For the first time this season, No. 4 Oklahoma will get a bye week after racing past Texas Tech, 52-21, in Norman Saturday.

The Sooners (9-0, 6-0 Big 12)  will travel to Baylor on November 13, host Iowa State on November 20, and end the regular season with a road trip to Stillwater to play No. 11 Oklahoma State on November 27.

If OU wins those three games, they have a guaranteed spot in the Big 12 Championship Game. If they win two of three, particularly versus OSU or Baylor, they will go to the title game.

Last-season hopes are riding high because of the outstanding play of freshman quarterback Caleb Williams and improved play on defense.

Williams hit 23 of 30 passes (77%) for 402 yards and six touchdowns (255.2 passer rating). He completed 22 of his final 25 pass attempts in the game. His six touchdown passes tied the Oklahoma freshman record (most ever by a true freshman), matching redshirt frosh Landry Jones  (2009 vs. Tulsa). The six TD passes were the most by an OU quarterback since 2018 when Kyler Murray had six vs. Baylor. Williams set new OU true freshman passing records with his 402 yards and six touchdowns. He broke his own records set vs. TCU on Oct. 16).

He is only the third Oklahoma QB with at least six passing TDs and no interceptions in a game (Baker Mayfield had seven TDs vs. Texas Tech in 2016 and Kyler Murray had six TDs vs. Baylor in 2018), according to ESPN Stats & Info.

Williams’ 1,189 passing yards are the most by an OU true freshman, surpassing (current OU assistant coach) Cale Gundy’s 904 passing  yards in 1990. His 14 passing touchdowns this season are also the most ever by an OU true freshman QB.

Williams is No. 5 in the country in passing completion percentage (71.6%) while teammate Spencer Rattler is No. 2 in the nation with 75% completion.

“He didn’t have a great first series,” said OU coach Lincoln Riley. “He missed a couple throws, but I thought he had a really clear mind the entire way and obviously settled in there quickly. You know, did a really nice job of things inside the pocket and obviously made some key plays out of it. I just thought that his patience was good.

“I thought we operated a little bit more efficiently with him in, which was a big goal… but there’s just been some small things here and there that have held us back from an operational standpoint that we needed to clean up, and I thought we were much cleaner there. I thought he played well and thought he did a really good job settling down after the first series and then played at a high level.”

After a tight game against lowly Kansas, Williams led the Sooners to a 28-7 halftime lead. Coaches and fans have been concerned about slow starts this season. After the first series, OU scored on seven straight possessions.

“It was an emphasis, but you gotta be careful about that because what you don’t want is you emphasize about a week and then if it doesn’t happen you don’t want the attitude or the mentality to be like, ‘Well, we failed on that,’” Riley said. “We still have the rest of the game to go. So, we certainly wanted to start fast. We talked about it, but at the end of the day we knew we had to play four quarters.

“And, that would be a big shot in the arm to getting off to that good start and being able to do that. So now it did defensively. Obviously getting them from the stops early we’re big. We didn’t take advantage of the first one offensively but then got on a good run after that. It was just a really good clean start. And, obviously when you do that at home, you get the crowd involved.”

After OU built a big lead, Riley inserted Rattler, who started the season on the first team but was demoted after struggling in the Texas game. The OU fans let out a big cheer when Rattler entered.

“He played fantastic,” Riley said of Rattler. “They both did, and it was good to see. I mean, I’ve been saying this all along, and I think maybe people outside believe me or don’t believe me, whatever. But do you think a team would have reacted that way if all the stuff that people have been reporting on the outside was true? I mean, there you go. So I mean, that narrative needs to end…

“I hope everyone writes about it because the narrative is over. He’s been a great team guy and he’s worked, and he’s gotten better, taken advantage of the reps. Like I’ve told you guys, there’s no doubt when he gets his next opportunities he can go and play well. That was good to see. And the cool thing is those two are really happy for each other and have pushed each other. On a great team, that’s what you have to have.”

The Sooner defense got two interceptions and one fumble and did not commit a turnover. This was  the third time this season OU has totaled three takeaways in a game, and the first since Sept. 11 vs. Western Carolina.  This was Oklahoma’s first game registering two interceptions since the 2020 Cotton Bowl vs. Florida (three).

OU’s 17 game winning streak is the longest in the nation and the longest for OU since 2001 when they won 20 in a row.

OU has now won 10 straight games against Texas Tech. The Sooners own a 23-6 record against the Red Raiders, including a 13-2  mark in Norman.