NORMAN, Okla. — This wasn’t the Sugar Bowl but Bob Stoops and Oklahoma once again made a statement against the SEC.

The No. 4 Sooners beat Tennessee 34-10 Saturday night at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Over the last two years, Stoops has had plenty to say about the SEC’s dominance — real or perceived.

His team backed up his words in January, beating Alabama in the Sugar Bowl and came through yet again against the Volunteers, even if Tennessee still is in rebuilding mode in Butch Jones’ second season in Knoxville.

Sooners quarterback Trevor Knight had the second-best passing game of his career, throwing for 308 yards and a touchdown.

Knight’s only other 300-yard game came in the Sugar Bowl.

“We came out and started fast again,” Knight said. “I think we could’ve played better in the second half. We kinda sputtered there on a few drives. The three-and-outs aren’t acceptable. Overall, it’s a big team win for us.”

Tennessee showed its progress in Jones’ second season.

Last season, the Volunteers went to Oregon in their biggest nonconference test and got blown out, 59-14.

This time against a top-five opponent, Tennessee had a chance in the second half before Oklahoma’s defense turned up the pressure.

“I see progress every day,” Jones said. “Unfortunately sometimes the progress isn’t measured in a victory. We still have a long way to go in understanding what it takes in certain stages of the game to play winning football.”

A couple of second-half turnovers helped Oklahoma put the game away.

Oklahoma cornerback Zack Sanchez intercepted a pass for the fourth consecutive game, going up in the end zone and wrestling the ball away from Tennessee receiver Justin Croom for a touchback.

On Tennessee’s next drive, their first of the fourth quarter, Volunteers quarterback Justin Worley once again was picked off in the end zone.

This time, though, Oklahoma cornerback Julian Wilson had space to move.

Wilson returned the interception off a tipped ball 100 yards for a touchdown to put the Sooners up 34-10.

It was Wilson’s first career touchdown and the second 100-yard interception return in school history.

Oklahoma’s defense is looking like the groups that Mike Stoops had in the early 2000s during his first tenure as the Sooners’ defensive coordinator.

The Sooners sacked Worley five times — four times in the first half — and generally kept him scrambling most of the night.

“There’s a reason they’re the fourth-ranked team in the country,” Worley said. “It was a great growing-up session for our youngsters but I thought at times we were able to do some really great things.”

The Sooners kept Worley scrambling by bringing blitzes from a variety of different places.

Safety Quentin Hayes, who had just one career sack entering the game, twice got to Worley, including getting a sack and a fumble recovery on the same play on Tennessee’s second drive of the game.

Defensive end Chuka Ndulue and nose guards Jordan Phillips and Matt Romar added one sack each for the Sooners (4-0).

Even though he didn’t get to Worley, linebacker Eric Striker also made it tough on Tennessee’s quarterback, with three of Oklahoma’s eight quarterback hurries and coming up with three tackles for loss.

“He’s so disruptive,” Bob Stoops said. “Rushing, he’s like a tasmanian devil out there just running all over the place. He was great.”

This week, Stoops mostly stayed out of the debate over the conferences, calling the talk about him vs. the SEC “overblown.”

But his players said they were well aware of their coach’s feelings about the conference and made it a point to make a statement against the Volunteers.

It wasn’t pretty at times — Oklahoma turned the ball over twice and had to settle for field goals twice despite quickly driving the ball down the field — but the Sooners escaped their nonconference schedule without much heartburn.

Knight’s favorite target was receiver Sterling Shepard, who had five catches for 109 yards. Tight end Blake Bell, who moved from quarterback after last season, had a career-high three catches for 52 yards.

Tennessee freshman running back Jalen Hurd had 97 yards rushing. The Volunteers had minus-11 yards rushing in the first half before breaking through in the second half.

Oklahoma (4-0) begins Big 12 play at West Virginia on Saturday. Tennessee (2-1) has the week off before opening SEC play at Georgia on Sept. 27.

The Sooners had success moving the ball for much of the first half but struggled to finish off drives.

On their first drive of the game, the Sooners quickly moved the ball to the Tennessee 11 before the drive sputtered out and Oklahoma had to settle for a field goal.

Then late in the first quarter, Oklahoma moved the ball to the Tennessee 10 thanks in large part to a 45-yard reception by Shepard.

But once again, the Volunteers defense stood tall and held the Sooners to a field goal.

Oklahoma did find the end zone a couple of times before the half thanks to sophomore running back Keith Ford.

First he scored on a 23-yard pass from Knight, where he caught the ball near the line of scrimmage and only had to beat the safety coming across from the other side to take it in for the touchdown.

Then Ford added an 11-yard touchdown run just before halftime, running right up the middle to put the Sooners up 20-7 at the break.

NOTES: The game was the third meeting between the teams. The other two happened in the Orange Bowl, with Tennessee winning in the 1938 game and the Sooners winning in 1968. … Oklahoma K Michael Hunnicutt has field goals in his last 20 games. … Oklahoma has outscored opponents 55-0 in the first quarter this season and 82-10 in the first half. … Oklahoma backup DE Charles Walker missed the game with a knee injury and is expected to miss next week’s Big 12 opener against West Virginia as well.