NORMAN — It was the same player involved in the two most important plays for Oklahoma's offense in its 16-12 win over Houston on Saturday,

Jake Roberts.

The Norman native's first moment was a memorable one for his career. He found an open lane in the middle of Houston's defense early in the second quarter, and Jackson Arnold found him for an 11-yard touchdown to put the Sooners up 14-3.

It was Roberts' first touchdown in an OU uniform, and it came with plenty of his family in the stands.

"How it's drawn up, it's supposed to go to me but things don't always go to plan," Roberts said. "That time, it did. I got lucky. I was ready to make a play, and Jackson threw a great ball."

The second play came late in the game, with the Sooners clinging to a two-point lead. Arnold found Roberts to pick up a crucial first down, and Roberts took it for a 28-yard gain — the Sooners' second-longest play from scrimmage.

“The touchdown was awesome, but I think the third down catch might’ve been a little bigger," Roberts said. "I’m glad they came back to it. Coach asked me if I could get through on the pop and I was like, 'Yeah let’s do it.' In that situation you’re kind of expecting run so I just kind of did the same thing I did before. It worked and I made a play on the ball and then made sure the guy behind me wasn’t going to knock it out so, that’s what I was focused on."

Those plays proved crucial in a game where the offense struggled to generate momentum. The offense gained just 249 total yards, and Roberts' late-game catch was one of only seven first downs the Sooners recorded in the second half.

But Roberts was one of the few bright spots on offense, finishing with three receptions and 51 yards. He finished just two yards behind Deion Burks for the team lead in receiving yards. The Sooners have leaned on the tight end room as injuries pile up in the wide receiver room, and Roberts was able to provide a game-changing spark.

“It’s obviously disappointing, but a win’s a win," Roberts said. "We’re thankful to get them how they come and it’s hard to win in college football. But as an offensive we know we just have to improve and get better and just got to get things clicking. There’s no one step fix or way to make it happen overnight. So, it’s just going to take us coming in and going to work everyday and focusing on making each other better and just raising the standard.”

The offensive line continues to deal with injuries, as Branson Hickman and Geirean Hatchet were dressed but didn't play. Troy Everett wasn't available to play as he recovers from a knee injury. Nic Anderson also was in street clothes.

Gentry Williams and Jake Taylor left the game with injuries, though OU coach Brent Venables said he doesn't expect either injury to be serious. Peyton Bowen was also dealing with an injury and stayed on the sidelines for most of the second half.

With Hickman, Hatchett and Everett all out, the Sooners called on Bates to make his first career start.

The redshirt freshman was immediately thrust into action for heavy snaps, and was flanked by Michael Tarquin, Jacob Sexton, Febechi Nwaiwu and Taylor as the starters. But Bates' most memorable moment was a tough one, when he was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty late in the fourth quarter that stopped the clock and left extra time for Houston to attempt a late rally.

"“I thought he did good tonight honestly, for his first ever start," Arnold said. "I thought the O-line did a really good job tonight protecting me and in the run game. I thought overall they did a great job. Obviously the penalty hurt us and Josh would be the first to tell you that. He stepped in front of the whole team after the game and told us how he felt after that. He’ll be the first to talk about that penalty, but other than that I thought he had a good night.”

With injuries hurting the defense, the sophomore saw his first look at extended snaps against the Cougars. He finished with a career-high five tackles and tied for the team lead in tackles for loss (2) with Gracen Halton.

Omosigho, who's played at the cheetah position since arriving on campus last spring, credited starting cheetah Kendel Dolby for his development.

"That’s my brother," Omosigho said. "That’s my cheetah brother right there. That’s one person that I really look up to in the cheetah group. He’s an amazing player. He’s an amazing leader too, amazing friend. He’s right there with everything we do to make sure I’m doing right in every aspect to make sure I’m doing right on and off the field. We make sure that we’ve got each other’s backs."

Danny Stutsman led the team with a game-high 15 tackles, tying the third-best output of his career (18 against Texas Tech in 2022).

The sixth-year senior didn't play last week due to soreness and was not announced as the starter during pregame warmups. But Washington was on the field for the team's first defensive series at cornerback.

Washington was whistled for two critical pass interference calls, including one in the third quarter when he came down with an interception. Instead the call was reversed, and Houston scored on the ensuing play with a 44-yard touchdown.

It was that kind of night for Washington.

"The first one the receiver kind of fell so I was kind of confused on why he called it, but I guess he's saying when I jumped, I ran into him or something," Washington said. "The second one, all the coaches agreed. They felt like I had great technique on it. He just called the call. I was just doing my job playing the ball."

Despite the call, the Sooners still finished with two takeaways. Lewis Carter recovered a muffed punt early in the first quarter which led to a touchdown from Brenen Thompson, and Robert Spears-Jennings intercepted Houston QB Donovan Smith early in the fourth quarter.

The Sooners now have eight takeaways through two weeks, including give fumble recoveries. They recovered six fumbles all of last season.

Keltner was the highlight of last weekend's 51-3 win over Temple, making all three of his field goals from 50, 42 and 24 yards, respectively. But against Houston, Keltner badly missed his lone attempt — 45-yarder — early in the fourth that would've given OU a five-point lead.

Venables said he remains confident in Keltner despite the miss.

Due to OU's offensive struggles, Luke Elzinga was called upon to punt eight times. He averaged 44 yards per punt and had two punts go over 50 yards. His most pivotal punt came late in the fourth quarter, which was downed at the five-yard line and led to Gracen Halton's forced safety.

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