Oklahoma 42, Baylor 34
NORMAN, Okla. -- It didn't come easy for Oklahoma.
In the end, though, the No. 12 Sooners got it done, beating Baylor 42-34 in front of 84,945 at Owen Field on Saturday night.
The Sooners got two touchdown passes from Landry Jones, a pair of scoring runs by Damien Williams and a pair of touchdowns and some solid special-teams play from Brennan Clay to pull off the win.
The Sooners turned the ball over twice in three plays early in the third quarter, with Williams coughing up the ball on the first play of Oklahoma's first possession of the second half.
On second down on the next drive, Mike Hicks intercepted Jones' pass and returned it 24 yards to the Sooners' 28.
Baylor used a steady diet of Glasco Martin and Lache Seastrunk to have a chance to tie.
Martin carried three consecutive times, followed by three more by Seastrunk, the last a 2-yard run to cut the Sooners' lead to 28-26. Baylor's two-point conversion try was no good.
From there, though, Oklahoma pulled away.
The Sooners followed with a 12-play, 75-yard drive that was capped by Williams' second touchdown.
Three times through the first three quarters, the Sooners brought out the Belldozer?package with Blake Bell at quarterback.
Each time, though, a penalty negated the need for it and Bell came off for Jones without running a play.
Early in the fourth quarter, Bell took advantage when he finally got a chance to run a play, going 55 yards for a touchdown to put the Sooners up 42-26.
Clay, who was buried on the depth chart early in the season behind Williams and Dominique Whaley, came through for a second consecutive week.
Clay caught Jones' first touchdown pass and ran for a score in the first quarter.
His biggest play, though, came in the closing seconds of the first half after Baylor scored to cut Oklahoma's advantage to 21-17 with 32 seconds left in the first half.
Clay returned the kick to the Baylor 45 and, two plays later, Jones hit Penn State transfer Justin Brown for a 35-yard touchdown.
NOTES: Baylor's Aaron Jones hit a 58-yard field goal in the first quarter, kicking with a strong wind. His previous career long was 50. ... Sooners? center Gabe Ikard missed the game due to a head injury. Freshman Ty Darlington started in his place. ... Jones moved into 10th place on the NCAA career touchdown pass list with his first touchdown pass. He also moved into fourth in NCAA history in career passing yards. ... Baylor's late second-quarter scoring drive was the longest of the season for the Bears in time at 5:45 and the longest in plays given up by the Sooners at 17. ... Bell's 55-yard run was the longest by an Oklahoma quarterback since Patrick Fletcher had a 58-yard run in 1998. ... The sell-out was the Sooners' 85th consecutive, setting a program record.
