Game Primer: OU vs. South Dakota

Saturday, September 7

Norman

6:00 PM

University of Oklahoma

South Dakota

Photo by: Ty Russell

September 06, 2019 | Football

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4 Oklahoma

South Dakota

Saturday, Sept. 7 / 6 p.m. CT / Owen Field

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Game Notes

OPENING KICK

• No. 4/4 Oklahoma plays its second home game to open its 125th season when it hosts South Dakota on Saturday at 6 p.m. CT at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. The contest will be televised on a pay-per-view basis by FOX Sports Oklahoma with Ron Thulin, Gary Reasons and Lesley McCaslin announcing.

• Saturday's game will mark the first meeting between the Sooners and Coyotes.

• OU head coach Lincoln Riley turned 36 Thursday. He is the fifth-youngest FBS head coach.

• The Sooners are 42-11-1 overall and 20-2 at home as the No. 4 team in the AP poll. Against unranked opponents, OU is 33-4 (18-2 at home) as the AP's No. 4 squad.

• Oklahoma is coming off a 49-31 home win over Houston on Sunday in which it set a school record for total offense in a season-opening game (686 yards). Quarterback Jalen Hurts threw for 332 yards and ran for a career-high 176 to set the OU record for total offense by a player in his Sooner debut (508 yards; previous record was 396).

• South Dakota fell 31-17 at home in Saturday's season opener against Montana. In a game in which all of the scoring took place in the second and third quarters, USD finished with 352 yards (246 passing) while surrendering 510 (427 passing). It held the Grizzlies to 83 rushing yards (2.3 per attempt).
Captains, Lead

FOR THE FANS

• Approximately two hours before each home game, head coach Lincoln Riley and the Sooners will disembark the team buses immediately west of the intersection of Lindsey St. and Jenkins Ave. for the "Walk of Champions." A pep rally, conducted by OU Spirit, will be held 15 minutes prior to the team's arrival. This week's pep rally will take place at approximately 3:30 with the team arriving at approximately 3:45 p.m. Fans are encouraged to cheer on the team upon arrival and watch as Coach Riley and the squad walk the final yards west along Lindsey Street to their locker room.

• "Party at the Palace, Presented by Allstate" is OU's rebranded pregame event that will be held on the lawn immediately north of Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium. It will begin three-and-a-half hours prior to kickoff each week (2:30 p.m. for South Dakota game) and will include many of the same fan-friendly activities and great food options the former "Sooner Fan Fest" did. Fans will have the opportunity to meet Boomer and Sooner and have their photo taken with the Sooner Schooner, the mascots and members of the OU spirit squads. The GoVision jumbotron, which shows other games across the country is back for 2019, as are the photo booth, face painter, balloon artists and inflatable football toss. Food will be available from trucks representing Midway Deli, The Meating Place and Whole Latte Pie. And the Sooner Radio Network (flagship 107.7 The Franchise) will be broadcasting live from Fan Fest from 4 to 5 p.m. with crew members Toby Rowland, Merv Johnson, Teddy Lehman, Chris Plank, Gabe Ikard and Rufus Alexander on hand.

• Fans are encouraged to arrive at the stadium early to avoid gate delays with the enhanced screening policy that were implemented last season, including walk-through metal detectors. To help expedite screening, fans are also encouraged to not bring bags. Fans who do bring bags are required to adhere to the clear bag policy that was also instituted last year. The approved clear plastic tote size is a maximum of 12 inches x 6 inches x 12 inches. One-gallon clear plastic freezer bag are also permitted, as are non-transparent clutch wallets no larger than 4.5 inches by 6.5 inches. All bags are subject to search. New this year are ticket self-scanners at Gates 1, 7 and 10.

• The OU Athletics Department has moved to a smaller printed game program format for 2019 (5.5-by-8.5-inch playbill size) and is offering the 96-page publication for free to the first 20,000 fans through the stadium gates each home game.

