Three Quick Takeaways From Oklahoma's Loss to Baylor

The Sooners couldn't overcome three turnovers in the first half to top the defending Big 12 Champions at home.

NORMAN — Oklahoma is once again moving the wrong direction.

After stringing together back-to-back wins over Kansas and Iowa State, the Sooners crashed back down to earth against Baylor.

Dave Aranda’s Bears (6-3 overall, 4-2 Big 12) forced mistake after mistake from OU quarterback Dillon Gabriel, and the defending Big 12 Champions notched their second straight win over the Sooners as a result.

The Bears beat the Sooners 38-35 as the Oklahoma defense couldn’t produce a stop on the final possession of the game, dropping OU to 5-4 on the year and 2-4 in Big 12 play.

Turnover Bug Bites OU

Coming into the game, Gabriel had only thrown one interception all year.

That total ballooned on Saturday with a combination of misfortune and bad decision-making.

Gabriel’s first two picks were both a result of tipped passes, but he had no such out on his third pick of the afternoon.

A Billy Bowman interception gave the Sooners a chance to take the lead before halftime, but Gabriel sailed the ball into the hands of Baylor safety Christian Morgan.

OU’s defense forced a stop, but Gabriel had a pick dropped on the final drive of the first half before Brent Venables settled for a 55-yard Zach Schmit field goal as time expired that Schmit pushed just to the left of the goal post.

Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby tried to turn to the run game in the second half, but Aranda adjusted and the Baylor defense tightened up in the fourth quarter.

Gabriel passed the ball just nine times in the second half though the Sooners trailed for the duration, and the Bears held OU to 47 rushing yards over the final 15 minutes of the game.

Big Plays Bury Oklahoma

Entering the game, the biggest statistical mismatch was Baylor’s running game versus the OU run defense.

The Bears started the weekend as the country’s No. 22-ranked running game compared to OU’s No. 114 running defense.

Despite the mismatch, the Sooners had some success slowing down the Baylor ground attack, but the Bears broke off enough enough big plays to stay in front.

Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes dialed up nine runs of 10 yards or more, including a 51-yard run from Craig Williams and a 32-yard rush by Jordan Nabors to spark a pair of touchdown drives.

Of Baylor’s 281 rushing yards, 192 came on those nine plays.

Grimes was able to get into a good rhythm calling plays, and the Bears went on five drives of eight or more plays on Saturday. 

Fourth Down Backbreakers

Aranda is an aggressive coach.

He’s not afraid to roll the dice on fourth down, and the Bears had converted 66.7 percent of fourth down attempts this season entering Norman.

Saturday, they were even better than that.

Baylor finished a perfect 3-for-3 on fourth downs, including a fourth-and-1 conversion on the Bears’ own 29-yard line in the fourth quarter.

After extending the drive, Baylor marched down the field to score its final insurance touchdown.

Blake Shapen led a touchdown drive in the first quarter after the Bears’ first fourth down conversion as well, giving Baylor a 14-point swing had they otherwise punted on those drives.

Oklahoma’s defense ultimately couldn’t come up with enough plays to overcome the offensive mistakes, and the Sooners dropped their fourth conference game of the season. 

---

Want to join the discussion? Click here to become a member of the AllSooners message board community today!

Sign up for your premium membership to AllSooners.com today, and get access to the entire Fan Nation premium network!

Follow AllSooners on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest OU news.

Get your OU tickets from SI Tickets HERE.