Oklahoma-Texas Tech Observations: LIVE In-Game Blog

John Hoover, Ryan Chapman and Josh Callaway offer their real-time observations from the Sooners' game Saturday against Texas Tech.

NORMAN — Keep up with the SI Sooners live blog throughout today's Oklahoma-Texas Tech Game game. Just refresh your browser to see the latest posts.

5:52 p.m.

5:52 p.m.

Sooners win 52-21. Final stats:

5:50 p.m.

Marcus Major absolutely annihilated Texas Tech defensive back Eric Monroe, popping his helmet off near the OU sideline. The Sooners were pretty excited about it, with right guard Chris Murray coming off the sideline onto the field to talk some trash. Lincoln Riley sprinted over and grabbed him to toss him back to the sideline, very upset about his players coming off the sideline. Fireworks to close it out.

— RC

5:44 p.m.

True freshman defensive back Jordan Mukes is down on the field, and it appears the trainers are looking at the right side of his upper body. Hard to tell what exactly they’re looking at because there so many trainers surrounding him. He didn’t head straight to the locker room, but he had to be helped off the field in what looked like serious pain. He was taken straight to the injury tent.

— RC

5:32 p.m.

Welcome back to Norman, Spencer Rattler. Lincoln Riley dialed up a nice play for him, and he delivered a 42-yard bomb to wide receiver Brian Darby. “Spen-cer Ratt-ler!” chants broke out in the crowd and the sideline exploded for the quarterback, with Brian Asamoah and Jadon Haselwood spearheading the welcome party back on the sideline for Rattler. This one’s pretty much over, as the Sooners lead 52-14 with 6:10 left in the game.

Rattler’s first drive back in the game lasted four plays, covering 49 yards in 1:31.

— RC

5:29 p.m.

Play on the field stands and Spencer Rattler takes over at quarterback to a nice ovation from the remaining OU crowd. 

— RC

5:25 p.m.

Isaiah Thomas caps off a much-improved performance from the OU defense with a forced fumble and recovery. Texas Tech quarterback Donovan Smith coughed it up, and Thomas was able to finish off the play himself to give Oklahoma their third turnover of the day. Looks like the play is under review on the field though. Referees took their sweet time to send this play to review.

— RC

5:15 p.m.

Caleb Williams just threw his sixth touchdown pass of the day, this time a rollout to Austin Stogner from 9 yards out.

Williams is now 23-of-30 for 402 yards passing.

Ridiculous.

— JH

5:12 p.m.

The 26-yard completion to Mario Williams gives the true freshman receiver 100 receiving yards on the day, joining Marvin Mims in crossing the century mark. It’s the first time since Sept. 28, 2019, when CeeDee Lamb and Charleston Rambo both crossed the 100-yard mark against Texas Tech.

— RC

5:05 p.m.

Sooners lead 38-14. Third-quarter stats.

5:04 p.m.

Tech had multiple receivers open in the end zone, but Donovan Smith’s roll-out pass is caught by J.J. Sparkman for a Texas Tech touchdown that cuts OU’s lead to 30-14 with 44 seconds left. It was a 10-play, 75-yard drive that took 5:08 off the clock.

The Sooner defense has performed well today, but they struggled on that possession, which was ignited by a 23-yard pass to Erik Ezukanma when Key Lawrence fell down in coverage.

— JH

4:50 p.m.

Tech may be having success stopping the run, but the Red Raiders stink at covering the pass. Marvin Mims breaks untouched through the Tech secondary as Williams executes a play-action fake, and winds up wide open behind the defense. It’s a 43-yard touchdown, easy pitch-and-catch, and the Sooners lead is 38-7.

Mims now has four catches for 135 yards and two TDs. That’s a season-high for the Sooners.

The deep ball is back in Norman.

— JH

4:49 p.m.

One of the biggest cheers of the day just went up as Jocelyn Alo was introduced on the sideline during a promotion. What can I say, Sooner fans dig the long ball.

— JH

4:46 p.m.

Donovan Smith’s pass to Loic Fouonji is a bit high but through his hands and right to Justin Broiles, his first career interception. There’s 6 minutes left in the third quarter and the Sooners lead 31-7.

