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Oklahoma

OU at Tennessee set for 6:30 p.m. kick in Knoxville on ABC

Bob Przybyloby: Bob Przybylo10 hours agoBPrzybylo
Xavier Robinson7
OU running back Xavier Robinson. (Bryan Terry - Imagn Images)

OU looking to bounce back, and it’s going to come at night in Knoxville.

The SEC announced the Sooners and Vols will kick at 6:30 p.m. next Saturday on ABC. It was either going to be a 2:30 kick or a night one. It’s a night one at Neyland Stadium.

OU (6-2 overall, 2-2) lost its second game of the season, downed by visiting Ole Miss 34-26 on Saturday. Tennessee, also at 6-2 overall, rebounded from a loss to Alabama with a blitzing of the Wildcats at Kentucky, 56-34, Saturday night.

Two teams with two losses? They’re all must-win from this point if you want chance at all of making the college football playoff.

Head coach Brent Venables

“Told the staff earlier in the week, this game’s gonna come down to third and fourth downs. Really felt between that and maybe the turnover margin — but really felt the third and fourth downs, third-and-1, third-and-2, fourth-and-1, fourth-and-twos is what this game would come down to. I thought we really got after them on first and second down today. They were able to sustain some drives. Had 87 plays to our 60. We outgained them in yards per play, but it’s not about that. They held onto the ball. Had a couple of long drives where, man, we had lots of opportunity to get off the field on defense.

“Little bit out of rhythm and out of sync on offense in the first half. Came back and did some really good things in the second half. But the 15-play drive was a killer. Had opportunities on another 12-play drive to be able to get off the field on some short-yardage situations.

“Hurt for our guys. They fought their butt off. Thought they showed great toughness and resolve. Had a chance on a day where we didn’t coach them good enough, didn’t play good enough situationally. We still had a chance with the ball and go down and tie the game against a really good football team. Hurt for the guys. They’re hurting right now. But we’ve gotta get ourselves up off the mat and respond. Got a lot of football still in front of us. 

“Great challenge here this week. Lot to learn from in a really painful way. The smallest detail, the mistakes that we made, thought we were a little bit sloppy and leaky in our tackling and leveraging in the first half on defense. And then, thought one of the big plays was, they have the ball in the third quarter, fourth-down play where we got a really good call dialed up for playaction on fourth-and-1, we gotta come outside the block in coverage and we go inside and they’re able to poke a guy open on a little crack screen. Huge play in the game.

“And then the late fumble on a punt return that allows them to push their lead to eight and not five on the turnover. Defense responds and holds them to a field goal. But, too little too late. Xavier Robinson ran the ball with good power, particularly obviously in the second half. They converted just under 46 percent on third and fourth down. We were about 30 percent. To me, that was the difference in the game.”

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