Oklahoma Maine: Live In-Game Observations

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14:20

The Sooners ended their three-game losing streak with a 59-14 win over Maine. OU is back above .500 at 5-4 with three top-25 opponents next in a row. The Sooners travel to Missouri next week, followed by Alabama and LSU.

-DG

13:58

And Robinson manages to complete the attack with a touchdown.

Puts the Sooners up 59-14 with 6:17 left.

— RC

13:55

I love Xavier Robinson’s heavy hand.

Helped turn the check into a 46-yard play.

Love the energy at the end of the freshman offense against the Maine reserves.

— RC

13:47

Maine gets one touchdown in return.

Carter Peavy hit Joe Gillette 47 yards with a very nice deep pass, and then Nick Laughlin carried the ball the remaining five yards to cut the lead to 52-14 with 9:38 left.

— RC

13:35

Smooth as you like it from Sam Franklin.

A neat one-handed catch that put OU on third-and-goal from the 6-yard line.

Michael Hawkins Jr. didn’t have enough time to hit anyone for a touchdown, but Zach Schmit kicked a 24-yard field goal to extend the lead to 52-7 with 12:37 left in the game.

— RC

13:19

Well done Kayden Helms!

He battled injuries for two years but passed for his first career touchdown.

The 9-yard score increases OU’s lead to 49-7 with 6:20 left in the third quarter.

— RC

13:00

Barnes’ great day continues.

He throws it outside for a 19-yard touchdown, his third of the day.

Now up to 186 yards on 13 carries on the day, OU leads 42-7 with 12:40 left in the third quarter.

— RC

12:55 pm

Oklahoma’s defense got the result they wanted.

Robert Spears-Jennings forced and returned Maine’s first drive, giving the Sooners excellent position at the 38-yard line.

— RC

12:31 pm

Break statistics:

12:28 pm

As for Jovantae Barnes boosting his confidence with a strong performance against Ole Miss, mission accomplished.

He capped the first half with an 8-yard score to put OU up 35-7 with 34 seconds left.

Barnes now has 158 yards and two scores on 11 carries and is averaging 14.4 yards per carry (obviously helped by his 74-yard rushing performance). Good things.

— RC

12:22 pm

Danny Stutsman scores the ball just before the two-minute timeout.

Maine will go to the other side. I wish OU had run a two-minute drill with all three timeouts.

— RC

12:16 pm

What do you think of a little improvisation from Jackson Arnold?

He was thrown out of the pocket to the right and simply threw the ball as far as he could to JJ Hester.

Hester made the right interception and it ended with a 90-yard touchdown.

The Runners will get their 100-yard rusher (Barnes) and receiver (Hester) today.

All OUs in the second quarter. The home team leads 28-7 with 3:16 left before the break.

— RC

12:04

Yes, Jovantae Barnes is fine. He showed remarkable patience in allowing the block to develop and then exploded through the hole for 21 yards. Great explosion.

Two plays later, Jackson Arnolks has the ball in left field and the Sooners lead 21-7.

— J.H.

12:02 pm

David Stone did some work on this trip. He has a cast on his right wrist so he can’t fight there much, and he still defeats his opponent with sheer speed despite not being able to land a punch.

I know it’s Maine, but it’s still impressive.

Get your punt quickly so the fumble doesn’t hurt NU.

— RC

11:58 am

Well, maybe Barnes isn’t ready to return.

Sam Franklin got all the RB opportunities on that final drive, including a fumble on an option pitch from Arnold.

Ball “Black Bear”.

This team can’t win big games with unforced errors. We need to clean this up.

— J.H.

11:58 am

Jackson Arnold escaped disaster. Troy Everett threw the ball over a defender as the offense moved down the sideline. He was able to quickly grab it, get out of the tackle box and throw it away to save yardage.

On the next play, he stuck in the pocket and hit Jacob Jordan from 24 yards out.

I really liked Arnold’s patience in the pocket, knowing he shouldn’t feel much pressure from Maine today.

And then… Sam Franklin can’t handle Arnold’s offer and fails.

The Black Bears take over at their own 16-yard line.

— RC

11:51 am

Oklahoma came very close to blocking that Maine punt.

