The Ohio State Buckeyes beat the Oklahoma Sooners, 45-24 on Saturday night in Norman. Here are the three biggest takeaways from this non-conference game.
The No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners battled tough in their Week 3 home game against the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes, but came up short on Saturday night in Norman. Oklahoma would fall to 1-2 on the year after losing to Ohio State, 45-24.
This game was high-scoring with both teams getting into the end zone in a multitude of ways. Ohio State got on the board first with a 36-yard paydirt from running back Curtis Samuel on a fourth down.
The Buckeyes got into end zone on a Baker Mayfield pick-six. Ohio State did most of its scoring on passing plays from quarterback J.T. Barrett to wide receiver Noah Brown. They connected on four passing touchdowns, including one that might be the best catch of the young NCAA season. How did Brown catch that ball blind with Michiah Quick in the way?
Oklahoma had a kickoff return for a touchdown from running back Joe Mixon. Mayfield would also throw a pair of touchdowns. However, Mayfield’s two costly picks in the first half limited the Sooners’ effectiveness for much of this game.
Here are the three biggest takeaways from the Buckeyes’ road victory over the Sooners:
1. Noah Brown might be the best wide receiver in college football.
Brown asserted himself on the national stage with a huge performance in a primetime game. Though he only had five catches, four went for Ohio State touchdowns. He and Barrett seem to have a great rapport in the early part of the 2016 college football season.
Ohio State needed to flex its muscles in this big non-conference Power 5 game. The Buckeyes clobbered their two previous opponents in the Bowling Green Falcons and the Tulsa Golden Hurricane.
Beating Oklahoma badly in their house is an impressive win for the Buckeyes before beginning Big Ten play in two weeks against the lowly Rutgers Scarlet Knights. One has to immediately put Brown on the Fred Biletnikoff Award watch list for his huge game against Oklahoma.
2. Baker Mayfield can’t do it all for Oklahoma.
Mayfield had a fantastic 2015 NCAA campaign for the Big 12 Champion Sooners, but he’s not going to finish in the top five of this year’s Heisman Trophy race. He finished fourth behind Derrick Henry, Christian McCaffrey, and Deshaun Watson, but again won’t make it to New York City this fall.
He’s being asked to do too much in Lincoln Riley’s Air Raid offense. Mayfield is a tough kid, but is sorely missing his favorite receiving target from last season in Sterling Shepard, now with the NFL’s New York Giants.
For Oklahoma to win big games, Mayfield will have to carry the Sooners offense and win shootouts. Mike Stoops’ defense has been especially porous in 2016. Forcing Mayfield to come up big in shootouts without relying on the running game is not ideal for the Sooners going forward.
3. That’s all she wrote for the Sooners.
With that second loss of the season, Oklahoma falls to 1-2 before even beginning conference play. Not only does this loss signify the end of the Sooners’ College Football Playoff hopes, but it might mean that it will be the Big 12 that will miss out on the National Semifinals this season.
The only two teams in the Big 12 with a legitimate shot to make the playoff at this point are the Baylor Bears and the Texas Longhorns. Baylor is 3-0 after beating Rice and should Texas hold on against Cal, the Longhorns will also move to 3-0.
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Oklahoma’s second non-conference loss makes every team the Sooners beat going forward will have a worse blemish on their respective College Football Playoff resume. It’s weird to see a blue-blood like Oklahoma be out of it before the end of September, but that’s all she wrote for the Sooners in 2016. They’re playing for pride now and that’s it.