Oklahoma CB D.J. Graham comes up with the interception of the year

Oklahoma cornerback D.J. Graham totaled more than 2,000 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns in high school, and he was ranked the No. 13 athlete in the nation by Rivals, and No. 27 by 247Sports. Graham chose the Sooners over Baylor, Georgia, LSU and Ohio State, among other schools, and in the most ridiculous play of the college football season so far, you can see every aspect of this in one particular play on Saturday.

When Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez rolled to his right on fourth-and-17 from the Oklahoma 24-yard line with 8:16 left in the game, and Martinez threw one up hoping for a completion, Graham put himself in a position that isn’t generally allowable by either physics or gravity, and came up with the most amazing interception we’ve seen this season at any level of football.

Oklahoma quarterback Spencer Rattler’s reaction says it all.

Coming into this game, per Pro Football Focus, Graham had allowed 16 receptions on 32 targets for 143 yards, 41 yards after the catch, no touchdowns, one interception, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 49.3 over 216 coverage snaps in 2020 and 2021. That interception should count for at least two on his stat pages from now on.

“Great play by D.J. there, though I wish it would have been incomplete,” Sooners head coach Lincoln Riley said after the game, a 23-16 win for Oklahoma. “It would have saved us about 20 yards of field position. But hats off; the D was awesome today.”

With all due respect to Coach Riley, when you have the opportunity to make a play like that, you make it. To heck with situational football.