KEY STORYLINES

• Oklahoma has won two more Big 12 championships over the last 20 years (12) than it has lost home games. OU is 114-10 (.919) at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season, with all 124 of those games sellouts. It is the best home winning percentage among Power Five schools over the last 20 seasons (Ohio State is next at .888). OU has outscored its opponents by an average of 43-17 in those games. No school has won more than two Big 12 titles since the Sooners won their first in 2000.

• In their history, the Sooners have rushed for 300-plus yards and passed for 300-plus yards in a game 12 times. Six of those 12 occasions have come in the last 15 games (since the start of last season), and OU has accomplished the feat five times in the last eight contests (including Sunday versus Houston).

• OU averaged 11.25 yards per play against Houston, the third-highest average in school history (the record is 12.96 vs. West Virginia in 2017). The next highest figure in the FBS this past week was 8.96 by Washington State. It was the 13th time in OU history the Sooners have averaged at least 10.0 yards per play, and 10 of those occasions have been since the start of the 2016 season. The other three were in 1971, '80, '86.

• Last year the Sooners led the nation in both yards per rush (6.6) and yards per pass attempt (11.3). Last week against Houston they led the nation in yards per rush (9.6; next highest was 8.4 by Clemson) and were second in yards per pass attempt (13.8).

• OU is 8-3 against programs currently in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), but has played only four such games since the start of the 1952 season. In those four contests, the Sooners beat Indiana State 49-0 in 1999 (Bob Stoops' first game as OU head coach), Chattanooga 57-2 in 2008, Idaho State 64-0 in 2009 and Florida A&M 69-13 in 2012. That's a combined total of 239-15. OU is 3-2 against Drake (games played between 1920 and '26) and 1-1 versus William & Mary (games played in 1942 and '51).

RECAPPING SUNDAY'S WIN OVER HOUSTON

• Making his Oklahoma debut, graduate transfer quarterback Jalen Hurts accounted for 508 yards of offense to Houston's 408 in a 49-31 home win over the Cougars on Sunday. He was named Big 12 Player and Newcomer of the Week on Tuesday, as well as Maxwell Award Player of the Week.

• Hurts was 20 for 23 through the air for 332 yards and three touchdowns while running 16 times for a career-high 176 yards (11.0 average) and three more scores. His 508 yards of total offense were 112 more than the previous school record for a Sooner debut, held by Baker Mayfield (396 vs. Akron in 2015). The total offense figure represented the fifth-highest total by an OU player in any game and the second highest by a Sooner inside Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium (Mayfield had 572 vs. Tulsa in 2015).

• Hurts became the first Sooner to ever 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.

• Hurts' 251.3 passing efficiency rating was the third best in school history among quarterbacks who attempted at least 23 passes in a game.

• Redshirt sophomore receiver Charleston Rambo caught three passes for a career-high 105 yards. One of his grabs went for 56 yards and a touchdown on the first possession of the third quarter.

• OU's 686 yards were the fourth most nationally on the week and the most in a season opener in program history.

• Junior linebacker Kenneth Murray, the Big 12 Preseason Defensive Player of the Year, led the Sooners with 13 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss while recording a pass breakup and a quarterback hurry en route to being named the Lott IMPACT Player of the Week.

SCOUTING THE COYOTES

• South Dakota is in its fourth season under Bob Nielson, who is in his 27th year as a head coach and is one of just 14 active NCAA coaches with at least 200 wins. He owns a 16-20 record at USD. The Coyotes, a member of the Missouri Valley Football Conference, went 4-7 in 2018.

• The Coyotes dropped their season opener at home against FCS No. 25 Montana by a 31-17 score on Saturday. USD gained 352 yards of total offense (106 rushing, 246 passing) and allowed 510 yards (83 rushing, 427 passing). Senior quarterback Austin Simmons completed 23 of 33 passes for 246 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Receiver Cody Kase caught 11 passes for 144 yards and two scores.

• In 2018, South Dakota averaged 26.7 points and 411.2 yards per game (125.4 rushing, 285.8 passing) while allowing 34.2 points and 430.0 yards (210.8 rushing, 219.2 passing) per contest.