— JH

4:42 p.m.

That opening drive resulted in a field goal, but it was pretty ugly. Sooners still struggling to run against a light box (only 21 rushing yards), Caleb Williams under pressure, offensive line play in general just not great. Remember the Red Raiders entered the game as the 73rd ranked rushing defense in the country, and ranked No. 103-nationally in quarterback sacks per game. Not exactly a stellar defensive front.

— RC 

4:38 p.m.

Been a minute since Gabe Brkic was called on for a long field goal, but he drilled that one from 53 yards. That’s his fifth 50-yarder of the season. 

Brkic hit three bombs in the opener, another against Western Carolina, and missed a 54-yarder against Nebraska. His longest since then was 47.

Kid is insane.

OU leads 31-7.

— JH

4:35 p.m.

Oklahoma is getting a lot of light boxes from Tech so far this half — five defenders, six defenders — and still can’t run the football. They’re getting outworked at the point of attack.

— JH

4:34 p.m.

The little check down to Eric Gray for 12 yards gives Caleb Williams 299 passing yards for the day, breaking his own OU freshman record of 295 (against TCU.)

— JH

4:13 p.m.

Bizarre that the Sooners only have 15 rushing yards in the first half but it’s not necessarily being pegged as just a poor offensive performance. OU just slicing and dicing the Red Raider secondary efficiently so far. Hard to blame Lincoln Riley for doing much else.

— RC 

4:12 p.m.

Sooners lead 28-7. Halftime stats:

4:09 p.m.

Tech tried a second-grade fire drill for last-second field goal and never got close. Ezukanma caught ball or 11 yards across the middle — with no timeouts — and only nine seconds left. Unable to spike it because it was fourth down, the clock ran down to zeroes as Tech’s field goal kicker came on late and tried to slip a kick in.

Epic fail.

Sooners lead 28-7 at halftime.

— JH

4:06 p.m.

Caleb Williams has been special again today. He’s 13-of-18 for 268 yards with four touchdown passes. The receivers have been good, especially Mario Williams, Drake Stoops, Marvin mims and Jadon Haselwood. The offensive line has been solid in pass protection.

But, a statistical a red flag: Sooners have just eight rushes for 15 yards.

Tech’s game plan has been to load the box and stop the run, and Caleb Williams has been all too happy to oblige.

— JH

4:03 p.m.

Can’t remember seeing true freshman corner Latrell McCutchin in on defense so far today. If he’s been out there, it’s been in a very minor role. Just weird to see a guy go from basically splitting snaps with Jaden Davis once Washington went down to not even seeing the field. McCutchin hasn’t been that much worse than Davis, they’ve both had some rough stretches this year.

But he did tweet this earlier this week:

At some point, you’re just done…

— Latrell McCutchin🦹🏾‍♂️ (@bil_trell) October 27, 2021

To be fair, Key Lawrence has been great at that corner spot today. Not a ton of extra snaps going around anyways behind him. Davis got burned for the touchdown when Lawrence was in the tent earlier, speaking to his importance already in a new position for the Sooners.

— RC

4:02 p.m.

More D.J. Graham — and playing more man-to-man coverage — is exactly what OU fans have been wanting to see. They’re getting a ton of it today, and Tech is hitting the Sooners’ man scheme with a lot of underneath and crossing routes, and Sonny Cumbie is effectively getting Henry Colombi to move the pocket to give Tech receivers more time to get open. Smart game plan.

— JH

3:52 p.m.

Caleb Williams finds Drake Stoops for the 12-yard touchdown catch. That ball was Stoops’ third catch of the day, tying his single-game career high. Been a nice day for John’s Under the Radar selection (keep your eyes on our pregame content, it’s good stuff!). Sooners immediately cash in off the interception, and take a commanding 28-7 lead with 7:26 left until halftime.

— RC

3:47 p.m.

Message received by the Oklahoma defensive line so far today. A much better effort from that group, and they’ve added a little wrinkle to the game. Obviously teams want to get the ball out quickly against the Sooners, but they’ve done a much better job as a unit about getting their hands up in passing lanes. Isaiah Thomas has two tipped passes today (second one led to the Pat Fields interception). Jalen Redmond was close to a third tipped pass two drives ago, too. Can still be a problem for opposing quarterbacks even if the pass rush can’t hit home. And oh by the way, Thomas has been electric in general so far.

