said. “I'd be shocked if there's a better team in the country. Their defense is much improved and obviously that was their area of weakness last year. I'd be shocked if that team isn't playing in the playoffs.”

The Sooners are home again Saturday when they host South Dakota at 6 p.m. CT.

Players Mentioned

Tre Brown

Jalen Hurts

Kenneth Murray

Kyler Murray

Sponsors

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