OU-Texas Tech: Q3 Report

Oklahoma-Texas Tech: Third quarter report

John E. Hoover | Oct 31, 2020

OU-Texas Tech: Q3 Report /

LUBBOCK, TX — Spencer Rattler’s Halloween night ended early.

Oklahoma’s quarterback tricked Texas Tech and treated Sooner Nation to a stellar first half, then engineered a touchdown drive to start the third quarter before retiring to the sideline with a 55-14 lead.

Rattler finished the period with 288 yards on 21-of-30 passing with two touchdowns before giving way to Tanner Mordecai. Rattler had three passes dropped and two others were spiked to stop the clock on a second-quarter possession.

Theo Wease went into the fourth quarter with a career-high 105 yards on five catches, including a 48-yard catch-and-run in the second quarter. Austin Stogner had three catches for 77 yards and a TD.

Freshman H-back Mikey Henderson scored his first career touchdown on the Sooners’ third-quarter TD drive.

OU came into Saturday’s game favored by 14 1/2 points and cruised to an easy night under perfect weather and a full moon.

The game featured the return of running back Rhamondre Stevenson and defensive end Ronnie Perkins from NCAA suspension, which was levied after positive drug tests before last year’s bowl game. Wide receiver Trejan Bridges’ suspension, however, apparently remains in effect as he didn’t make the trip.

Through three quarters, Stevenson rushed for three touchdowns and led the Sooners with 87 yards on 13 attempts, while Perkins concluded the first three quarters of his initial action of 2020 with three tackles, two tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.

The game also included the absence (because of COVID protocols, per a source) of two starters: Safety Delarrin Turner-Yell and wide receiver Charleston Rambo.

In Turner-Yell’s absence, junior Tre Norwood got his second and third career interceptions — his first since 2018, and the first time OU has had two in a game since the UCLA game last season.

OU finished the first half with 48 points — its most at halftime since scoring 49 against Nebraska in 2008 (one week after scoring 55 at Kansas State).

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Published Oct 31, 2020

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.