Through the first 7 games of the Sooners’ season, the Oklahoma defense gave up 23 points and only 1 touchdown in the first half. Total.
On Saturday, at home against an Ole Miss team coming off a loss the week prior, Oklahoma gave up 22 points and a pair of touchdown drives. The Sooners fought back in the third quarter, but they never recovered from the start.
Led by 2 rushing scores from Kewan Lacy and 368 yards of total offense from Trinidad Chambliss, No. 8 Ole Miss knocked off No. 13 Oklahoma, 34-26.
With the win, the Rebels (7-1, 4-1 SEC) took a giant step toward the College Football Playoff and kept themselves in the hunt for the SEC Championship Game. The Sooners, now at 6-2 on the year, still have 4 more weeks of ranked matchups left on the schedule and very little margin for error.
OU will feel like Saturday was a letdown. Quarterback John Mateer was spotty all throughout the day. He completed 17 of his 31 passes for 223 yards and a score, but he missed 10 passes in the fourth quarter.
Those misfires ended drives and prevented scoring opportunities against an Ole Miss defense that seemed open to giving the game away.
OU ran for 99 yards in the third quarter as it outscored the Rebels 16-3 to go into the fourth with a 1-point lead.
A touchdown throw from Chambliss to Trace Bruckler restored the Ole Miss lead early in the fourth and a 37-yard field goal from Lucas Carneiro with 4:09 to play put the game out of reach.
Oklahoma turned it over on downs with 1:30 to play after Mateer missed an open receiver underneath for what might have been a conversion. The Sooners got one last chance at driving for a game-tying score with 1:05 to play, but Mateer’s wild heave into a crowd of white jerseys in the end zone ended the game with a whimper.
The Sooners go to Tennessee next Saturday.
Ole Miss will host South Carolina.
No. 8 Ole Miss 34, No. 13 Oklahoma 26
Here’s the Ole Miss-Oklahoma box score (use the dropdown menu to select team or player stats), followed by the complete play-by-play:
Trinidad Chambliss vs John Mateer
Another showdown of Heisman contenders! Here’s the statistical breakdown of how Ole Miss quarterback Trinidad Chambliss performed against Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer:
Derek Peterson does a bit of everything, not unlike Taysom Hill. He has covered Oklahoma, Nebraska, the Pac-12, and now delivers CFB-wide content.
