In a dominating performance, the No. 5 Oklahoma Sooners shutout Kent State, 44-0, Saturday at Gaylor Family – Memorial Stadium in Norman. It was the Sooners’ first shutout since beating Arkansas State 73-0 on Sept. 2, 2023.

This was only the second meeting between these two teams. The previous one was a 33-3 Sooners win on Sept. 10, 2022, which was the second game of Brent Venables’ head coaching career.

The Sooners’ (5-0, 1-0 SEC) backup quarterback Michal Hawkins Jr. made his first start of the season with starter John Mateer on the sideline nursing an injury. Hawkins, a sophomore, started four of his seven outings in 2024.

In this game, Hawkins completed 14-of-24 passes for 162 passing yards, three touchdowns, 33 yards on the ground and one rushing touchdown.

“Got to 5-0 and found out a little more about our guys,” said OU head coach Brent Venables after the game. “A good, mature win. Mike (Hawkins) did a lot of great things. He had three touchdowns and added on to our, we were 100% in the red zone, touchdowns.”

OU receiver Isaiah Sategna caught four passes for 75 yards and two touchdowns and running back Tory Blaylock had 78 yards on 15 carries.

Kent State (1-4) starting quarterback Devin Kargman completed 8-of-16 passes for 74 yards, and one interception.

Oklahoma amassed 355 total yards on offense while holding the Golden Flashes to only 135 total yards. The Sooners had five sacks and 13 tackles for loss.

“Nine different guys caught balls, and we were over 50% on third downs,” Venables said. “Great job by the offense.”

The Sooners jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter and led 23-0 at halftime.

The Sooners forced their first turnover of the season in the third quarter when R. Mason Thomas forced a fumble on a sack and Gracen Halton recovered the ball, returning it four yards for the touchdown, putting the Sooners ahead 30-0. The third quarter ended with OU leading 44-0, and the two teams played a scoreless fourth quarter.

“R. Mason Thomas has a career high six tackles,” Venables said. “Just maturity. Show up and play and compete to a standard regardless of who we’re playing (or) how the game is going.”

Tate Sandell kicked three field goals in the game for the Sooners, from 49, 39 and 55 yards, respectively.

“Great job by Tate Sandell with the three field goals in the first half,” Venables said. “He’s been just fantastic and the fourth longest field goal (55-yards) in stadium history.”

The Sooners will play Texas in Dallas on Saturday. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. on ABC. The Longhorns (3-2, 0-1 SEC) are coming off 29-21 loss to Florida.