'Playing His Best Ball,' R Mason Thomas Has Emerged as a Closer for Oklahoma

R Mason Thomas has come up clutch for the Sooners with late sacks in the fourth quarter against Tulane and Auburn.

Oklahoma Sooners defensive lineman R Mason Thomas / Kevin Jairaj-Imagn Images

When the ball was snapped, Oklahoma coach Brent Venables already knew, “We got ‘em.”

Linebacker Kip Lewis had just taken an interception 63 yards to the house to put the Sooners up 24-21 over Auburn with 4:06 left in the game. It was the Sooners’ first lead since the first quarter and they planned to keep it to secure their first SEC victory on the road.

Now, Auburn was driving and on its own 44-yard line facing a 3rd-and-5. Quarterback Payton Thorne snapped the ball, and within seconds, defensive end R Mason Thomas had Thorne on the grass. Auburn was forced to go for it on 4th-and-11, and, again, Thomas sacked Thorne to give OU the ball back, leading to a field goal to extend the lead to 27-21. The Tigers then got the ball back with only 54 seconds left and ran out of time to notch a comeback.

“Boy, that was huge watching that last sack,” Venables said postgame. “When the ball was snapped, I said, 'We got 'em.' That was good. Finally got him in a position where he had to squeeze the ball. That plays a part, too. Good coverage leads to great pass rush, and so they were able to run the ball and keep us off balance for a good part of the game, way too many drives, and I don't know how many second-and-fives or second-and-sixes they had or second-and-twos, we were very inefficient on defense on first and 10 on the night. Something we pride ourselves in getting into a great rhythm and tonight wasn't it, but R Mason was great."

That wasn’t the first time, and likely won’t be the last, that Thomas was clutch for the Sooners in the fourth quarter. At this point, they might as well play Metallca's 'Enter Sandman" throughout the stadium speakers when Thomas takes the field in the fourh quarter.

"We live and die for that moment. That is so fun," Thomas said. "... Like it feels good to know that we gotta go get a stop. Like, that's what defense is for. We're like defining what we do. It just always feels good. I'm sorry, I'm about to get juiced up right now."

Only two weeks before against Tulane, Thomas tallied a pair of sacks in the final frame as the Green Wave attempted to claw back while down 31-19. First, on Tulane’s second-to-last drive, Thomas sacked Darian Mensah as the Green Wave tried to convert a 4th-and-13. Again, Thomas’ sack gave OU great field position and led to three more points to cushion the late lead. 

When Tulane got the ball back, Mensah led his team just inside OU territory. But on second down with 1:40 left, Thomas came around the edge to sack Mensah and pop the ball free, which Thomas also recovered. From there, OU just had to drain the clock to improve to 3-0. 

“I told him he only gets sacks in the fourth quarter, I guess,” defensive coordinator Zac Alley said. “But he’s in shape. He’s freaking off the ball. He’s got a motor that never quits. Later in the game, you get some more predictable passing situations, and (he’s) able to do what he does really well.”

Thomas, a junior, has 5.5 sacks so far this season through five games. He had only 1.5 sacks in 16 games his first two seasons. He surpassed that total in the fourth quarter alone against Tulane. Thomas has also posted eight solo tackles and the forced fumble against Tulane. 

“He's got a very instinctive, explosive get off, natural,” Venables said. “He's playing with a lot of confidence, can really bend, he's got natural ability from a pass-rush standpoint and how to create short corners, but it all starts by having a great get-off. Any great pass rusher, that's what it (takes). He got a great get-off, I don't care about all your hands and all that, they'll never call you a great pass-rusher. It starts with that, and again, he's playing his best ball right now.”