Saturday, October 15, 2016 12:00 PM (ET)

Sooners lose Perine, but win big

The Sports Xchange
Oct 15, 2016

NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma lost one of its main offensive weapons on the game's first drive but the Sooners offense kept rolling right along.

Baker Mayfield passed for 346 yards and four touchdowns as No. 19 Oklahoma beat Kansas State 38-17 at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in front of 86,049 on Saturday.

The Sooners (4-2, 3-0 in the Big 12) have won three consecutive games.

Running back Samaje Perine left the game after his touchdown on the game's opener drive and didn't return, but Mayfield and the rest of the Oklahoma offense made up for the loss.

Not only did Mayfield have yet another strong performance, but receiver Dede Westbrook did the same and running back Joe Mixon bounced back from a rough game a week earlier against Texas to help the Sooners snap a two-game home losing streak to the Wildcats (3-3, 1-2).

The road team had won the last five games in the series.

Westbrook had nine catches for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Over the last three games, Westbrook has 26 catches for 574 yards and eight touchdowns in the first three games of conference play. One of those touchdowns came on a pass from Mixon.

Early in the second quarter, the Sooners took a 21-7 lead when Mixon took a handoff to the right and pulled up to find a wide open Westbrook for a 26-yard touchdown.

On Oklahoma's second drive of the game, Mixon caught Mayfield's shovel pass and hurdled Kansas State safety Dante Barnett on his way to the end zone to put the Sooners up by two touchdowns.

The Wildcats responded with a grinding 17-play, 89-yard drive that took 8:32 to pull back into the game before the Sooners responded with the quick touchdown from Mixon to Westbrook to regain control.

Westbrook's day could've been even bigger.

On the first Sooners drive of the second half, Westbrook was wide open when Mayfield heaved a ball from beyond midfield but Westbrook got turned around on the throw and couldn't haul it in for what would have been a touchdown.

Westbrook added the exclamation point to his day midway through the fourth quarter after Oklahoma's defense forced a Kansas State punt.

Westbrook caught Mayfield's deep pass on the run and went 88 yards for the score to all but put the game away.

Perine, coming off a 214-yard rushing performance a week earlier, finished off Oklahoma's first drive with a 25-yard touchdown reception.

On the play, Perine leaped for the pylon, but sustained a lower-body injury and didn't return.

Kansas State suffered a major loss of its own.

Midway through the second quarter, quarterback Jesse Ertz took a hit after throwing a pass into the end zone that fell incomplete. Ertz went to the locker room but returned briefly just before halftime after missing one drive.

But on the first drive of the second half, Ertz' pass sailed far beyond the target and he immediately was replaced by Joe Hubener for the rest of the game.

Kansas State's Dominique Heath had seven catches for 101 yards and a touchdown.

NOTES: Oklahoma RB Joe Mixon's second-quarter touchdown pass was the first by a Sooners running back since 1973. ... Oklahoma WR Dede Westbrook did not start, a week after having 10 catches for 232 yards a week earlier. Westbrook was replaced in the lineup by Jordan Smallwood but entered the game on the third play. Westbrook took over punt return duties from Mixon after Mixon struggled a week earlier against Texas. … The teams started a combined six players with the first name of Jordan -- four on Oklahoma's defense. ... Kansas State hosts Texas next Saturday, while Oklahoma plays at Texas Tech on the same day.
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