Three Quick Takeaways From No. 13 Oklahoma's Dominant Win Over Temple

Moving on from big wins has been a struggle for Brent Venables’ teams over the past three years. 

Granted, the Sooners haven’t had a team like Temple to play following a big victory, but OU handled business in the manner expected of a mature team after knocking off then-No. 15 Michigan and having No. 24 Auburn on the schedule next weekend. 

Ben Arbuckle’s offense scored on its first four drives of the game. 

Venables’ defense allowed just one first down on Temple’s first five offensive possessions. 

OU got virtually everything done through the air in the first quarter. John Mateer threw for 118 yards in the first 15 minutes, then OU turned the offense over to running back Tory Blaylock.

He rushed for a pair of touchdowns in the second quarter, and Oklahoma totaled 85 yards on the ground as a team in the quarter. 

The Sooners’ only real lull of the game came out of halftime. 

OU had to punt on the first two possessions of the third quarter, but a pair of touchdown drives swiftly followed those drives. 

Mateer was able to exit the game at the end of the third quarter with the game well in hand, and Oklahoma got into rhythm on the ground on Mateer’s last drive.

It was a businesslike showing from the Sooners, which is exactly what a great football team does on the heels of a big victory. 

Special Teams Rebound

After a shaky performance on special teams against Michigan, the Sooners got things going back in the right direction. 

Receiver Isaiah Sategna was sure-handed with the punt return unit, and he even was able to save the Sooners 10 yards of field position across two returns. 

The real winner was kicker Tate Sandell. 

After going 1-for-2 last week on field goals against Michigan, he banged through a 52-yarder with 4:05 left in the first quarter, and he followed that up with a 29-yard field goal just before halftime. 

UCO transfer Grayson Miller handled punting duties again. He averaged 47.3 yards per kick, pinning the Owls inside their own 20 twice on three attempts.

Even though Miller kicked, Jacob Ulrich still found a way to make an impact as well. 

His right hamstring held him out of punting, but he caught a two-point conversion from tight end Jaren Kanak following the Sooners’ first touchdown. 

The only real hiccup for the Sooners was a 52-yard field goal miss by backup kicker Austin Welch, but barring an injury to Sandell, Welch likely won’t be called upon next week against No. 24 Auburn.

A Dash of Hawkins

Oklahoma turned to its backup quarterback for the first time in 2025 late in Saturday’s third quarter.

Venables’ comments on Tuesday when asked about how OU wanted to use Michael Hawkins Jr. this year cast some doubt as to if he would be put into the game, or if the Sooners would instead turn to Whitt Newbauer to preserve every opportunity to play Hawkins while keeping his redshirt intact. 

“We’d hate to burn his year unnecessarily,” Venables said on Tuesday. “So I think the course of the season will kind of work itself out. We’re going to be very mindful of not burning this year before we have to.”

Had Hawkins run Arbuckle’s offense last year, getting him into the game for live snaps may not have been as important. 

But following last year’s struggles on offense, the Sooners wanted to see Hawkins run the show for Arbuckle. 

The sophomore set Oklahoma up for a field goal attempt on his first drive, but it was the kick that was missed by Welch. Had Sandell still been kicking at that point, Hawkins could have immediately put points on the board. 

He only threw three passes, but he scrambled for 25 yards on six carries and looked to be a threat once he got into the open field.