Defense rests: No. 16 Oklahoma beats Texas Tech 66-59

 Baker Mayfield knew Texas Tech's offense would put up points Saturday night.

"I told some of the guys at halftime, `If you're scared and you don't want to score every drive, then stay in here,'" the Sooners quarterback said.

The only thing to stop No. 16 Oklahoma after that was the final whistle.

Mayfield passed for seven touchdowns and 545 yards to help the Sooners beat Texas Tech 66-59 in a game that broke the NCAA record for combined offensive yards with 1,708.

Mayfield completed 27 of 36 passes and broke the school game touchdown mark of six held by Landry Jones. His TD passes went for 56, 49, 23, 23, 43, 34 and 15 yards.

The Sooners scored on five of their six second-half possessions, and the exception was when they ran out the clock in the fourth quarter.

Joe Mixon caught three touchdowns passes and Dede Westbrook had two for the Sooners (5-2, 4-0 Big 12). Mixon also ran for two touchdowns, a 46-yarder and a 42-yarder. He finished with 263 yards rushing and 114 yards receiving. He's the first Sooner ever to reach 200 yards rushing and 100 receiving in the same game.

"I thought Joe Mixon just had a game for the ages," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "Just incredible."

Westbrook caught nine passes for 202 yards.

"He's phenomenal," Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury said. "He's just better than anybody we had on the field."

Pat Mahomes threw for five touchdowns and 734 yards for Texas Tech (3-4, 1-3). His passing yards total tied the NCAA record, matching Connor Halliday when Washington State played California in 2014.

"Someone told me (about tying the passing record) in the locker room," Mahomes said. "But, like I said, we didn't win the game, so it really didn't matter."

The 125 points are the second-most in a game involving a ranked team. The record is 133 in No. 9 West Virginia's 70-63 victory over No. 25 Baylor on Sept. 29, 2012.

The teams surpassed the 1,640 yards gained when Nevada played San Jose State in 2001.

Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops was disappointed in his unit.

"Everything we did, they had guys running free pretty much all night," he said. "We thought we were making improvements. To fall on our face like this, we've got to re-evaluate some things we're doing."

Kingsbury was glad the game wasn't an embarrassment that last week's 48-17 loss to West Virginia.

"I thought we were into it, a lot more passionate at least," he said. "I thought at least we had good energy."

THE TAKEAWAY

Oklahoma: The Sooners relied heavily on Mixon, who finished with 31 carries, and his work made it easier to be without Samaje Perine. Perine, who has six rushing TDs, is out for at least two weeks with a pulled leg muscle .

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders' defense, often derided as weak and porous, put together three stops against the Sooners in the first half. Texas Tech forced punts on two OU possessions and held the Sooners on fourth-and-1 when they stopped Mixon deep in Red Raiders territory.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Oklahoma likely won't move up much in the AP Top 25 poll after the win - Texas Tech hasn't been ranked this season - but the Red Raiders might get some votes after playing the Sooners so closely.

EVEN OFFENSE

Both teams finished with the same number of total yards - 854. The longest pass play by each quarterback was 56 yards. Mahomes had the most yards rushing: 85 to 19 for Mayfield.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: The Sooners play Kansas at home next Saturday.

Texas Tech: The Red Raiders face TCU in Fort Worth next Saturday.

Mayfield, Westbrook lead No. 19 Sooners over K-State 38-17

Baker Mayfield completed 25 of 31 passes for 346 yards and four touchdowns, Dede Westbrookcontributed nine receptions for 184 yards and three touchdowns and No. 19 Oklahoma defeated Kansas State 38-17 on Saturday.

One week after Mayfield passed for 390 yards and Westbrook had a school-record 232 yards receiving, the duo was electric once again as Oklahoma (5-2, 3-0 Big 12) won its third straight game after starting out 1-2.

With Samaje Perine sidelined by an undisclosed injury in the first quarter, Joe Mixon stepped up for Oklahoma, rushing for 88 yards and catching three passes for 34 yards and a touchdown. Mixon also threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Westbrook in the second quarter, which put the Sooners ahead 21-7.

Kansas State (3-3, 1-2) had its own injury issues as starting quarterback Jesse Ertz left for good just after halftime with an apparent problem with his right throwing shoulder. He completed 8 of 14 passes for 68 yards and ended the game as the Wildcats' leading rusher with 40 yards and a touchdown on seven carries.

