NORMAN – Oklahoma crawled out of the locker room against Maine.

The Sooners made the bed and allowed the Black Bears to score a touchdown, an early setback that brought some concern to the fan base at Owen Field.

But running back Jovantae Barnes quickly got everything back on track.

He ripped off a 74-yard run on OU’s second possession that was initially ruled a touchdown but was later brought back to the 1-yard line.

Two games later, he finished the job and scored.

“I felt good. I still think it was a touchdown,” Barnes joked after the game. “They might say different. But it felt good to break one and celebrate with just my boys.”

Still, the 74-yard run was just a warning shot for Maine’s defense.

Barnes destroyed the Black Bears, finishing with 203 rushing yards and three scores (also a career best) on 18 carries. He also added 19 receiving yards on one catch while rushing OU victory 59-14.

“He’s doing something,” the Oklahoma coach Brent Venables said after the win. “It was a really great job. Again, as we know, he’s played really well here in the back half of the season and he continues to get the ball from the back as well.”

After the game, Barnes was mainly focused on getting back on Sunday to start the process again before next week’s meeting with No. 25 Missouri.

But his teammates raved about the junior running back, who battled injuries all last year that prevented him from building on a strong freshman campaign.

“It was great to see,” the OU quarterback Jackson Arnold said. “Obviously I wasn’t here the first year when he played really well. And I went in last year, I was waiting to see Jovantae because everyone kept talking about how hard he ran and this and that and he just had injuries last year and I didn’t get to see.

“And to finally see it come to fruition this year was really awesome. I’m super proud of him.”

The submission came on the heels of a pair of nice outings for Barnes.

Rushed for 70 yards on 17 carries in OU’s loss at South Carolina and was the Sooners’ best offensive player a week ago against Ole Miss’ stout defense when he carried the ball 16 times for 67 yards and caught five passes once again. 57 meters.

The spark, Barnes said, starts during the week as he prepares for each opponent.

“It all starts with training,” he said. “I think that’s my biggest thing and I’ve been trying to do better and also look at extra tape and make sure I’m seeing things that maybe others won’t. I think we did a good job with that.”

Barnes’ increased production is crucial to Oklahoma’s offense, which has struggled mightily with consistency all year.

“It opens up a lot of things for us in the passing game as well when we’re able to run the ball like that,” Arnold said. “And credit to the o-line, too. He’s locking his ass and that was evident today. But when you’re able to run the ball like that, it opens up a lot of space in the passing game, which is good. They complement each other and make our offense go.”

The Sooners will need to stay poised next weekend against the Tigers as OU looks for its sixth win to become bowl eligible.

“It feels good, but you can’t celebrate too much,” Barnes said. “I think it’s a good time to let it go and build off of it as an offense, as a team. Going into practice next week, just work. It was a good start to something.”