NORMAN, Okla. — Oklahoma all but stamped its reservation to the Big 12 Conference championship game with its win against TCU on Saturday.
And with the rest of the chaos that took place at the top of the rankings, the Sooners may be able to crash the College Football Playoff party as well.
MORE: Three takeaways from Oklahoma's beatdown of TCU
OU quarterback Baker Mayfield — now widely expected to take home the 83rd Heisman Trophy — might not have been the best player on the field on Saturday, as the No. 5 Sooners routed No. 6 TCU 38-20 at Memorial Stadium.
That honor might have gone to Sooner running back Rodney Anderson
“He absolutely was. There’s no question,” Mayfield said. “He’s a man among boys. His work ethic is unbelievable.”
That's what happens when you who rush for 151 yards, pull down 139 yards receiving and score four total touchdowns. Anderson missed all but one game of his freshman season with a broken leg, and he missed all last year with a neck fracture. After a slow start this season, however, he has taken over the team lead with 672 rushing yards.
He’s the third Oklahoma running back to get 100 yards rushing and receiving in a single game, joining Joe Mixon and Steve Sewell.
“He was awesome,” said coach Lincoln Riley. “He’s got a unique skill set in that he can do it all. Brings the power, ran through some tackles, some tremendous catches. He can do it all."
With No. 1 Georgia and No. 3 Notre Dame getting pummeled on Saturday, the Sooners surely will be in Tuesday’s playoff top 4.
The Sooners improved to 9-1 overall and 6-1 in Big 12 play, while TCU dropped to 8-2 and 5-2, respectively. While both teams still have work to do before the Dec. 2 title game — Oklahoma visits Kansas and hosts West Virginia; TCU visits Texas Tech and Baylor — both also own a head-to-head tiebreaker over third-place Oklahoma State.
Not that it matters to Mayfield.
“Quite frankly,” Mayfield said, “I don’t really care who we play. I believe in our guys. We’re getting better every week. And we still have two more games to play before we even get to talk about that.”
MORE: Mayfield, Anderson steal the show in Norman
Last Monday, Mayfield implored Sooner Nation to make it to the game, to be loud. They turned out in record numbers — 88,308, the largest crowd ever to witness a sporting event in the state — and were raucous throughout.
“That’s impressive. They showed up and were ready to go,” Mayfield said. “I called them out. We have one more home game and I expect the same thing.”
Oklahoma had taken criticism — some even from CFP selection committee chairman Kirby Hocutt — for its own porous defense, as well as for the notion that most of its flashy offensive numbers were accomplished against conference opponents that don’t value good defense.
But in putting up 533 yards and 38 points against a TCU defense that ranked No. 6 in the nation in fewest yards allowed, No. 6 in fewest points allowed and No. 1 in rushing yards allowed, even Hocutt and the selection committee had to be impressed.
“I think we answered those questions tonight,” Mayfield said. “Lot of doubts before, but we rose to the occasion tonight."
“We knew it was gonna be a good battle,” Riley said. “They’re a pretty good defense, and we’re pretty good offense. We made some of the plays when it counted. We knew it was gonna be a good battle against those guys.”
The Sooners, perhaps expecting a rematch with the defensive-oriented Horned Frogs three weeks down the road in the league title game in Arlington, Texas, dominated on their way to a 38-14 lead — before throttling down in the second half.
“I think the fourth quarter,” Mayfield said, “we were more conservative about running clock, trying to establish the line of scrimmage and wear them down.”
HOOVER: Mayfield makes his mark on Bedlam, Oklahoma State
Mayfield, already a clear Heisman front trunner going into the game, further distanced himself from the field with a Heisman-worthy performance against that stingy defense. In the first half alone, Mayfield completed 15 of 21 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns, including a laser strike to freshman tight end Grant Calcaterra for a touchdown and two more in the final five-plus minutes to Anderson.
But maybe Anderson inserted his name into next year’s Heisman race.
TCU had yielded only 69.7 rushing yards per game and only 2.1 yards per carry entering Saturday's game, but Anderson was virtually unstoppable, averaging 6.6 yards per rush and 28 yards per catch.
The most points TCU had allowed this season was 36, by cross-town rival SMU. In Big 12 Conference play, the Horned Frogs’ season-high was 31, by Oklahoma State. But the Sooners had 38 points by at halftime.
“Just a tremendous team win against a really good football team,” Riley said. “Our most complete win as a team.”
OU pulled it off despite starting four true freshmen on defense, including three in the secondary and both cornerbacks. TCU quarterback Kenny Hill managed 270 passing yards, but completed only 13 of 28 passes. Hill connected on completions of 62, 50, 41 and 40 yards, but only 77 yards on his other 24 attempts.
“I don’t know if that’s ever been done here at Oklahoma,” defensive coordinator Mike Stoops said of starting four rookies. “That’s the position we were in, and we went out and did it. Proud of those guys.”