Sooners Pull Away in Second Half to Beat Kent State
Oklahoma's football team started slowly but used a big third quarter to beat Kent State 33-3 at Owen Field in Norman on Saturday night.
OU scored 24 third quarter points to break open a 7-3 lead at halftime.
Dillon Gabriel threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns, two to Marvin Mims, and the Sooner defense forced a pair of turnovers and got a safety.
Both teams punted three times in the first quarter, with OU gaining just 49 total yards and Kent State 36 total yards.
Early in the second quarter, the Golden Flashes marched to a field goal, getting a 37-yard field goal from Andrew Glass to take a 3-0 lead with 8:27 to play in the first half.
Oklahoma had to punt on their next possession, then Kent State got into field goal range, but Glass missed a 41-yard attempt wide left with 1:10 to play in the second quarter.
Oklahoma quickly put together their first scoring drive, going 76 yards in five plays, with Dillon Gabriel going deep to Marvin Mims for a 36-yard touchdown to give OU a 7-0 lead with just 18 seconds left in the first half.
OU had just seven rushing yards in the first half.
Oklahoma got the ball to start the second half, and went 68 yards in 7 plays, with Marcus Major scoring on a 16-yard touchdown run, that featured a nice juke move on a defender, who ended up hitting air.
It gave OU a 14-3 lead with 12:41 to play in the third quarter.
The Sooner defense got the ball back when Billy Bowman stripped the ball and recovered it at the Kent State 34-yard line.
That set up a 25-yard field goal by Zac Schmit and the Sooners led 17-3 with 9:51 left in the third quarter.
OU forced a Flashes punt, then went 80 yards in just four plays to a touchdown.
Eric Gray gained 44 yards on a run, then Gabriel passed to Drake Stoops for an 18-yard touchdown to put the Sooners up 24-3 with 5:31 left in the third quarter.
Gray had 10 carries for 71 yards.
Oklahoma stopped Kent State on downs on the next possession at the OU 18-yard line, then went 82 yards in three plays, with Gabriel finding Marvin Mims wide open for a 58-yard touchdown to put the Sooners up 31-3 with 1:35 to play in the third quarter.
Mims had seven catches for 163 yards.
Early in the fourth quarter, Kent State was backed up to their own goal line, and after a bad snap, Kent State quarterback Collin Schlee stepped on the back line of the end zone for an OU safety and it was 33-3 with 12:00 to play.
OU's defense made another big play later in the quarter as Justin Harrington intercepted Schlee and returned 22 yards to the Kent State 37-yard line.
Oklahoma improves to 2-0 on the season and will visit Nebraska for an 11:00 am kickoff next Saturday in Lincoln.