Westbrook leads No. 14 Oklahoma past Iowa State
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[November 04, 2016]
AMES, Iowa -- As good as Dede
Westbrook was Thursday night against Iowa State and has been for
Oklahoma, Sooners coach Bob Stoops saved his highest praise for
Dimitri Flowers.
Saddled with the responsibility of being the top running back
despite not having a single carry in his first two-and-a-half
seasons with Oklahoma, Flowers came up big.
The junior rushed for 115 yards on 22 carries and had three catches
for 34 yards and a touchdowns as the No. 14 Sooners hung on to beat
Iowa State 34-24 in front of 50,662 at Jack Trice Stadium.
Westbrook yet again was sensational, catching seven passes for 131
yards and a touchdown and returning a kick 63 yards.
In Oklahoma's last six games, Westbrook has 1,012 receiving yards
and 13 touchdowns overall -- 12 receiving.
Flowers, who typically plays fullback, was used in a variety of
positions against the Cyclones. He lined up at tailback, fullback,
tight end, wide receiver and even for a play at quarterback when the
Sooners needed a short-yardage conversion.
"I don't believe I've ever seen a guy do all of that and so well in
a game ever," Stoops said. "It tells you what an exceptional athlete
he is."
Flowers was pressed into duty at tailback with just about 48 hours
to go until game time when starting running back Joe Mixon was
suspended for a game after a run-in with a parking attendant that
issued him a ticket.
"I thought he would run pretty well," Oklahoma offensive coordinator
Lincoln Riley said. "He has such a good feel for the blocking
schemes, because he's in there blocking so well. He has a great feel
for what we're doing. We knew if we got in this situation, he would
be productive."
The game didn't end in the first half as the Cyclones hung around.
Oklahoma finally all but put the game away with seven minutes to
play but perhaps the game's biggest play came just before halftime
courtesy of Flowers.
Oklahoma had just regained the lead after briefly falling behind and
Sooners quarterback Baker Mayfield engineered a nine-play, 75-yard
drive that was capped by his 11-yard touchdown pass to Flowers in
the back of the end zone.
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"That was a huge deal," Riley said. "Gave us a huge shot."
Mayfield completed 25 of 34 passes for 328 yards and four
touchdowns. The junior now has 31 touchdowns passes this season with
just six interceptions.
While the Sooners (7-2, 6-0 Big 12) have turned things around since
Big 12 play began, Iowa State has struggled.
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The loss was the fifth consecutive for the Cyclones (1-8, 0-6). Four
of the losses in conference play have come by 10 points or less.
"We're continuing to fight and continuing to battle and you know
obviously it stinks when the score is not indicative of the strides
and how our kids have played," first-year Iowa State coach Matt
Campbell said.
Oklahoma's schedule has been relatively soft since a tough first
five games that included a pair of non-conference games against
top-15 opponents and Big 12 games against then-ranked TCU and rival
Texas.
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The Sooners made it through the stretch that included Kansas State,
Texas Tech, Kansas and Iowa State without a loss but with plenty of
questions remaining.
As good as the Sooners have been offensively, they've struggled to
slow down defenses that have even one receiver capable of stretching
them down the field.
Since an embarrassing performance against Texas Tech on Oct. 22
where the Sooners gave up 854 yards of total offense, Oklahoma's
defense has been wanting to show that it wouldn't be defined by that
game.
"We were embarrassed," defensive lineman D.J. Ward said. "We can't
let anything like that happen again. Now's our chance to start
proving that we're better."
NOTES: There was a pregame moment of silence for a pair of Des
Moines-area police officers Justin Martin and Anthony Beminio killed
Wednesday in an ?ambush-style attack. ... Oklahoma LB Kapri Doucet,
who was going to have to miss the first half of Thursday's game
anyway after being flagged for targeting in the second half of the
Sooners win over Kansas a week earlier, missed the entire game due
to injury. ... Iowa State sophomore RB Mike Warren missed the game
with an ankle injury. Warren went through some warmups but was
unable to play after suffering the injury in the Oct. 29 loss to
Kansas State. ... Oklahoma hosts Baylor on Nov. 12. ... Iowa State
plays at Kansas.
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