— RC 

3:45 p.m.

Oklahoma’s first interception since West Virginia and only their fourth of the year belongs to Pat Fields on another tipped pass by Isaiah Thomas. Sooners threatening…

— JH

3:42 p.m.

Ethan Downs was almost offsides, whiffed on the handoff, then missed the tackle on the running back.

Man you gotta love that kid’s motor. He’s going to be a beast.

— JH

3:37 p.m.

Caleb Williams just kills defenses with his ability to escape and make plays on the move. He was sacked dead to rights, but spins away from pressure right up the middle, slides to his right as if he’s going to run, and zips a perfect throw to Brayden Willis in the back of the end zone for a touchdown and a 21-7 lead.

That’s a 9-play, 91-yard drive, OU’s second 90-plus drive of the day.

— JH

3:34 p.m.

Great catch by Mario Williams falling out of bounds on a perfect deep ball from Caleb Williams for a 35-yard gain. Replay confirms.

The play before, Drake Stoops was caught up in a couple of crossing routes and the Tech DB just torpedoed him helmet to helmet. That guy’s man was Mario Williams, who caught it behind the line of scrimmage for a 13-yard gain.

A healthy Mario Williams makes a massive difference for this offense. He has a team-leading four catches for 73 yards. This looks like the Lincoln Riley offense that has been AWOL for long stretches this year.

— JH

3:23 p.m.

Key Lawrence has had a pretty nice day so far. Burned on the first play of the game, but hasn’t done much wrong after that. Even when the receiver gets position, he’s fighting through the contact point to finish defending the pass. Haven’t seen too much of that out of OU’s other corners this year since Woodi Washington got hurt and teams stopped throwing at D.J. Graham.

— RC 

3:20 p.m.

The video Holly Rowe voiced announcing Love’s Field for the softball team was just played on the video board. Pretty dang good reaction from the crowd here. Sooner fans love them some softball.

— RC

3:19 p.m.

First quarter stats. Sooners lead 14-7.

3:17 p.m.

Key Lawrence has returned to the field the drive after he gets hurt. He looks fine — but Texas Tech wastes no time testing him again with a deep ball down the right sideline. It’s thrown out of bounds, but Tech picks up a first down with a slant route on the next play.

— JH

3:17 p.m.

Key Lawrence returning at corner on this drive after spending some time in the injury tent.

— RC

3:16 p.m.

After Mims got to the end zone on that touchdown — OU’s longest offensive play of the season, and the longest catch of Mims’ career — Caleb Williams jogged down the field congratulating each of his offensive linemen.

— JH

3:14 p.m.

Marvin Mims makes it 14-7 on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Caleb Williams. He caught an intermediate out route, then spun through a tackle attempt. Probably ought to throw the football to Mims more often.

— JH

3:10 p.m.

Not a good drive for the Oklahoma defense. Tech was unencumbered on an 8-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, the final 17 yards of which was a Henry Colombi throw to Erik Ezukanma, who reached over Delarrin Turner-Yell and Jaden Davis for the touchdown. Great catch. Great throw. Not terrible coverage.

— JH

3:10 p.m.

Heck of a catch by Erik Ezukanma, but also a decent play by Turner-Yell to at least make a play on the football. The angle he took to the ball wasn’t perfect, but it’s more of an effort on the ball than anyone else in the secondary has made in a few weeks.

— RC

3:05 p.m.

Key Lawrence was down after that play. Trainers were looking at his right leg on the field. He walked off under his own power, but went straight into the injury tent. Sooner secondary can’t catch a break.

— RC

3:03 p.m.

Tech is marching (more bad tackling), Sooners' Delarrin Turner-Yell is tagged with a personal foul for unnecessary roughness, and Key Lawrence is injured and down on the grass. All bad developments for Oklahoma.

Lawrence is walking off under his own power and looks kinda angry.

— JH

3:00 p.m.

