OU 33, Tennessee 27: Takeaways from the Sooners' emphatic road win

KNOXVILLE, Tennessee — Oklahoma came into Neyland Stadium with its College Football Playoff hopes on the line.

The Sooners left with a win, snagging a signature victory in the Brent Venables era.

The Sooners beat Tennessee 33-27, improving to 7-2 and 3-2 in SEC Play. Fueled by three first-half takeaways and better offensive play in the second half, the Sooners overcame an early 7-0 deficit to snag a win in Knoxville.

It certainly wasn’t pretty, especially the late-game management. But the Sooners will take it.

Here’s a look at the quick takeaways from the win:

John Mateer struggles early, finds rhythm late

Things certainly weren’t pretty for Mateer. He went into halftime with 77 total yards on 7/13 passing. The offense had just 99 total yards at halftime, and Mateer’s struggles were the biggest reason why.

But in the second half, it’s like a switch flipped. OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle dialed up easy completions that seemed to get Mateer going. He completed 12/18 passes for 101 yards after halftime, including a 25-yard dart to Isaiah Sategna that set up Xavier Robinson’s four-yard touchdown late in third quarter.

He also regained his confidence in the running game, running for 46 of his 79 yards after halftime. He did throw a crucial interception late, but did have a one-yard touchdown to give OU a nine-point lead with a minute to go.

Add it all up, and Mateer finished with 159 passing yards on 19/29 passing.

It was not a fantastic game for Mateer, and the production again was lacking. But he played much better after halftime, and did just enough to get the Sooners past the finish line.

Takeaways tell the story for OU’s defense

The OU defense came into the game with four takeaways on the season, which ranked 132nd nationally. And all four of them had come in garbage time.

R Mason Thomas made sure the Sooners snagged a true game-changing takeaway, and they really needed it. With Tennessee threatening to go up two scores early in the game, Owen Heinecke delivered a huge hit on Joey Aguilar, who fumbled the ball directly to Thomas.

Thomas returned it for 71 yards and a score — a potential 14-point flip that tied the game at 7-7.

The Sooners added two more takeaways in the second quarter, both interceptions from Peyton Bowen and Robert Spears-Jennings. Both interceptions led to Sandell field goals, giving the Sooners 13 points off turnovers.

That was key for the defense in the first half, which struggled to contain Aguilar. The Tennessee quarterback completed 16/23 passes for 211 yards, as the Volunteers went into halftime with 295 total yards on 5.2 yards per play.

But the Sooners certainly tightened up in the second half. The Volunteers gained 201 yards after halftime and scored on three of their six drives, which included two three-and-outs and a turnover on downs.

It wasn’t a standout performance for OU’s defense, which gave up 496 yards. But they limited a Tennessee offense that ranked second in scoring with 39 points per game to just 27 — and the takeaways proved to be the difference.

The Sooners got huge performances from Owen Heinecke (13 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 sack) and Kip Lewis (10 tackles, 1.5 TFL).

Kicker Tate Sandell stamps his legacy at Oklahoma

Oklahoma scored 33 points in the football game.

Sandell accounted for 14 of them. The Sooners needed every single one of them, and he delivered in incredible circumstances.

Sandell’s first field goal came midway through the second quarter, blasting a 55-yarder that tied the record for the longest in Neyland Stadium history. But he wasn’t done there. Following an interception from Peyton Bowen, Sandell added a 51-yarder that gave OU a 13-10 lead with 1:08 left in the quarter. And after an interception from Robert Spears-Jennings, Sandell added a 40-yard field goal as time expired in the first half.

For good measure, Sandell added another 55-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to give the Sooners a nine-point lead. That was a particularly big play, considering Mateer was sacked for seven yards on the previous play.

Sandell didn’t just finish with four total field goals, with three of them coming from beyond 50 yards. He’s now made 19 straight field goals, tying Gabe Brkic for the longest streak in program history. He’s also made all six of his field goal attempts from beyond 50 yards this season.

The Sooners don’t win without Sandell.