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    • OU Football beats Maine, moving one win away from bowl eligibility
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    OU Football beats Maine, moving one win away from bowl eligibility

    Madoc Meredith Posted on

    NORMAN – It was a rocky beginning.

    But then OU steadied the ship and did what it was supposed to do against an FCS opponent.

    On a dreary day at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, the Sooners defeated Maine 59-14, coming within one game of bowl eligibility and ending their three-game losing streak.

    The tests will be much tougher from here on out, but for one day the Sooners got some momentum back.

    OU (5-4, 1-4 SEC) must win one of its final three games – next week at Missouri, at home against Alabama or on the road at LSU – to extend its bowl streak to the 26th straight season.

    Here are five quick takeaways from the win:

    More: How much will OU football pay Maine for the Week 10 game in Norman?

    Jovantae Barnes had a career day

    Bright spots have been hard to find for the Sooners in recent weeks.

    But Jovantae Barnes was one of them.

    Barnes continued his strong recent streak, rushing for a career-high 203 yards and three touchdowns.

    Barnes’ previous career high was 108 yards in the 2022 Cheez-It Bowl loss to Florida State.

    His biggest run came shortly after Maine took an early 7-0 lead.

    On the first play of the next drive, Barnes broke off what appeared to be a 75-yard touchdown run.

    After the review, Barnes was knocked down at the 1, but two plays later, Barnes carried the ball into the goal from two yards out, tying the game.

    Barnes had four runs of at least 10 yards, while the Sooners had nine such plays in the win.

    He also had a 19-yard reception.

    The Sooners’ 664 yards were the most since losing at Texas Tech in 2022 with 672 yards.

    Their 381 rushing yards were more than they ever had on offense this season.

    The rushing performance was the Sooners’ most since rushing for 435 yards against Florida in the 2020 Cotton Bowl.

    More: OU women’s basketball schedule: Dates, times, TV channels for 2024-25 season

    The Sooners’ OL shuffle continues

    For the first time this season, OU was without Michael Tarquin, leading to another upheaval on offense.

    The Sooners also had Jacob Sexton, who was injured in the first half of last week’s loss at Ole Miss, and Jake Taylor.

    Spencer Brown started at right tackle, redshirt freshman Logan Howland at the other tackle spot, Heath Ozaeta and Febechi Nwaiwu at guard and Troy Everett at center.

    The starting combination was the eighth different in nine games for the Sooners.

    Late in the third quarter, OU put freshmen Eddy Pierre-Louis and Isaiah Autry-Dent on the line, perhaps giving a glimpse of what the group might look like going forward.

    More: OU women’s basketball roster: A look at the 2024-25 Oklahoma Sooners

    JJ Hester sets OU home record

    OU still didn’t have one of its five expected receiver options as Deion Burks — the most likely of the Sooners’ injured receivers to return soon — didn’t suit up.

    But Jackson Arnold was still making plays.

    Arnold completed 15 of 21 for 224 yards and two touchdowns, just one shy of his season-high in yards.

    His day included a 90-yard touchdown pass to JJ Hester in the second quarter, the longest touchdown catch by a Sooner in Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium history.

    The previous record was 88 yards, set by Baker Mayfield’s Dede Westbrook in 2016 against Kansas State.

    Hester’s score was OU’s longest pass play in a game since 1995.

    More: OU men’s basketball roster: A look at the 2024-25 Oklahoma Sooners

    OU’s defense gets off to a rough start but is finding its feet

    Early in the game, the Sooners appeared to be in trouble.

    The offense got a quick first down but was soon forced to punt, and Maine’s intentional offense took effect.

    The Black Bears received a defensive delay-of-game penalty on fourth down against the Sooners to extend the drive, and Maine quarterback Carter Peevy’s 40-yard run scored a touchdown one play later.

    But from there, OU’s defense relented, forcing seven punts in the next eight full drives. The only one of those drives that didn’t end in a punt instead ended in Robert Spears-Jennings’ fumble recovery.

    In the third quarter, freshman David Stone recorded his first career sack.

    Maine scored another touchdown early in the fourth as the Sooners moved to their second defense.

    More: OU softball shuts down Mid-America Christian in scrimmage as Patty Gasso wins Gasso Bowl

    The thin crowd is in an uproar

    OU’s sellout streak continued, but the Palace was far from full Saturday.

    With rainy weather expected, an opponent that was anything but sexy, and kick-off the day before the game being delayed by two and a half hours, there were large amounts of empty seats in the stadium.

    The crowd came slowly at first and then thinned out after the Sooners scored 28 points in the second quarter to virtually put the game away.

    The mood will likely be much different the next time the Sooners are home – Nov. 23 against Alabama in the regular-season home finale.

    More: How did OU football player Jacob Jordan end up with the Sooners?

    More: OU men’s basketball schedule: dates, times, TV channels for the 2024-25 season

    OU at Missouri

    START: 18 from 6:45 p.m. Saturday at Faurot Field in Columbia, Missouri (ESPN or SEC Network)

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    Madoc Meredith
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