Joe Hubener came in and threw for 157 yards on 12 of 23 passes, with a spectacular 54-yard touchdown toDominique Heath early in the fourth quarter that pulled K-State to within 31-17. Heath ended up with seven receptions for 101 yards and the TD.

TAKEAWAY

Kansas State: K-State entered the game with the Big 12's top defense, allowing just 17.6 points and 310.2 yards per game, but Oklahoma had 21 points less than five minutes into the second quarter and piled up 510 total yards.

Oklahoma: They need to keep feeding the ball to Mixon, even when Perine is healthy. Even as Perine's backup, Mixon entered the day ranking fourth in the nation averaging 179 yards per game in all-purpose yards, and put up 177 in this one. His 19 rushes were a career high. He also became the first Sooner running back to record a touchdown toss since Joe Washington in 1973.

UP NEXT

Kansas State: The Wildcats host Texas next Saturday.

Oklahoma: The Sooners visit Texas Tech next Saturday.

Sooners hold on for 45-40 win over Texas

 Dede Westbrook had three touchdown catches longer than 40 yards while setting an Oklahoma single-game record with 232 yards receiving, and the No. 20 Sooners held on for a 45-40 victory over Texas in the Red River rivalry on Saturday.

Samaje Perine added 214 yards and two touchdowns rushing on 35 carries for the Sooners (3-2, 2-0 Big 12), who rolled up 672 total yards against Longhorn coach Charlie Strong's beleaguered defense.

Texas (2-3, 0-2) led after two long TD passes by freshman quarterback Shane Buechele in the first 4 1/2 minutes after halftime. But Oklahoma went ahead for good when Baker Mayfield's 4-yard TD run, right after his 51-yard completion toDahu Green, made it 28-27.

"It's special to me, very special," said Mayfield, who grew up in the Austin area. "I've been waiting a long time to actually come away with a win against these guys."

Mayfield was 22-of-31 passing for 390 yards and easily made up for two early interceptions with the three TDs to Westbrook .

"He's got track-type speed, so that's why I going to throw to him," Mayfield said of Westbrook, who had TDs of 71, 42 and 47 yards.

After D'onta Foreman's 22-yard TD run with 1:45 left, Texas almost got a huge break when Mayfield fumbled the ball while being sacked on third down with a minute to go. But big right tackle Bobby Evans recovered, and the Sooners then punted.

The game ended after a wild play, with the Longhorns completing several laterals and going forward at least 20 yards before eventually losing 9 - after a final declined penalty for an illegal forward pass.

Strong's message to his defense is to make opposing teams have to drive the ball. Oklahoma had four long TD drives of no more than four plays.

"You just look at the plays we gave up," Strong said. "You can't give up home runs thrown over your head."

Foreman finished with 159 yards rushing and two touchdowns.

TAKEAWAYS

Oklahoma: While far from perfect (four turnovers that Texas turned into only 3 points), the Sooners are off to a good start in their pursuit of a 10th Big 12 title. The Sooners are also on the way to overcoming the disappointment of those two early non-conference losses that quickly eliminated any realistic chance of returning to the College Football Playoff for the second year in a row. Mayfield and Westbrook have developed quite a connection (five touchdowns, all of at least 40 yards, in two Big 12 games).

Texas: A loss increases the heat on Strong, who is now calling the defensive plays. The Longhorns have given up more than 40 points in four games this season, and now have allowed more than 500 yards in three consecutive games. But the Longhorns need to keep taking shots down the field with Buechele, who had TD passes of 63 yards (to Devin Duvernay) and 45 yards (to Dorian Leonard) in the second half.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

A more lopsided score for Oklahoma probably would have caught the attention of more voters, especially those who might not have tuned into for the less than must-see Red River game matching 2-2 teams. If not for all the miscues, the Sooners likely would have had a bigger margin. They may jump a spot or two, but are still a long way from the No. 3 spot they had to start the season.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: The Sooners are home next Saturday for another 11 a.m. kickoff, against Kansas State.

Texas: The Longhorns are home for the first time since Sept. 10 when they host Iowa State next Saturday.

