It was a low scoring defensive battle, as the No. 18 Oklahoma Sooners defeated the No. 15 Michigan Wolverines, 24-13, on Saturday evening at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. It was a big win for the Sooners who are coming off a 6-7 season.

The Sooners (2-0) appeared to get off to a quick start as the home team scored just five minutes into the game when quarterback John Mateer threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Deion Burks.

The Sooners went ahead 14-0 late in the second quarter, when Mateer capped an 80-yard drive with a two-yard quarterback keeper with 22 seconds left before halftime.

Michigan (1-1) received the second half kickoff, and on their first play from scrimmage, Justice Haynes took a handoff 75 yards for a touchdown, closing the Sooners lead to 14-7.

The Sooners answered with a five play 51-yard drive, that included a 36-yard pass play and culminating with a 10-yard touchdown run by Mateer, his second rushing touchdown of the game, putting OU ahead, 21-7.

The Wolverines added a couple field goals in the third quarter to cut the Sooners’ lead 21-13.

Oklahoma’s defense shut down the Michigan offense in the fourth quarter, while scoring a 21-yard field goal off the foot of Tate Sandell, to close out the scoring.

Mateer completed 21-of-34 passes for 270 yards, with one touchdown pass and threw one interception. He also ran for two touchdowns and was OU’s leading rusher with 74 yards.

Burks caught seven passes for 101 yards and one touchdown.

Michigan quarterback Bryce Underwood finished 9-of-24 for 142 yards.

OU racked up 408 yards and held Michigan to 288 total yards. The Sooners defense only allowed Michigan to convert 3-of-14 third downs. The Sooners, on the other hand, converted 9-of-17 third downs.

“[We’re] playing some elite level defense,” said OU head coach Brent Venables. “Your mindset sets the tempo for everything, and I’m really proud of the toughness that our guys played with on defense. Time and time again [we] turned them back.”

It was an unpleasant return to Norman for Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore who played at Oklahoma when Venables was the Sooners’ defensive coordinator.

“It was a big-time game because of two big-time programs, it wasn’t me versus Brent (Venables) or me coming back to Oklahoma,” Moore said. “It was really about the players. It always is about the players, always will be about the players. Never going to be about me and my experience or anything.”

The Sooners will be in Philadelphia this week to play Temple on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. Central on ESPN2. The Owls are 2-0, having defeated UMass, 42-10, and Howard, 55-7.