NORMAN — Landry Jones’ final game at Owen Field was one where he re-wrote the record book. During the 51-48 overtime victory over Oklahoma State, Jones set several single-game and career marks.
Jones’ 46 completions were seven more than any OU quarterback has ever had in a game. His 500 passing yards marked the third time in his career and second straight game he’s thrown for at least 500.
Jones is now the Big 12’s all-time passing leader and is third in NCAA history in career passing yards with 16,124 yards. He also became the first player in FBS history to have 3,000-plus passing yards and 26 or more touchdown passes in each of his four seasons.
“What more do you want from a guy? He was fabulous out there tonight,” OU coach Bob Stoops said of his quarterback. “Threw the ball all over, threw it well, throwing bullets everywhere and you’re not seeing wobblers, you’re not seeing balls that are tough to catch; they’re in the right spots. The receivers did an excellent job, too, with them. Protection for the most part was really good, they got us a time or two but with a good team, that’s going to happen. But overall, Landry was great.”
King wins Key Award, suffers injury: Senior defensive end David King was the recipient of the Don Key Award prior to the game. The award is named after Key, who as an All-Big 8 guard and potential All-American until cancer surgery ended his football career in 1981. Former coach Barry Switzer established the Don Key Award the following year. It goes to the player who best exemplifies the many superior qualities of Key, both on the field and in the classroom.
King, however, suffered a leg injury in the first quarter and did not return.
Record day for receiving trio: OU wide receivers Justin Brown, Jalen Saunders and Kenny Stills each finished with more than 100 receiving yards. Saunders led the way with 162 yards on 10 catches. Brown hauled in 15 balls for 146 to match the OU record for receptions in a game. Stills had nine grabs for 103.
It was the first time three OU receivers accomplished the feat in the same game.
In better shape: Stills said he had a real good feeling OU would win the game when the Cowboys called timeout with 2:38 left in regulation.
“The defense sounded like they were a little bit tired. They called a timeout late in the game and I could hear the coaches calling out, ‘Catch your breath, catch your breath.’” Stills said. “I figured they were a little bit tired.”
Audible called: Offensive coordinator Josh Heupel said it wasn’t the initial plan to run off 6 minutes, 14 seconds on the Sooners’ touchdown drive to send the game to overtime.
“That was not necessarily what the plan was the first part of the drive, but, as it went on, that’s kind of the scenario that played out,” he said. “We felt that we had a chance to get a couple of runs in there and stay ahead of the chains and stay out of some third-and-long situations where they were dropping in and making it tough on us. Those guys did a great job of handling the clock, executing, shifting guys in and out. And, obviously, the timeouts we had at the end of the ballgame were important as well, allowing you to play a different style and stick a run in there.”
Determined run: Blake Bell only had three carries for eight yards. Half the yards came on his touchdown run at the end of regulation.
“I can’t give the guys up front enough credit,” Bell said. “They do a great job of getting on their guy and leaving me with one guy to make miss or run over.”
OU-TCU set for 11 a.m.: The Big 12 Conference announced Saturday night that the OU-TCU on Dec. 1 is slated to kick off at 11 a.m. at Amon C. Carter Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas. The game will be broadcast by ESPN.
John ShinnFollow me @john_shinnjshinn@normantranscript.com
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