Oklahoma fresh start in Big 12, wins 52-46 at No. 21 TCU

 Baker Mayfield made up for two lost fumbles with four touchdowns, running for two and throwing two to Dede Westbrook, and Oklahoma held on to win its Big 12 opener, 52-46 at 21st-ranked TCU on Saturday.

After giving up 21 points in the first quarter for the first time in 20 years, the Sooners (2-2) went ahead to stay with 28 consecutive points in the second quarter. Westbrook was wide open on a flea flicker for a 67-yard touchdown that put Oklahoma up 28-21, and Mayfield then hit in him stride again for a 40-yard score.

Mayfield was facing TCU for the first time since saying before the Orange Bowl last year that TCU was the team that disappointed him the most in recruiting, and claiming the Horned Frogs "kind of drug it out" without offering a scholarship while he turned down other offers.

TCU coach Gary Patterson and Mayfield both insisted this week all that was in the past, with Mayfield even saying things were blown out of proportion. But when they were the same field, the Sooners junior quarterback was 23-of-30 passing for 274 yards, and ran 12 times for 55 yards.

Kenny Hill threw for 449 yards and five touchdowns for the Frogs (3-2, 1-1 Big 12), including scoring strikes of 64 and 74 yards to Taj Williams in the fourth quarter, the later ending a stretch of 22 consecutive points for the Frogs that got them within 49-46. Williams finished with five catches for 210 yards.

The Sooners had a 49-24 lead after Samaje Perine's second TD run, a 1-yarder late in the third quarter. Perine, who finished with 105 yards on 16 carries, had an 8-yard TD in the second quarter when he reached the ball over the goal line while on top of TCU linebacker Sammy Douglas and 340-pound left tackle Orlando Brown.

TAKEAWAYS

Oklahoma: While the Sooners' chances of a return to the College Football Playoff most likely ended after those two September losses, even though they were to No. 2 Ohio State and No. 6 Houston, they took advantage of their fresh start in pursuit of a 10th Big 12 title. And Oklahoma hasn't lost consecutive regular-season games since 1999, in coach Bob Stoops' first season.

TCU: Those defensive woes for the Frogs clearly aren't settled. While not allowing a touchdown against SMU a week ago, Patterson's squad allowed more than 40 points for the third time this season.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: Coach Bob Stoops' team will be about 40 miles east in Dallas next Saturday for the annual Red River rivalry game against Texas at the State Fair of Texas.

TCU: The Horned Frogs head to Kansas next weekend, the first of consecutive road games before an open date. Their next home game is Oct. 29.

Brown, Barrett lead No. 3 Ohio State past Oklahoma 45-24

Noah Brown tied a school record with four touchdown receptions, and No. 3 Ohio State rolled past No. 14 Oklahoma 45-24 on Saturday night.

Brown, who entered the game with five catches and one touchdown in his career, caught five passes for 72 yards. On his best grab, he reached around Michiah Quick and held onto Quick and the ball while falling out of bounds for a 21-yard touchdown reception with 6 seconds left in the first half.

"Anytime J.T. puts the ball in the air, he's putting trust in me, and I try to come down with the ball for him," Brown said. "I have my quarterback's back. It felt good to be able to make that play and put some points on the board."

J.T. Barrett passed for 152 yards and four touchdowns and ran for 74 yards for the Buckeyes (3-0), a team that lost 16 starters from last year's squad and was playing in a hostile environment for the first time this season.

"This was the coming-of-age game," Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said. "I just made a comment earlier about that, I took a deep breath and as I just watched our guys be on the buses, I thought, `My gosh, this is a young team.' This was for a lot of them their first road experience. I'm very proud of them."

Mike Weber ran for 123 yards, pacing an attack that pounded out 291 yards rushing.

"Our inability to stop the run ...They got us out of a lot of our stuff and made it a physical game, and we didn't react well to it," Oklahoma defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said.

Oklahoma (1-2), which lost its opener to Houston, was in desperate need of a big win to keep its hopes of returning to the College Football Playoff alive. Instead, a school-record home crowd of 87,979 watched the Sooners get dominated for most of the night. Ohio State led 35-17 at halftime.

Now, the Sooners turn their focus to Big 12 play.

"We've got a lot of work to do if we're going to win the Big 12," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "We'll keep a positive attitude. We'll keep working to improve and do our best to have a better showing when we get back on the field in a couple of weeks."

