Shake-up Saturday
Auburn blasts No. 1 Georgia; OU rips TCU.
NORMAN, Okla. — Baker Mayfield threw three touchdown passes, Rodney Anderson had 290 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Oklahoma rolled past No. 6 TCU 3820 on Saturday night to take sole possession of first place in the Big 12.
Anderson ran for 151 yards and two touchdowns and caught five passes for 139 yards and two scores for the Sooners (9-1, 6-1 Big 12). They have won five in a row.
Mayfield strengthened his Heisman Trophy résumé by passing for 333 yards and rushing for 50 against a Horned Frogs defense that entered the night ranked sixth in the nation in scoring defense and total defense. He did it in front of a crowd of 88,308, the largest home crowd in school history.
“He was a little amped up early,” Oklahoma coach Lincoln Riley said. “He missed a couple of throws that he normally makes. He was really special in scramble situations, and then really settled in there mid-first quarter, and really in the second quarter.”
Kenny Hill passed for 270 yards for TCU (8-2, 5-2), but he completed just 13 of 28 passes.
The Horned Frogs are tied for second place in the Big 12 and still have a chance to reach the conference title game.
After unleashing a 62-point, 785-yard onslaught against Oklahoma State the previous week, the Sooners simply kept it going in the first half Saturday, cruising to a 38-14 lead.
“They’re pretty good defensively,” Riley said. “We’re pretty good offensively. We knew it was going to be a battle. We made some of the plays when it counted. It was a good battle against those guys.”
Mayfield passed for 299 yards and three touchdowns in the first half, and Anderson had 117 yards and two touchdowns receiving and 86 yards and two touchdowns rushing before the break.
Anderson ran for more than 100 yards for the fourth consecutive game.
“He was tremendous tonight,” Riley said. “He was awesome. He’s got a unique skill set in that he can kind of do it all. He can bring the power, ran through a lot of tackles and made a couple tremendous catches. He’s been awesome for us here several weeks in a row.”
The poor start for the Horned Frogs gave coach Gary Patterson flashbacks to a 35-10 loss at Norman in 2008. TCU trailed 28-3 at halftime that night.
“It was like 2008 with Sam Bradford,” he said. “We spotted them too many points, and finally when we woke up, it was too late. We have to give Oklahoma credit. They got out and outplayed us. We didn’t do a great job of tackling in the first half.”