Lincoln Riley addresses play of Oklahoma quarterback Caleb Williams

Oklahoma football coach Lincoln Riley thought quarterback Caleb Williams performed well in the second half against Kansas on Saturday. As for the first half, that’s a different story.

The Sooners found themselves down 10-0 at halftime on the road in Lawrence, but rallied for a 35-23 victory. It was just the second career start and first road game for Williams, a true freshman.

The young quarterback looked rattled early, throwing an interception on the Sooners’ second drive. He made up for that mistake to finish 15-of-20 passing for 178 yards and three total touchdowns.

“He didn’t play very good in the first half,” Riley said. “I thought more than anything it was probably a little bit of frustration when we had low possessions and weren’t playing well. Especially the interception where the back was standing wide open in the flat. He’s got to be more composed there. But he handled the second half well. He understood what we were doing and obviously made some important plays. He was pretty calm in the second half and certainly more settled in.”

Williams pulled off a play that rarely — if ever — happens in football.

Oklahoma faced fourth-and-1 while clinging to a 28-23 lead with just over three minutes remaining. The Sooners opted to go for it, and handed the ball off the Kennedy Brooks, who was quickly met for the stop — or so it appeared.

Williams noticed that his running back was in trouble, and quickly swooped in to take the ball out of his hands. He raced past a dumbfounded Jayhawks defense to keep the drive alive.

Brooks eventually scored a touchdown to cap off the drive and put OU up 35-23 with 42 seconds left to play.

Although Caleb Williams experienced some jitters early against the road crowd, it seems he redeemed himself to Lincoln Riley and Sooners faithful late. It certainly wasn’t the five-touchdown performance from last week, but it got the job done.

This season, that’s all Oklahoma can ask for. Although it is undefeated at 8-0, five of those victories have come by a touchdown or less. The Sooners travel back to Norman to take on Texas Tech next Saturday.