• Simmons passed for 3,124 yards and 18 touchdowns last season, completing 61 percent of his throws. He rushed for 332 yards and five TDs. Henry Kai, who ran once for four yards on Saturday, led the Coyotes with 509 rushing yards and seven scores in 2018. Case had 17 receptions for 163 yards last year, but the receiving corps was led by Dakarai Allen (48 catches, 703 yards, five TDs) and Levi Falck (45 catches, 493 yards, two TDs), both of whom return this season.

• Linebacker Jack Cochrane, who tallied a team-high nine tackles last week, is South Dakota's leading returning tackler. He totaled 79 stops and 3.5 tackles for loss last year. Defensive lineman Darin Greenfield was disruptive up front, recording 58 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, six sacks and 13 QB hurries. Defensive back Mark Collins Jr., who paced the defense with 13 pass breakups and added an interception last year, recorded one of USD's two interceptions in the season opener.

FIRST TIMERS

• Fifteen players made their first appearance in an Oklahoma uniform on Sunday. Eleven players made their first OU starts in the game: redshirt senior OL R.J. Proctor, senior QB Jalen Hurts, redshirt junior OLB Jon-Michael Terry, junior DL LaRon Stokes, redshirt sophomore OL Marquis Hayes, Tyrese Robinson and Adrian Ealy, redshirt sophomore WR Charleston Rambo, sophomore LB DaShaun White and sophomore S Delarrin Turner-Yell and Pat Fields. The starts were the first in the careers of all but Proctor and Hurts.

• Ten first-year Sooners saw the field Sunday against Houston. They were Proctor, Hurts, Stokes, junior RB Rhamondre Stevenson and six true freshmen (WR Trejan Bridges, CB Jaden Davis, WR Jadon Haselwood, TE Austin Stogner, DL Marcus Stripling and DL David Ugwoegbu).
Stevenson, Lead

BIG-PLAY SOONERS

• Despite ranking 104th out of 130 FBS teams last season in offensive plays per game (just 66.3), Oklahoma led the country in plays of at least 20 yards (111) and at least 30 yards (59), and ranked second in plays of at least 40 yards (34; Clemson had 35 in one more game).

• On Sunday against Houston, the Sooners picked up where they left off in 2018. They led all teams in plays of at least 20 yards (11), 30 yards (seven) and 40 yards (five), despite 108 teams running more plays than their 61.

RILEY'S FAST START

• The Football Bowl Subdivision's youngest head coach (33) at the time of his hiring, Lincoln Riley was named the Oklahoma's 22nd head man on June 7, 2017, and quickly set school records for wins by a first-year head coach (12) and victories in his first two seasons (24). No one at any school in the last 125 years (since Penn's George Woodruff in 1892-93) won more games in his first two seasons as a college head coach. In addition to his 24-4 record in his first two years, Riley won two Big 12 titles, participated in two College Football Playoffs and produced seven first-team All-Americans, two Heisman Trophy winners and two No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks in his two years as OU's head coach. He turned 36 on Thursday.

OFFENSE HAS ROLLED UNDER RILEY

• Oklahoma owns the nation's most productive offense since the start of the 2015 season, which was Lincoln Riley's first year as OU's offensive coordinator. Riley called plays as the program's offensive coordinator and continues to as head coach.

• Since the start of the 2015 season, OU ranks first nationally in points per game (45.4; next most is 41.4), total offense (561.6; next most is 529.7), touchdowns from scrimmage (315; next most is 294), pass efficiency rating (190.2; next best is 161.3), completion percentage (69.4; tied) and yards per pass attempt (10.7), and is fourth in passing offense (328.3) and 10th in rushing offense (233.3).

• In 55 games since the start of the 2015 season, OU has registered at least 500 yards of total offense 41 times, including in 31 of the last 39 outings, topped the 600-yard mark on 21 occasions and gone over 700 yards six times. Similarly, OU has scored at least 30 points in 49 of 55 games since Riley's arrival, at least 40 points 37 times, at least 50 points 22 times and at least 60 points seven times.

