Oklahoma Sooners team postgame notes after win over Houston

Oklahoma picked up a tougher than expected 16-12 win at home against Houston. Next week, the Sooners will host Tulane.

Here’s the postgame team notes courtesy of the Oklahoma sports information department.

Attendance for Saturday’s game was 83,653, marking OU’s 154th straight sellout of an originally scheduled home game, dating

back to the start of the 1999 season. It is the nation’s second-longest current streak.

Redshirt sophomore OL Jake Taylor and redshirt freshman OL Joshua Bates made their first career starts, and redshirt senior TE Jake Roberts made his first start at Oklahoma.

Last night’s OU win was its 47th straight against unranked (AP) non-conference opponents. OU’s last loss against a non-conference

opponent not ranked in the AP poll came at UCLA on Sept. 17, 2005 (41-24).

Going back to the start of the 1998 campaign, Oklahoma is now 26-1 in its second game of the season. The lone loss during the stretch came in 2020 when unranked Kansas State beat No. 3 OU 38-35 in Norman.

This was the first ever 16-12 result in program history. This is the second straight week a game has ended with a unique final

score for the Sooners (OU’s 51-3 victory over Temple last week was also the first such result in program history).

The Sooners have registered an interception in eight straight games and in 24 of 28 contests during the Brent Venables era (since

the start of the 2022 season). OU also had at least one interception in eight straight games to end the ’22 campaign.

This was the first time in recorded OU statistical history (since the 1937 season) the Sooners scored only two points in the second half of a game.

Gracen Halton’s fourth-quarter safety marked OU’s first safety since last season against Iowa State (Peyton Bowen blocked a punt

through the end zone). It was OU’s first defensive safety since the 2021 season at Oklahoma State (Perrion Winfrey forced a fumble at the OSU 8 that was recovered by OSU in the end zone).

The Sooners limited the Cougars to 58 rushing yards and 1.7 yards per carry. It was the third straight game the OU defense has held its opponent to fewer than 70 rushing yards (allowed 69 rushing yards last week vs. Temple and 29 rushing yards in the 2023 Alamo Bowl vs. Arizona).

This stretch of three games holding an opponent to fewer than 70 rushing yards is OU’s first since the 2007 season (when the Sooners held North Texas to 15 yards, Miami to 52 yards, Utah State to 66 yards and Tulsa to 44 yards).

Oklahoma had two takeaways in the game (one interception and one fumble recovery) and one turnover (an interception). The Sooners are now +7 in turnover margin through two games this season. OU entered the game with a nation-leading +6 margin.

The Sooners now have five fumble recoveries in two games this season. OU had six fumble recoveries all of last season.

Oklahoma recorded two sacks and seven tackles for loss tonight and now has eight sacks and 16 TFLs through two games.

Oklahoma tight ends have scored two touchdowns this season (one by Bauer Sharp vs. Temple and one by Jake Roberts tonight), which matches the total number of touchdowns scored by OU tight ends during the 2023 season.

The Sooners held Houston to 4 of 15 on third downs (27%). OU has held each of its last 16 opponents to a 44% or lower third-down conversion rate (dating back to the 2022 Cheez-It Bowl vs. Florida State) and has held eight of those opponents below a 30% conversion rate.

Oklahoma went three-and-out on its opening possession, recovered a muffed punt and scored a touchdown on the following play.

The last time that sequence occurred on OU’s first possession of a game was in 2018 vs. Baylor (punted after four plays, recovered

a fumbled punt and scored a touchdown two plays later).