Oklahoma's Baker Mayfield passed for 226 yards and two touchdowns, but he threw two interceptions.

Ohio State's Curtis Samuel broke loose for a 36-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 to open the scoring. The Buckeyes threatened to break the game open when Jerome Baker scored on a 68-yard interception return, but Oklahoma's Joe Mixon returned the kickoff 97 yards for a score.

Ohio State seized momentum for good when Marshon Lattimore intercepted a pass by Mayfield, then Brown caught a 37-yard touchdown pass from Barrett on the next play to give the Buckeyes a 28-10 lead.

THE TAKEAWAY

OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes are a threat to win the national title, and Barrett showed why he's near the top of Heisman Trophy watch lists.

OKLAHOMA: Mayfield continues to get himself into trouble by forcing throws. His coaches criticized him for that after the loss to Houston, and he appeared to have fixed the problem against Louisiana-Monroe before regressing against the Buckeyes.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Ohio State strengthened its position, especially with No. 2 Florida State getting blown out by Louisville. Oklahoma will be fortunate to remain in the top 20.

UP NEXT

OHIO STATE: The Buckeyes have a bye week before they host Rutgers on Oct. 1.

OKLAHOMA: The Sooners ashave a bye week before playing at TCU on Oct. 1.

Mayfield leads No. 14 Oklahoma past ULM 59-17

Oklahoma can finally talk about Ohio State.

Baker Mayfield passed for 244 yards and three touchdowns in a half of work, and the 14th-ranked Sooners beat Louisiana-Monroe 59-17 on Saturday night in a warmup for their showdown with the Buckeyes.

Oklahoma lost its opener to Houston and fell from No. 3 to No. 14 in the AP poll , but its home matchup with fourth-ranked Ohio State next week offers a chance to return to its place among the nation's top teams.

"They're obviously a good program," Mayfield said. "Everybody knows that. I feel confident in what we're doing right now, and I think we're going to keep progressing. I think it'll be a good matchup."

Mayfield took the blame for the loss to Houston, saying he forced throws at times in the second half and took too many sacks. He bounced back well.

"Baker, I thought, was really decisive and quick getting the ball out in a lot of spots," Oklahoma coach Bob Stoops said. "Threw it really well."

Joe Mixon rushed for 117 yards, and Samaje Perine ran for two touchdowns as the Sooners (1-1) outgained the Warhawks (1-1) 640 yards to 350.

Garrett Smith passed for 251 yards and two touchdowns and R.J. Turner caught seven passes for 135 yards for ULM. Smith was a dual threat in the opener when he ran for 150 yards and a touchdown in a win over Southern. He was one-dimensional against the Sooners, finishing with five yards on six carries.

Mayfield completed 10 of 11 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns in the first quarter to help the Sooners take a 21-0 lead.

Mark Andrews opened the scoring with a 39-yard touchdown grab. Andrews has four receptions this season, including three for touchdowns. Dimitri Flowers added an 8-yard touchdown catch, then Perine's 1-yard blast up the middle made it 21-0.

"Things obviously weren't going our way in the first half, and we were overmatched and playing against a good football team," ULM coach Matt Viator said.

Austin Kendall replaced Mayfield in the second half, and he passed for 108 yards and two touchdowns.

"As much as anything, (it was about) keeping Baker healthy in the situation we're in, and Austin's a true freshman who needs to play," Stoops said.

THE TAKEAWAY

LOUISIANA-MONROE: The Warhawks felt they defended better in the second half, though they were playing against mostly reserves. Both teams scored 17 points after the break.

"Hopefully, we got a little bit better and learned something tonight to use for next week," Viator said.

OKLAHOMA: The Sooners re-established their run game. They gained just 70 yards on 26 carries against Houston, but bounced back with 288 yards on 46 attempts against ULM. Mixon, a sophomore, finished with the third-highest rushing yardage total of his career.

Perine's two touchdowns gave him 39 in his career, tying him with Joe Washington for seventh in school history.

"I thought Joe and Samaje did a great job early," Oklahoma offensive coordinator Lincoln Riley said. "I thought we really played well up front. We had good balance offensively."

PREGAME FOCUS

Oklahoma's coaching staff was concerned about how many big plays the Sooners' cornerbacks gave up against Houston. He said aside from two busted coverages in the third quarter that resulted in long touchdown catches of 73 yards by Turner and 43 yards by Alec Osborne, the Sooners defended the pass well on Saturday. Aside from those two plays, ULM passed for just 156 yards.

