Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Sooners turn to later Oklahoma avenges loss, awaits CFP fate
ARLINGTON, Texas — Kyler Murray had another Heisman Trophy-worthy performance, Oklahoma’s much-maligned defense made some big plays, and the No. 5 Sooners won yet another conference title.
Now the 12-time Big 12 champions will wait to find out if all that is good enough to get back into the College Football Playoff.
“There’s no doubt we have a playoff-worthy team, but I understand that there’s other factors there too that we can’t control,” Coach Lincoln Riley said. “We’ve done all we can.”
Murray was 25-of-34 passing for 379 yards and 3 touchdowns as the Sooners beat No. 14 Texas 39-27 in the Big 12 Championship Game on Saturday, avenging their only loss and making their case for their third playoff appearance in four years.
Two of Murray’s TD throws were to Grant Calcaterra, who had an impressive one-handed grab for an 18yard score on a third-and-10 play with two minutes left.
“That catch will live on in Oklahoma history forever,” Riley said.
The Sooners (12-1) won their seventh consecutive game and became the first Power 5 team to win four outright conference titles in a row since Florida in the SEC from 1993-1996.
Sam Ehlinger was 23-of-36 passing for 349 yards with 2 touchdowns and also ran for 2 scores for Texas (9-4). But his final pass was picked off by Tre Norwood at the 1 in the final minute, and he also absorbed a critical safety.
Two plays after Oklahoma’s only turnover — when receiver CeeDee Lamb fumbled inside the 10 after a 54yard catch-and-run with nine minutes left — the Sooners got points anyway. Cornerback Tre Brown blitzed and sacked Ehlinger in the end zone for a safety that made it 32-27.
“Our defense did a great job getting the ball back to us. Offensively, we didn’t take care of our part of the bargain,” Ehlinger said. “That’s on us, that’s on me. I will make it my mission to never let this team or this school feel this disappointment again.”
That was a huge play for a much-maligned Sooners defense that had allowed at least 40 points in each of the previous four games — three of those being OU victories by a combined nine points.
Asked whether the Sooners’ defense is good enough to win a national title this season, Riley quickly answered yes.
“Based on we beat everybody on our schedule. You’ve got to win by one point, these games, the last time I checked,” Riley said. “We’ve had some of our best performances here the last couple of weeks, in huge, huge games, huge moments against dynamic offenses.”
Lamb caught the ball near midfield, cut inside and spun around another defender toward the middle of the field when he was crushed from behind by linebacker Gary Johnson, knocking the ball loose. Lamb did have 6 catches for 167 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown in the first half.
The 114th meeting between the Red River rivals was their first in a championship game — and the first time since 1903 they had played twice in the same season. Every game since 1929 had been played about 20 miles away at the State Fair of Texas, where the Longhorns beat Oklahoma 4845 eight weeks ago.
Oklahoma never trailed again after Murray threw TDs on its last two drives before halftime for a 20-14 lead.
The Sooners were up 27-21 until Ehlinger threw a 5-yard TD to Lil’Jordan Humphrey with 2:44 left in the third quarter, but the extra point that would have put Texas ahead was partially blocked and bounced off the crossbar.
Texas WR Collin Johnson set a Big 12 championship game record with 177 yards receiving on his eight catches. He had a 27-yard TD in the third quarter on a drive when he also had catches of 25 and 21 yards.
Texas will go to its first Sugar Bowl since 1995 if Oklahoma gets into the College Football Playoff. If not, the Longhorns are likely headed to the Alamo Bowl.
Oklahoma waits to find out if it gets into the College Football Playoff, which could mean playing in the same stadium in four weeks for the Cotton Bowl. If not, the Sooners go to the Sugar Bowl to play an SEC team.
Texas ............. 7 7 13 0 — 27 Oklahoma ........ 3 17 7 12 — 39 First Quarter
TEX—Ehlinger 16 run (Dicker kick), 11:38 OKL—FG Seibert 20, 7:37
Second Quarter
OKL—FG Seibert 27, 14:50 TEX—Ehlinger 3 run (Dicker kick), 11:22 OKL—Lamb 28 pass from Ky.Murray (Seibert kick), 5:01
OKL—Calcaterra 6 pass from Ky.Murray (Seibert kick), :18
Third Quarter
OKL—Sermon 6 run (Seibert kick), 12:01 TEX—C.Johnson 27 pass from Ehlinger (Dicker kick), 8:47
TEX—L.Humphrey 5 pass from Ehlinger (kick failed), 2:44
Fourth Quarter
OKL—FG Seibert 31, 12:37 OKL—safety, 8:27 OKL—Calcaterra 18 pass from Ky.Murray (Seibert kick), 2:00
A—83,114. TEX OKL
First downs .................................. 23 29 Rushes-yards ............................ 32-88 40-129 Passing ........................................ 349 379 Comp-Att-Int ............................ 23-37-1 25-34-0
Return Yards ................................ 22 25 Punts-Avg .................................. 4-32.5 2-40.5 Fumbles-Lost .............................. 1-0 1-1 Penalties-Yards ........................ 13-128 5-60
Time of Possession .................. 28:00 32:00
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING—Texas, Ehlinger 15-42, Watson 13-39, Ingram 4-7. Oklahoma, Sermon 18-65, Ky.Murray 10-39, Brooks 10-28, (Team) 2-(minus 3). PASSING—Texas, Ingram 0-1-0-0, Ehlinger 23-36-1349. Oklahoma, Ky.Murray 25-34-0-379. RECEIVING—Texas, C.Johnson 8-177, L.Humphrey 7-51, De.Duvernay 3-56, Ingram 3-23, Heard 1-22, Beck 1-20. Oklahoma, Lamb 6-167, M.Brown 5-54, Calcaterra 3-38, Tease 3-29, Basquine 2-44, Morris 2-31, Meier 1-7, Rambo 1-6, Sermon 1-3, Brooks 1-0.