Instead, OU will take over in its 40th year with the modest return of Peyton Bowen.

It feels like the Sooners are now asserting themselves against much weaker competition. A shaky first drive from Oklahoma’s offensive line leveled out on its opening drive. After all, this is the eighth starting combination of the season.

— RC

11:50 am

After Taylor Tatum capped off the final drive with a touchdown to put OU up 14-7, Jovantae Barnes is back in the huddle and ready to get back into the game.

— J.H.

11:43 am

It’s an easy start to the second quarter for the Sooners.

Joe John Finley fed the ball to Taylor Tatum, who punted from the 1-yard line, completing the drive and putting OU on top 14-7 with 13:44 left before halftime.

— RC

11:39 am

First quarter statistics:

11:37 am

Fourth and three from the Maine 40 and Brent Venables makes it. This works great as Jackson Arnold quickly dodges Jacob Jordan.

Makes you wonder why the offense doesn’t use these quick passes more often. He read one and delivered it on time, in a clean pocket. Not that difficult.

— J.H.

11:22 am

Jovantae Barnes’ celebration had to be delayed two plays after he was ruled down at the 1-yard line, but he ran for a 2-yard touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 7:07 left. first quarter.

I like it much better.

— RC

11:20 am

The review confirms that there is no TD. First and goal from the first score.

Longest offensive play of the year for OU and 74 yards of Barnes’ career.

— J.H.

11:19 am

And Jovantae Barnes puts things back on track with a 75-yard touchdown on the next play. Looks like he’s down at the 1-yard line, but we’re going to replay…

— J.H.

11:16 am

Oklahoma’s defense suffered a delay of play on fourth-and-1 due to the boos, likely because the play signal had not yet come from the sideline.

Maine converted on third-and-7.

Dasan McCullough had to come on as a late substitute after touching down.

Attention to detail is not a strong point on a first trip to Oklahoma.

— RC

11:13 am

Maine QB Carter Peavy just hit the OU defenders and ran 40 yards against a very well blocked keeper on the right sideline. On the next play, Peavey throws to Cooper Heisey 3 yards for a touchdown, and the Oklahoma Sooners trail an FCS team for the first time in school history.

It’s almost unbelievable. Only it’s not like that.

— J.H.

11:09 am

Maine lines up to go for it on fourth-and-1 from their 41, but the Sooner defense does them a favor by delaying the play penalty – “using the cheer signal” for the quarterback (Kip Lewis?) who was just trying to get his coaches to make a defensive play.

This is bad.

And this is followed by a transformation pass to the third level.

— J.H.

11:07 am

Oklahoma’s starters on defense:

Woollard – Williams – Jackson – Thomas

Washington–Stutsman–Lewis

E. Bowen – Bowman – Spears-Jennings – Johnson

— RC

11:05 am

And the Sooner offense began… began. After a quick first down, Jackson Arnold can’t find anyone downfield on back-to-back pass attempts, and Luke Elzinga takes the field to punt.

Remember that these early discs are usually scripted.

Wow.

— J.H.

11:03 am

Oklahoma’s starting offensive linemen:

Howland – Ozaeta – Everett – Nwaiwu – Brown

Thompson – Sharp – Roberts – Hester

Arnold – Barnes

— RC

11:01 am

10:26 am

It’s very difficult to recognize all the jersey numbers of these Unity reserves from the press box, but I haven’t seen Deion Burks in warm-ups yet.

— RC

10:24 am

OU’s starting offensive line during pregame warmups:

Howland – Ozaeta – Everett – Nwaiwu – Brown

— RC

10:22 am

With plenty of new faces on the offensive line, this could be a big day for Maine defensive back Xavier Holmes, a 6-foot-3, 245-pound junior from Maryland who leads the Black Bears with 5.5 quarterback sacks.

— J.H.

10:18 am

With Jake Taylor in street clothes, OU will be without both Jakes (as Jacob Sexton will miss significant time) on the offensive line today.

Michael Tarquin is also missing, with a boot on his right foot. Isaiah Autry-Dent time?

— RC

10:11 am

Like this. I was looking forward to this game in Maine. I’m serious.

— J.H.