Sooners Rally in 4th Quarter to Beat Auburn

Oklahoma’s football team got big plays from both sides of the ball to come from 11 points down in the fourth quarter to beat Auburn 27-21 at Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn, Alabama, on Saturday.

Kip Lewis returned an interception 63 yards for a touchdown to give OU their first fourth quarter lead, one possession after true freshman Michael Hawkins led the Sooners to an offensive score to begin the rally.

Hawkins was 10-for-15 for 161 yards, and ran for 69 yards on 14 carries.

Auburn outgained OU 482 to 291 yards and had the ball for almost 11 more minutes than the Sooners.

The Lewis interception turned the tide in OU’s favor, and Hawkins became the first true freshman OU quarterback to win his first career start in a true road game.

It was OU’s first ever road conference game in the Southeastern Conference.

Auburn got the ball to start the game, losing two yards and were forced to punt.

Oklahoma scored on their opening possession, going 68 yards in four plays, with Michael Hawkins running for a 48-yard touchdown to put OU up 7-0 with 12:30 to play in the first quarter.

Auburn responded with an impressive drive of 13 plays, but on 4th and goal from the OU 1-yard line, Sam Jackson was stopped for no gain by Billy Bowman and the Sooners took over on downs.

The two teams then combined for three straight three-and-out possessions resulting in punts.

Auburn then put together their first scoring drive, going 72 yards in four plays, with Payton Thorne passing to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for a 31-yard touchdown to tie the game 7-7 with 12:52 left in the second quarter.

Oklahoma had to punt on their next possession, then Auburn had their second straight scoring drive, going 81 yards in 7 plays to take the lead.

Thorne passed deep to Malcolm Simmons for a 48-yard touchdown to make it 14-7 Tigers with 5:41 to play in the first half.

Thorne was 21-for-32 for 338 yards passing.

Oklahoma had another three down possession and were forced to punt.

Auburn then used up the remaining time in the first half to try to add to their lead.

Freshman kicker Towns McGough missed a 31-yard field goal attempt as time expired in the half, but OU was called for having 12 players on the field and Auburn got a second chance.

McGough then missed a 27-yard field goal and it stayed 14-7 Auburn at halftime.

Both teams had to punt on their first possession of the second half.

Oklahoma then ate up more than six and a half minutes off the clock and got to the Auburn 2-yard line.

Hawkins passed to Jovantae Barnes for an apparent two-yard touchdown, but OU was flagged for an illegal motion penalty and the touchdown was nullified.

OU settled for a 24-yard field goal by Zach Schmit to cut Auburn’s lead to 14-10 with 2:26 to play in the third quarter.

Auburn responded by going 58 yards in seven plays, with Thorne passing to Luke Deal for a one-yard touchdown to put the Tigers up 21-10 with 14:12 to play.

OU got a 35-yard pass from Hawkins to Bauer Sharp to get into Auburn territory, but on 4th and 10 from the Tigers’ 40, Hawkins was sacked and the Tigers took over on downs.

Auburn moved into OU territory, but McGough missed a 51-yard field goal and it stayed 21-10 with 10:12 to play.

The Sooners responded with a big play, as Hawkins passed deep to J.J. Hester for gain of 60 yards to the Auburn 5-yard line.

Two plays later, Barnes scored from two yards out and it was 21-16 Auburn.

OU went for two points but Hawkins had to scramble and threw incomplete, keeping it 21-16 Auburn with 8:32 to play.

Auburn then committed the first turnover of the game, as Thorne was intercepted by Kip Lewis, who ran it back 63 yards for a touchdown.

The Sooners went for two and Hawkins scrambled for the conversion to put OU up 24-21 with 4:10 to play.

Auburn couldn’t get anything going on offense in response, with R Mason Thomas sacking Thorne on both third and fourth down and the Sooners taking over at the Tigers’ 25-yard line.

Schmit kicked a 39-yard field goal to put the Sooners up 27-21 with 54 seconds remaining.

Auburn completed a long pass on the final play of the game but it was more than 10 yards shy of the goal line and time expired.

This was just the third meeting between the two schools, with the first two coming in the Sugar Bowl.

OU won both of the previous two meetings, after the 1971 and 2016 seasons.

Oklahoma improves to 4-1 on the season, 1-1 in SEC play.

The Sooners have next weekend off, then face Texas in Dallas on October 12 at 2:30 pm.

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