Takeaways From Oklahoma's Dominating Sugar Bowl Win Over Auburn

In what could be one of the biggest wins in the last three years, No. 7 Oklahoma completely dismantled No. 14 Auburn on Monday night in the Sugar Bowl as Baker Mayfield and the Sooners ran away with a 35-19 win inside of the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.

Related: Sooners Tame The Tigers In Sugar Bowl Win

Here are some takeaways from the OU victory:

Offense was rolling

It’s no secret that Oklahoma has one of the highest-octane offenses in the nation, but the performance the Sooners put together on Monday night is one to be lionized. Despite not scoring in the first quarter for only the second time this season, Lincoln Riley’s group shook off the rust and never looked back.

Led by a balanced attack both through the air and on the ground, Oklahoma put up the most points on Auburn than any other team this season. In fact, coming into the game Auburn ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense, allowing an average of only 15 points per game. Mayfield and company nearly reached that mark in the second quarter alone on their way to totaling 524 yards.

Mixon may still be running

After not touching the ball once on OU’s first two drives of the game, Mixon immediately became the focal point of the Sooners’ offensive attack as he showcased his talents as both a runner and a receiver. Whether he was patiently waiting for his holes to develop, or catching simple flare routes out of the backfield, Mixon made the most of his touches in the win.

As the Sooners faced a third-and-22 in the second quarter, it was Mixon who broke free on a wheel route up the right side for a first down as the drive eventually ended in Oklahoma’s first score of the game. 

Mixon went on to total 180 all-purpose yards on the night (91 rushing, 89 receiving) to go with two rushing touchdowns. Along with his big game, he also set the OU single-season all-purpose yardage record for a season with 2,331, passing former Sooner running back DeMarco Murray (2,171).

Perine makes history

While it was Mixon carrying the load throughout most of the second quarter and early in the first half, Samaje Perine got rolling late in the game as he began to completely ware down the Tigers’ defense.

Perine only had 15 yards on five carries at halftime, but managed to rumble for 73 yards on 12 carries after intermission, good enough to become OU’s all-time leading rusher with 4,122 yards in his career. Perine topped Billy Sims’ 37-year-old record of 4,118 yards.

It was an emotional moment on the field when Perine got the record midway through the fourth quarter as teammates and coaches stopped to celebrate the accomplishment. It was quite the accomplishment for Perine for him to close out his OU career on such a high note, as he went on to declare for the NFL draft on Tuesday.

Mayfield broke records, too

When you have two blue chip running backs like Mixon and Perine, it’s easy to overlook the Sugar Bowl’s Most Outstanding Player: Baker Mayfield.

Mayfield finished with 296 yards in the game with two touchdowns against the Tigers, while setting an NCAA record for single-season passing efficiency with a mark of 196.4. In his usual elusive ways, Mayfield refused to go to the ground without a fight throughout the game, as Auburn failed to record a sack while OU’s gunslinger dazzled the nation with his top-notch playmaking ability.

One of his more impressive plays of the night came on his first touchdown pass to Mark Andrews. Mayfield had to scramble right, and when it looked like none of his receivers were open, the redshirt junior zipped the ball through a tight window right into Andrews’ breadbasket for the score.

While OU fans have are accustomed to seeing Mayfield making one spectacular play after another, they should not take it for granted even for a second. What Mayfield has done over the last two years, along with Coach Riley, has completely shifted the fate of Oklahoma’s football program.  

Unlike Perine, Mayfield is coming back to school for one last one run at a national championship, and who knows, he may just end up winning the Heisman too.

Defense showed up

After keeping Oklahoma out of College Football Playoff contention with the No. 87 defense in the nation, Mike Stoops got his boys ready to play against a formidable Auburn offense.

While they aren’t an offensive juggernaut, Auburn was second in the SEC in total offense throughout much of the year when completely healthy and the Tigers had multiple playmakers on that side of the ball. Running back Kamryn Pettway managed to eclipse the 100-yard mark, but the Sooners made him run it 24 times to do so while constantly closing in on the tough-running junior with more than one tackler.

It was a relief for OU’s defense to not face an electric Big 12 offense, and the Sooners made the most of the opportunity by bringing their hard hats against a physical Tigers’ front line. After allowing Auburn to drive for a score on the first drive of the game, the Sooners buckled down and did a tremendous job of adjusting when the Tigers’ inserted a speedier John Franklin at quarterback after Sean White checked out in the second quarter.

Auburn only managed 159 yards in the second half and would’ve been shut out after halftime if it weren’t for Gus Malzhan calling timeout with two seconds left in the game to set up a meaningless touchdown and dilute the final score.

Caleb Kelly is a future star

If you’re wondering what the OU defense will look like over the next couple years, look no further than true freshman Caleb Kelly. We all knew the five-star outside linebacker was a special talent, but Kelly proved he’s more than ready to perform at a high level.

Whether he was in the face of Auburn quarterback’s Sean White and James Franklin, or making the sure tackle to prevent a first down, Kelly was all over the field on Monday night and was arguably the defensive MVP of the game.

Kelly finished with a career-high 12 tackles, eight of which came in the first half when Oklahoma set the tone of the game. He also set an OU record for tackles by a freshman in a bowl game as he shined brightest in the biggest moment of his young career.

Jordan Evans also had a big game with nine tackles and a momentum-shifting hit in the first quarter on the play where many think White could’ve been injured.  Steven Parker had his usual solid game with eight tackles while Jordan Thomas snatched the only interception of the game.

You can follow Brett on Twitter: @BrettCope