Five Takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners 31-29 win over the UCF Knights
Oklahoma escaped by the skin of its teeth on Saturday as they downed Big 12 newcomer UCF 31-29. It was a game that came down to the waning minutes of the fourth quarter.
Considering how well Oklahoma has looked all season, it was a jarring performance. Especially after the Sooners had a bye week to put the Texas win behind them. Yet, on Saturday, after a relatively solid start, a pair of missed field goals kept the door open for UCF to run through. Before long, Oklahoma was fighting for its life and the right to stay undefeated.
When the dust cleared, the Sooners came out on top. A late surge in the fourth quarter was enough for Brent Venables’ team to get it done.
Here are five takeaways from the Sooners’ win.
This team is still a work in progress
Thankfully for Oklahoma, they didn’t peak against Texas. Despite coming off their bye week, the Sooners looked flat and discombobulated, especially on offense.
It was a rough performance. Maybe the absences of Andrel Anthony, McKade Mettauer, and Tawee Walker (suspension) were a little more impactful than we thought. But that feels very elementary.
Defensively, bad reads on run fits and poor tackling were a big problem. However, it’s hard to heap as much blame on the defense for UCF’s success on the ground when they entered the game as one of the three best-rushing attacks in the nation.
Simply put, this team has much more room to improve, and that’s okay. They have five more Big 12 games left in the regular season.
Kicking is becoming worrisome but punting had a breakthrough day
Zach Schmit has been a solid kicker since replacing former kicker Gabe Brkic. However, consistency has been a problem. He missed two very makeable kicks in the first quarter that left the door open for the Knights.
That was his third straight miss dating back to the Red River Rivalry. Oklahoma is fortunate that it hasn’t bitten them yet, but they need to clean it up.
On the other side of the special teams coin, the punting unit had its best day of the season. Luke Elzinga was a wizard and will most certainly be in contention for one of our three stars. He averaged 51.6 yards per punt on a total of five punts.
Oklahoma entered the day with an average of almost 16 yards less than that. His punts flipped the field and it helped control some of UCF’s momentum.
Run game found something late
For three quarters, it was more of the same from the Oklahoma Sooners running game. It’s been an incredibly frustrating part of an otherwise great offensive attack.
UCF entered the contest ranked 120th in run defense. And yet, they stifled Oklahoma’s rushing attack until the fourth quarter. With the game on the line, the Sooners began to open some massive holes.
At the heart of it all was Gavin Sawchuk. Sawchuk saw his most-extensive playing time since the Cheez-It Bowl. He looked explosive, which was on full display as he went 30 yards for the Sooners’ final touchdown.
If Sawchuk is going to remain healthy and look this explosive, he should see a bigger workload moving forward. Marcus Major also had a solid day, picking up 80 yards on 18 carries.
A significant tip of the cap also goes to the Sooners offensive line. They tapped into a level of tenacity we hadn’t seen all season in the run game, and it was a sight to see.
Defense's resilience is remarkable
Oklahoma’s defense still played at a very high level. Two plays accounted for 140 of UCF’s 397 total yards. One of those plays should not have resulted in a touchdown because of a missed call from the officials. The other was an electric 54-yard run from UCF starting tailback R.J. Harvey.
Those aside, Oklahoma gave up just 257 yards for the rest of the game.
The Sooners had another goal-line stand to keep a team out of the end zone from the one-yard line, but a penalty on Jaren Kanak gave them another set of downs.
Despite the offense’s ineptitude for much of the game, the defense never let things spiral and came up with critical stops.
Peyton Bowen had a major sack of UCF quarterback John Rhys Plumlee to help force a punt. Kendel Dolby made the open field tackle on UCF’s two-point conversion attempt to keep them from tying the game with less than 2 minutes remaining.
That stop effectively put the nail in the coffin for UCF’s chances at an upset.
Nic Anderson is a star
Oklahoma has found a star in Nic Anderson. We no longer have to sugarcoat it and act like this is just an anomaly. He’s just a bonafide playmaker. He led the team in receiving Saturday with 105 yards and two touchdowns. One of those scores was a 42-yard bomb in which Anderson had a beautiful release to stack the defensive back before blowing by him.
He looks like he’s answered concerns about who would take over for Andrel Anthony in the starting lineup and immediately put that question to rest. Now, the discussion becomes how consistently his offensive coordinator and quarterback can get him the ball weekly.
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