NORMAN, Okla. -- Oklahoma's return to the Air Raid offense was a slow burn Saturday night against Akron.

The No. 19 Sooners were forced to punt on their first three drives of the game and five of the first six. But once they broke through and finally found the end zone, the floodgates opened and Oklahoma rolled to a 41-3 blowout at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

The game was the re-debut of the offense that exploded onto the college football scene when Mike Leach came to Oklahoma as offensive coordinator in 1999. The Sooners won the national championship a year later.

But Oklahoma drifted away from the offense until Bob Stoops hired Lincoln Riley, a Leach protege, to run the offense in the offseason.

Then Baker Mayfield, who ran the Air Raid in both high school and as a true freshman at Texas Tech in 2013, won the starting quarterback derby.

Mayfield started slowly but came on strong and finished with 388 yards and three touchdowns through the air. Mayfield's passing total was the most for an Oklahoma quarterback in a season opener, beating Sam Bradford's 363 yards to start the 2007 season. Mayfield added a rushing touchdown.

"Baker was excellent with how he handled the football and his decisions, those kind of things," Sooners coach Bob Stoops said.

Mayfield won the starting quarterback job at Texas Tech two years ago, becoming the first walk-on true freshman to start at quarterback for a Power Five school.

After that season, he transferred to Oklahoma -- the team he grew up rooting for -- and sat out last season.

In the days leading up to the game, Mayfield said he wasn't one to get nervous before games, but afterward admitted to some jitters before the Sooners faced the Zips.

But he settled in just fine.

"It was a little different," Mayfield said about making his Sooners debut. "I thought about it some on the bus ride to the stadium, but after that it was just football."

Riley and Mayfield weren't the only two pieces of the Oklahoma offense making debuts.

Joe Mixon, the former five-star recruit who was suspended last season, had 115 receiving yards, including a 76-yard touchdown reception. Mixon also had five carries for 27 yards.

"He's got a dynamic skill set," Riley said. "And there's still a lot of things you can do with a guy like that. He, like everybody, I could even see it with him early, had a lot of nerves. It was just about getting these guys all settled in. Once he was able to do that, I think everybody was able to see the kind of talent he has."

Akron struggled to move the ball most of the night, with less than 200 yards of total offense until the final minutes. The Zips finished with 226 yards.

"They're just a better football team," Akron coach Terry Bowden said. "But our players came to play. They believed they could win. They came out and had a plan. They prepared themselves and the way we came out is the way we came to play. We came to win and did the best we could do."

The Oklahoma offense finally got going midway through the second quarter when Mayfield and Samaje Perine led the Sooners to their first touchdown to go up 10-0. Mayfield went 5 of 6 on the 60-yard drive with two runs as well, and Perine had three carries, including a 2-yard touchdown run.

Oklahoma, whose rushing attack was among the nation's best a year ago when Perine became a breakout star as a freshman, struggled to move the ball on the ground before halftime. The Sooners ran for just 22 yards on 17 carries.

But the Zips also had trouble getting anything going offensively, with their best chance being a 21-yard missed field goal attempt a first-and-goal.

Akron did get on the board until just before halftime thanks to a fumbled punt return by the Sooners' Sterling Shepard that gave the Zips the ball at the Oklahoma 31. Robert Stein kicked a 26-yard field goal just before halftime to cut the margin to 17-3 at the break.

NOTES: Oklahoma started two freshmen and a sophomore on the offensive line, with redshirt freshman Orlando Brown at one tackle spot and true freshman Dru Samia at the other. Sophomore Jonathan Alvarez started at left guard. ... Akron played two quarterbacks in the first half, with Kyle Pohl and Tra'Von Chapman splitting time. Pohl had the Zips' only completions of the half, but Chapman had 18 yards rushing. ... Sooners walk-on WR Jarvis Baxter started after arriving late in the summer. ... Akron WR Jerome Lane, who was a safety last season, came up with a 42-yard reception on the final play of the first quarter. ... The Sooners travel to face No. 25 Tennessee next Saturday. Akron hosts Pittsburgh.