John Shinn
Confusing Oklahoma with a team that charged out of the gate was like confusing a mule for Secretariat. Over the Sooners’ first three games, they had never led at the half. Second-half flurries had been their only redeeming trait.
They got away with it in wins over Alabama-Birmingham and Washington. They even got away with it last week against Oregon, presuming the right calls would have been made down the stretch.
But Saturday night the second half was rendered meaningless at Owen Field. The 17th-ranked Sooners swarmed all over Middle Tennessee and beat the Blue Raiders like mules 59-0.
It was far and away OU’s most complete performance. The Sooners scored practically at will, while the Blue Raiders never sniffed the end zone.
“It was good to play well in all parts of the game and for a full 60 minutes,” OU coach Bob Stoops said.
Perhaps it was an understatement from the coach, because his team finally made a statement that it’s capable of playing dominant football.
The Sooners, who improved to 3-1, were lethargic at times in their first three games and most wondered if there would be any lingering effects from last Saturday’s highly-disputed loss at Oregon.
Instead, OU looked like the team many thought it would be before the season began.
“Guys were making big plays,” Thompson said. “Feeling real excited. We definitely put what happened last week in the past and are moving forward. It was big game to help us do that.”
If it was a masquerade, Thompson picked up the award for best costume. He bore a striking resemblance to Jason White. The senior threw for 257 yards and three touchdowns. Thompson was 13-for-18 and didn’t toss an interception for the second straight game.
“We’ve said it all along, he’s a very good quarterback with the chance to be great if the guys around him will also be great,” Stoops said.
The guys around him were Saturday.
Five of his heaves wound up in Malcolm Kelly’s hands. Kelly crossed the 100-yard plateau for the second time in four games with five catches for 164 yards.
His third grab was an 18-yard hookup that put OU up 10-0.
Adrian Peterson rushed for 128 yards and found the end zone three times.
The Owen Field scoreboards smoked throughout the night from the fireworks shooting out of their tops after touchdowns.
In all, the Sooners gobbled 462 yards of total offense.
Peterson only played one series in the second half and most of OU’s starters were resting comfortably on the bench by the start of the fourth quarter. But in some ways, the Sooners’ offensive success was pushed to the background Saturday night.
OU’s defense has been under siege all season. Blown assignments and missed tackles had dropped the Sooners to 97th in the nation in total defense.
That ranking will rocket forward after holding the Blue Raiders to 95 total yards and forcing five turnovers.
Middle Tennessee starting quarterback Clint Marks was just 3-for-9 and was lifted after Sooner linebacker Zach Latimer picked off a pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown and a 24-0 lead.
Latimer sensed a dominant defensive performance was coming earlier in the week.
“I think we had the best week of practice since we have started,” he said. “Everybody was on top of everything and proved themselves at the game. We showed up and got everything done.”
The Sooners scored on their first five possessions and six of seven in the first half.
After Latimer’s interception return, Peterson added a 2-yard score on the first play of the second quarter and a 7-yard dash with 2:32 left in the first half.
Thompson mixed in a 22-yard touchdown toss to Jermaine Gresham and a 15-yard hookup with Juaquin Iglesias early in the third quarter to put OU up 52-0. Reggie Smith added a 61-yard punt return to cap the scoring.
The Blue Raiders, who fell to 2-2, certainly aren’t a power by any stretch. While OU was dominant, the road is about to get much tougher.
“We understand that we are going to see stiffer competition as we go,” Stoops said.
There’s no doubt about that. The Sooners are off this week, which gives them two weeks to prepare for what awaits Oct. 7 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
No one in the Sooner locker room needed to be reminded of that fact.
“When you go to Texas you live to play OU. When you go to OU you live to play Texas,” Kelly said. “Let’s get it on.”
John Shinn366-3536jshinn@normantranscript.com