Danny Stutsman just slammed into Tech’s kickoff return man, Kaylon Geiger, and forced a fumble on the kickoff return. It was a thunderous hit. Stutsman came out beating his chest, but Geiger recovered. Tech is on the move.

— JH

2:58 p.m.

Underrated aspect of that touchdown — Mario Williams had to get open twice. He found an open spot in the end zone initially, but Caleb Williams was trying to evade Red Raider defenders in the back field. Stayed with the play, worked toward the direction Caleb Williams was rolling out, and the young quarterback delivered a strike. Nice work all around.

— RC

2:55 p.m.

Caleb Williams showed extreme patience and confidence on that play, dancing in the pocket until he saw Mario Williams get free, then releasing an absolute strike on the corner flag, an easy TD for the OU offense. There’s 6:32 left in the first quarter and the Sooners have taken a 7-0 lead on a 95-yard touchdown drive.

— JH

2:52 p.m.

By the way, Andrew Raym is back at center for the Sooners to start this drive, which got going off the goals line with an intermediate throw over the middle to my “Under the Radar” player in today’s game, Drake Stoops.

— JH

2:50 p.m.

While it’s easy to point out Key Lawrence was beaten deep before knocking the ball out on that first play, so far he and D.J. Graham have been active at corner for the Sooners. I’m sure Alex Grinch is glad to have Graham back healthy, but rolling Lawrence out to corner after he’s played safety all year shows one of two things: confidence or desperation — maybe both.

— JH

2:50 p.m.

Justin Broiles takes approximately five years to hit home every time he’s brought on the delayed blitz, and then he managed to miss Colombi … lucky that Thompson dropped the ball out of the backfield. Then on third down, Isaiah Thomas gets the first tipped ball at the line since Bennie Owen roamed the sidelines. Much better start from the OU defense.

— RC 

2:45 p.m.

Caleb Williams is 1-of-4 to passing to start the game. He’s had two drops, one miraculous catch and one he threw behind his target because he was running for his life because of a low snap.

— JH

2:43 p.m.

Not sure what’s going on with Robert Congel starting at center over Andrew Raym. Raym is in full uniform and with the rest of the o-line. But that bad snap to Caleb Williams was on Congel, and completely disrupted the play. Sooners punt.

— JH

2:40 p.m.

OU offense starters:

Harrison - Hayes - Congel - Murray - Robinson

Haselwood - Stogner - Mims

Hall - Williams - Brooks

Robert Congel gets the start at center interestingly enough. Williams also hits Haselwood over the middle to move the chains, pass was a hair behind the receiver, but Haselwood reaches back and plucks out an awesome catch with one hand to get the drive rolling for the Sooners.

— RC

2:37 p.m.

OU defensive starters:

Grimes - Winfrey - Thomas - Bonitto

Asamoah - White

Graham - Broiles - Fields - Turner-Yell - Lawrence

The rumors of Key Lawrence working out at corner were true, and Texas Tech tested him right away. Lawrence was beat but the Red Raider wide receiver couldn’t haul it in.

OU then turns around and holds strong, three-and-out for the first possession. Much better.

— RC

2:34 p.m.

I don’t have empirical evidence to back this up, but with Scott Campbell under the white hat today (and his crew), we might be here for 5 hours today.

Tech wins the toss, Sooners will kick.

— JH

2:31 p.m.

At the end of today’s hype video, proclaiming “There’s only one … Oklahoma” was a visage from the past: Sam Bradford. And not Sam now, but Sam circa 2009.

Had to tap the archives for that one.

Kinda cool.

— JH

John E. Hoover / SI Sooners

2:23 p.m.

I made the fans and their eventual involvement and impact on this game my X-factor for Oklahoma in today’s game. Looks like it’s kind of a late-arriving crowd.

— JH

Caleb Williams and Marcus Major pregame :: Josh Callaway / SI Sooners

1:55 p.m.

UPDATE: Delarrin Turner-Yell is in fact dressed (big error on my part). Removed it from the previous update, but wanted to be clear. Apologies! 

— RC

1:46 p.m.

It looks like Mario Williams and Jalen Redmond will be a go today, but Mike Woods, Jeremiah Criddell, Bryson Washington, Woodi Washington, Cody Jackson and Theo Wease are in street clothes. 

— RC