LUBBOCK, Texas — When Oklahoma quarterback Kyler Murray leads the Sooners onto the field Saturday night against Texas Tech, it will be without a doubt the toughest road environment in which he’s ever played football.
This will be Murray’s third career true road start — all three have come this season at Oklahoma — after a Sept. 15 win at Iowa State and an Oct. 20 win at TCU. During his freshman season at Texas A&M, all three of Murray’s starts came at home, and he didn’t get on the field in a true road contest.
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Lubbock is a notoriously difficult place to play, and even more so at night. The seventh-ranked Sooners (7-1 overall, 4-1 Big 12) haven’t lost in Lubbock since 2009, but former Sooners coach Bob Stoops did lose there three times during his historic career. And the last time OU traveled to Lubbock … well, you all know what happened.
Murray developed a close relationship with Texas Tech coach Kliff Kingsbury during his recruitment and visited Lubbock. He also has played baseball against Texas Tech in Lubbock, so he does know a little bit about the atmosphere there.
“I know it’s going to be a hostile environment,” Murray said this week. “I know the type of kids that go to the school. They love the tradition and they love to be out there in those type of atmospheres, big games.
“This is probably going to be one of the most hostile environments that we’ve played in all year. I think their team … they feed off the environment and the home stands, so we’ve got to be ready to go in there with the mindset that this is going to be a four-quarter game.”
Murray’s 2018 season has been incredible. He’s completed 73.2 percent of his pass attempts for 2,329 yards and 28 touchdowns with only three interceptions, and he’s also rushed for 474 yards and six more touchdowns. His quarterback efficiency rating is 227.34 — which is substantially higher than the NCAA record set last season by his predecessor.
Murray is the primary reason OU’s offense hasn’t slowed at all in the post-Baker Mayfield era. The Sooners rank fourth in the nation in both scoring and total offense, and they rank first with an average of 8.91 yards per play.
“When all these media articles came out about Baker’s drop-off and what’s going to happen, man, we just laughed at those,” senior left guard Ben Powers said, “because we knew we had Kyler Murray. Seriously.”
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The Sooners don’t just have Murray, though. They also have a pair of star wide receivers in Marquise Brown and CeeDee Lamb, as well as a running game that has looked dynamic the past few weeks — the Sooners now rank 13th in the nation in rush offense — with the emergence of Kennedy Brooks. And Oklahoma’s offensive line is playing exceptionally well.
Oklahoma’s players have talked extensively about their love for playing on the road. The Sooners haven’t lost a true road game since Oct. 4, 2014, although that 18-game streak doesn’t include two losses to Texas in the Cotton Bowl, a 2016 season-opening loss to Houston in the Houston Texans’ home stadium and three bowl losses.
Still, if any team is equipped to handle the uniquely crazed atmosphere in Lubbock, it’s this Oklahoma team — as long as Murray remains his normal cool, calm and collected self. In the Iowa State and TCU games, he was a combined 40-of-53 (75.5 percent) for 561 yards and seven touchdowns with no interceptions, while also rushing for 128 yards.
Here are a few more things to watch when the Sooners and Red Raiders (5-3, 3-2) play (8 p.m. ET, ABC).
Defense, defense, defense
Let’s be honest: There is little evidence or reason to believe that Murray won’t be his normal, prolific self against the Red Raiders, even if it will be the toughest road environment he’s faced in his football career.
This is going to come down to an Oklahoma defense that is desperate to prove that it can be solid after years of struggling against the best Big 12 offenses. In OU’s two games since Ruffin McNeill took over as defensive coordinator — wins over TCU and Kansas State — the Sooners’ defense has allowed a combined 520 yards and 34 points (that doesn’t count a kickoff return for a touchdown against the Horned Frogs).
But TCU and Kansas State are statistically two of the worst offenses in the Big 12. Performances against offenses like those are not the reason head coach Lincoln Riley thought Mike Stoops had to go. Instead, Oklahoma often was unable to stop offenses like the one it will face Saturday in Lubbock.
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Texas Tech is second in the Big 12 in scoring and total offense and has two big, physical wide receivers in Antoine Wesley (6 feet 5, 200 pounds) and T.J. Vasher (6-6, 190) — exactly the kinds of receivers that have given OU’s defensive backs fits. Iowa State’s Hakeem Butler and Texas’ Collin Johnson and Lil’Jordan Humphrey — each at least 6-4 — wreaked havoc against the Sooners this season.
“That’s where the technique comes into play,” OU cornerback Tre Norwood said when asked about defending big receivers. “You have to just make those guys beat your technique. You have to be crafty with them, kind of do things that the bigger guys can’t do. … Don’t give them anything easy.”
More than anything else, it’s going to be important for the Sooners to keep the attitude and edge they have had on defense the past two weeks against a better opponent. McNeill has talked extensively about simplifying things for OU’s defenders so that they play without thinking too much, and Oklahoma seemingly has missed fewer tackles since McNeill took over. Texas Tech will test that improvement by trying to put its playmakers in one-on-one situations with Sooners defenders in space.
“In this league, offenses are capable of putting points on you,” McNeill said this week. “But when that happens, something tough or something positive — you’ve heard it before — you have to forget it and drive on and move onto the next play, whether it’s a great play or a tough play. I think the guys have gotten better at those things.”
Oklahoma loves November
With a win in Lubbock, the Sooners could kick-start another impressive run through November. Since Riley arrived at Oklahoma as offensive coordinator, Oklahoma is 11-0 in November. Six of those wins came against ranked teams, and six also came on the road. It’s no coincidence that the Sooners have won Big 12 championships in each of the three seasons since Riley’s arrival.
“Our practices probably throughout the last several years have been at their best (in November),” Riley said. “Our players have been at their best. Our mentality has been at its best this time of year. A lot of other people are getting tired of it, tired of the grind, the process, tired of all the little things these guys have got to do day in and day out.
“Our players have embraced it, and they’ve worked hard and continued to improve and have taken it one game at a time. That’ll be our challenge again this year.”
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Prediction
It’s foolish to predict Oklahoma’s offense to do anything but score points — and score lots of them — so I expect that to happen. Defensively, the Sooners likely will struggle some against Texas Tech’s high-powered offense, but with the new coordinator and a new edge, the defense should make enough stops to earn the victory.
Oklahoma 49, Texas Tech 35