NORMAN — For Oklahoma, Saturday’s season opener was about taking care of business.
The Sooners did that, coming away with a ho-hum 35-3 win over Illinois State to open the 2025 season. Before looking ahead to Michigan, here are OUInsider’s final grades for both the offense and the defense against Illinois State.
Passing offense: B+
John Mateer was asked to drop back 37 times. He completed 30 passes for 392 yards and three touchdowns, averaging over 13 yards per completion. He found Deion Burks for a 27-yard touchdown early in the second quarter before connecting with Keontez Lewis on two scores in the fourth quarter.
Mateer also spread the wealth, connecting with nine different receivers. Lewis had a stellar debut, leading the Sooners in targets (11), receptions (9), yards (119) and touchdowns (2). Burks turned in a solid performance with seven receptions for 88 yards and a score. Jaren Kanak, in his first game as a tight end after converting from linebacker, caught five passes for 90 yards. He also had the longest play of the day, catching a 48-yard pass early in the second quarter.
Most notably, Mateer had seven passes of 20 yards or more, including all three of his touchdown passes. The Sooners had 20 such passes all of last season.
The Sooners get dinged a little here with Mateer’s third-quarter interception and Kanak’s fumble on a 21-yard reception early in the game. But it was a very solid debut for Mateer and the receivers
Rushing offense: D
Continuing a theme from last season, the running back rotation was odd.
Jovantae Barnes got the start, turning seven carries into nine yards. He was eventually replaced by Tory Blaylock, who logged 44 yards on eight carries (5.5 yards per carry) and brought an explosiveness that was notably missing early in the game. He also scored his first career touchdown on a five-yard carry late in the second quarter before exiting the game early in the third quarter with an injury.
“Tory Blaylock doesn’t look like a freshman out there,” OU offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle said. “He doesn’t act like a freshman. The look in his eye isn’t that of a freshman. He goes out there, does his job, not scared of anything. Whenever the ball’s in his hand, he does a lot of really good things. So really proud of Tory.”
Xavier Robinson and Jaydn Ott combined for nine carries for 14 yards. Ott, notably, didn’t enter the game until early in the fourth quarter.
The Sooners finished with 103 yards and 32 carries, failing to average three yards per carry. The Sooners were missing several players on the offensive line, and Jacob Sexton left the game early with an injury, but it wasn’t the ideal start for OU’s rushing attack.
Passing defense: A
Illinois State attempted 20 passes. It completed 10 of them for 34 yards.
That was the story of the day for OU’s defense.
Even with Courtland Guillory and Michael Boganowski making their first career starts, the Redbirds had no room to operate in the Sooners’ secondary. Guillory was particularly impactful, breaking up a pass on third down after being called for a questionable pass interference penalty just a few plays before.
“He was really good today,” OU coach Brent Venables said. “I thought he did some great things.”
Sammy Omosigho and Taylor Wein were responsible for both of the Sooners’ sacks.
Rushing defense: B-
The run defense was shaky, particularly early. The Redbirds gashed the Sooners on a couple of busted plays, including a pair of 20-plus yard runs early in the game.
But eventually, the Sooners course corrected. The Redbirds finished with 117 yards on 26 carries, and 73 of those yards came on four carries. The Redbirds finished with 151 total yards and averaged 3.3 yards per play.
“Defensively, a little bit soft (in the) interior of the defense at times,” Venables said. “We played with a light box. Missed some tackles, first-game type of thing. But for the most part, they kept the ball in front of them and weren’t really challenged that way.”
Next up: The Sooners host Michigan at 6 p.m. next Saturday (ABC).