OU quarterback Jalen Hurts was outstanding as the No. 5/4 Sooners beat UCLA 48-14 Saturday in Pasadena.

 In three games,he has passed for 880 yards and nine touchdowns with no interceptions. He has completed 49 of 61 pass attempts (80 percent).

Hurst is tied for sixth in the nation in rushing, with 373 yards in three games (124 ypg). He’s rushed 38 times, averaging 9.8 yards per carry and with four rushing touchdowns.

“Number one is a really good ball player,” UCLA defensive lineman Atonio Mafi said of Hurts. “He might be one of the best ball players we play all year. The way he played was really a testament to the player he is. So, we prepared the best we could, we had a really good week of practice and number one is just a great player.”

Against UCLA, Hurts rushed 14 times for 150 yards (10.7 ypr) and one score. Hurts hit 15 of 20 pass attempts for 289 yards and three touchdowns.

“He played pretty good,” OU coach Lincoln Riley said of Hurts. “He made the majority of plays that he was supposed to make and then a few where he made a couple off script that were important plays. I mean, he threw the ball well. He took some steps from the last couple of weeks. It’s a laundry list of things to get better at, and that is how I will approach it with him.”

“I think that he’s a special player,” said UCLA coach Chip Kelly. “He’s as good as I’ve ever had the opportunity to coach against. I’d put Jalen Hurts and Kyler Murray, who we’d played against last year, and Andrew Luck as the three quarterbacks who I’ve coached against. He has an answer with his feet, and he’s got an answer with his arm. What we saw tonight is that he’s a very special player. I’m sure he’ll continue to do that for the rest of the year.”

Riley said he didn’t underestimate the Bruins, even though they are 0-3 for the second year in a row.

“I don’t ever get my mind into how teams are going to play out,” Riley said. “When you are playing, one a talented team, and two, a team with the quality of coaches and how well-coached they are, we were ready for anything.

“We got off to such a good start. Then they got a little momentum back there when they scored. And then we kind of delivered a few haymakers there at the end of the first half. We had the ball in on the goal line. It was kind of the same thing with them at the start of the second half. They scored and stopped us. And got the ball back, and we were able to end their momentum. That’s a great looking team. We knew that it was going to be a battle.”

By some accounts, there were more OU fans at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena than Bruin fans.

“We always travel great,” Riley said. “And it is not something we take for granted. We know that it’s not always easy for fans. We do have a lot of fans who traveled, and to see all those who came out and supported us, and yeah, when you are half a country away.”

OU’s offense and, more importantly, defense is playing better this season.

After the UCLA win, No. 5/4 Oklahoma was leading the nation in total offense with 2,030 yards (677 yards per game average). The balance Sooner attack has 1,057 yards passing (352 ypg) and 973 yards rushing (324 ypg).

Oklahoma was ranked No. 69 in the nation in total defense, allowing 1,067 total yards (356 ypg). OU is giving up 212 passing yards and only 143 rushing yards per game. Those defensive statistics are skewed a bit because of blowout wins over South Dakota and UCLA when the first-team defenders didn’t play the entire game.

Last season, OU ended the year ranked at No. 124 on defense (out of 130 teams).

OU’s defense has allowed 59 points this season (19.6 ppg) while the offense has scored 167 points (55.6 ppg). That’s in contrast to 2018, when over a 14-game schedule, OU surrendered 441 points (32.4 ppg) while scoring 657 points (46.9 ppg).

Last year, 12 teams scored more than 14 points on OU’s beleaguered defense, which held only two teams (Florida Atlantic and Kansas State) to 14 points.

New OU kicker Calum Sutherland calmed concerns as he went 2 for 2 against the Bruins. Against Houston in the season opener, Sutherland went 0 for 2 and he didn’t have an attempt against South Dakota. On the other hand, Sutherland is perfect this season on extra point attempts (6 of 6 versus UCLA, 23 of 23 in 2019).

Riley was pleased with the win, even though UCLA has a losing record.

“We accomplished a lot of things that we wanted to here,– our first road win, having an opportunity to go undefeated in our non-conference [schedule] again, that is always a big goal of ours,” Riley said. “Different teams in different venues present different challenges, and I thought we grew some here this week. Our mentality, playing all three sides of the ball, we’ve continued to get better.

“Going into this bye week there are still a ton of things that we have to get better at and learn from tonight. You feel like this team is feeding off each other, and that is such a difficult thing to simulate as you go through spring and camp, and then all of a sudden you are playing on the same team and there is a feel and a flow of the game. You build off each other’s momentum, and you could feel that on the sideline tonight.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do with a bye week before we jump into Big 12 play and also, I’d be wrong if I didn’t say anything about it. But with our fans, wow. How many fans came out here to California to watch us play? It meant a lot to our team and our guys noticed it. They helped to create a really nice atmosphere for us. It was loud, which is something to say when you’re that far from home. It’s an example of how we are different. Our staff and players really appreciate it.”

Oklahoma is off this week and will host Texas Tech on September 28 at 11 a.m.

Texas Tech is 2-1, with a 45-10 win over Montana State and 38-3 over UTEP. The Red Raiders fell at Arizona last Saturday, 14-28.

Texas Tech quarterback Alan Bowman has passed for 1,003 yards this season with six touchdowns. Tech running back Armand Shyne is their leading rusher with 238 yards on  32 carries and two scores. T.J. Vasher is the leading receiver for the Red Raiders with 246 yards on 18 receptions and two touchdowns.

Texas Tech also has an off week this week.