RUSSELL WESTBROOK

Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook attended the game and drew a loud cheer when he was shown on the video board. Mayfield entered the postgame press conference with a T-shirt with the phrase, "In Russ We Trust" on the front.

RECORD CROWD

The announced attendance of 87,037 was a record for the stadium. The south end had been partially open since the stadium opened in 1923, but an upgrade turned it into a bowl and added an 8,500 square-foot video board and luxury seating.

UP NEXT

LOUISIANA-MONROE: at Georgia Southern.

OKLAHOMA: Hosts Ohio State in a game the Sooners must win to have a realistic shot at returning to the College Football Playoff.

No. 15 Houston looks Big 12-ready in 33-23 victory over OU

Houston coach Tom Herman and the Cougars are past the point of proving they are for real.

Shocking the world is for the real underdogs and if a Power Five conference happens to take note of what Houston is doing that's fine.

Whatever.

"We were prepared to win. We expected to win. We train to win," Herman said. "It wasn't about making a statement, it was about going 1-0 the first week of the season."

Greg Ward Jr., Brandon Wilson and the 15th-ranked Cougars looked every bit ready to compete in the Big 12 - or any other conference for that matter - in a 33-23 victory against No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday.

Houston is one of 11 schools that will meet with Big 12 officials starting next week to make a pitch to the Power Five conference that is pondering expansion.

Regardless of whether Houston (1-0) ends up in the Big 12, the Cougars' latest surprising win could have season-long ramifications on the College Football Playoff.

"We're not your typical Group of Five program," Houston athletic director Hunter Yurachek said.

The elusive quarterback Ward passed for 321 yards and two touchdowns. Wilson, though, provided the key play in the biggest regular-season nonconference game the Cougars have played in 25 years and Houston's third victory in school history against a top-three team.

The versatile senior defensive back went end line to end zone to score a touchdown with a short 54-yard field goal attempt to give Houston 26-17 lead with 8:28 left in the third quarter.

Wilson reached up to catch the ball, barely keeping his feet in bounds. Reminiscent of Auburn's Kick Six against Alabama in 2013, Wilson went flying out of the end zone and hurdled a fallen teammate to score what went into the books as a 100-yard return.

"I thought I stepped out, but I didn't," Wilson said. "I just saw the green grass and I scored."

Herman said he was looking for penalty flags.

"I was thinking this is too good to be true, surely there's a flag somewhere," Herman said.

Oklahoma called a timeout before trying the kick, which Herman said allowed Houston to see the Sooners' personnel and set up for the return.

"You know you have to cover it, but the personnel on the field isn't the best cover guys because the best cover guys wouldn't be able to protect the field goal. So you're in a little bit of a dilemma," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said. "I don't really second-guess. I've seen Austin (Seibert) make that quite a few times."

THE TAKEAWAY

Oklahoma: The good news for the Sooners is they have plenty of time and opportunities left to make another playoff run. But they need to get things fixed quickly with No. 6 Ohio State in two weeks and No. 13 TCU on Oct 1.

Baker Mayfield threw for 323 yards and two scores for the defending Big 12 champions Oklahoma (0-1). He was 9 for 9 for 162 yards in the first half, but ended up being sacked five times and fumbled once.

Houston: After finishing last season 13-1 with a Peach Bowl victory against Florida State, the Cougars have consecutive victories against top-10 ranked opponents for the first time in school history. Playing outside the Power Five in the American Athletic Conference, Houston still will likely have little margin for error if it wants to force its way into the playoff. But this certainly makes it look possible.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

Oklahoma: The Sooners can expect to tumble when the new rankings come out Tuesday, but remember: Oklahoma looked done when it was upset by Texas last season and went on to make the playoff.

Houston: The last time the Cougars were ranked in the top five was 1990, when they reached No. 3. It wouldn't be shocking see them get there again soon.

UP NEXT

Oklahoma: The Sooners get a break next week with a home game against Louisiana Monroe.

Houston: The Cougars face FCS Lamar next Saturday at home, but they might get a little work done for Cincinnati this week, too. The Cougars have a Thursday night road game on short rest against the Bearcats on Sept. 15.