• The Sooners have registered at least 700 yards of offense 12 times in their history, and six of those occasions have come since the start of the 2015 season: 854 at Texas Tech in 2016; 785 at Oklahoma State in 2017; 773 vs. Tulsa in 2015; 710 at Kansas in 2015; 702 vs. Kansas State in 2018; 702 vs. Oklahoma State in 2018.
Riley, Lead

BIG 12'S BELL COW

• Since the first year of the Big 12 in 1996, OU has claimed 12 league titles and is followed by Texas (three), Baylor, Kansas State and Nebraska (two each), and Colorado, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas A&M (one each). All 12 of the Sooners' titles have come since the start of the 2000 campaign, with no other program during that span winning more than two. OU is 132-28 (.825) in regular season Big 12 play since the start of the 2000 season. That's 22 more wins than the program with the next most victories during that period (Texas; 110-50) and 43 more than the program with the third most (Oklahoma State; 89-71).

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

• During the modern era of college football (since the end of World War II), the Sooners are the nation's No. 1 team with more wins (650) than any other program (next most is 610 by Alabama).

• OU is the highest-scoring program in college football history with 35,842 points (in 1,275 games).

• No program has more all-time 10-win seasons than Oklahoma, which has 39. In addition, OU's 25 seasons with at least 11 wins are the most in college football history.

• Since former head coach Bob Stoops arrived in Norman in 1999, OU leads all Power Five conference programs in wins (215) and points scored (10,239).

• Only Alabama (118) and Ohio State (105) have been ranked No. 1 in the AP Poll more weeks than Oklahoma (101). OU's 413 weeks in the AP's top five are most of any school (Alabama next with 399 and Ohio State third with 374). The AP Poll was introduced in 1936.

• Only Ohio State (624) has more all-time top-10 AP poll appearances than OU (589).

• Only Alabama (10) and Notre Dame (8) have earned more all-time AP national championships than Oklahoma (7).

EXTRA POINTS

• Oklahoma led the nation by gaining at least 10 yards on 31.0% of its offensive plays last season. The Sooners were up to their old tricks Sunday against Houston, going for at least 10 yards on 28 of their 61 plays (45.9%). The next highest week-one mark was 36.2% by Washington State.

• Since the start of his sophomore season at Alabama, OU quarterback Jalen Hurts has posted a 9.3-to-1 touchdown-to-interception ratio (28 TDs to three INTs).

• OU ranked fourth nationally last year by converting 51.7 percent of its third-down plays and was 5 for 8 Sunday against Houston (62.5 percent). The Sooners ranked 11th last year by converting 66.8 percent (9 of 14) of its fourth-down plays (had no such attempts Sunday).

• Redshirt junior receiver Lee Morris has 23 career catches and 10 have gone for touchdowns. The 43-percent touchdown rate ranks first in school history among players with at least 20 receptions. Eight of Morris's 21 receptions last year resulted in a score.

• Oklahoma is the only FBS program to rack up 16 seasons of double-digit wins since 2000. OU also leads all FBS programs with its 39 all-time 10-plus-win seasons, and with its 25 campaigns of at least 11 victories.

• OU is the only program to win at least three straight Big 12 titles, and has done so twice (2006-08 and 2015-18). Its current streak of four straight outright league championships is the longest among Power Five programs since Alabama won five in a row from 1971 to '75 (Clemson is also riding a four-game outright streak [ACC]).

• The Sooners have won more Big 12 titles the last four seasons (four) than they have lost games against Big 12 opponents (35-3 record).

• OU has scored at least 50 points 22 times since the start of the 2015 season, most in the nation.

• When the Sooners play at UCLA next week, they will be looking to extend their true road winning streak to 21 games. That would tie as the second-longest such streak nationally in the post-World War II era. The Sooners won 25 consecutive true road games from 1953-58 under Bud Wilkinson, and Alabama won 21 in a row from 1970-75. OU's current 20-game streak is tied with Miami, Fla. (1984-88) and Ohio State (2012-16).