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OU football grades vs. West Virginia: Drake Stoops, 'Unity' uniforms shine for Sooners

joe mussatto, the oklahoman
·4 min read
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NORMAN — OU, coming off back-to-back losses, released its anger on West Virginia.

The poor Mountaineers were in the wrong place at the wrong time Saturday, and on the wrong end of OU’s 59-20 beatdown.

Let’s get to the grades.

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Drake Stoops, OU wide receivers

Grade: A+

The Sooner offense was humming on all fronts, but I’ll single out the wide receivers.

OU’s pass catchers ran wide open all night.

Five Sooners — Drake Stoops, Nic Anderson, Jalil Farooq, Austin Stogner and Jayden Gibson — had a catch of 20 yards or more.

Stoops was spectacular.

He had the catch-and-run of the day on OU’s first drive of the second half. He hauled in a catch near the sideline, tiptoed to stay in bounds and carried a couple of West Virginia defenders with him into the end zone for a touchdown.

It wasn’t Stoops’ last trip to the end zone. The former walk-on had three touchdown receptions on 10 catches for a career-high 164 receiving yards.

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Oklahoma's Drake Stoops (12) spikes the ball after scoring a touchdown in the second half of a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov., 11, 2023.
Oklahoma's Drake Stoops (12) spikes the ball after scoring a touchdown in the second half of a college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov., 11, 2023.

Gavin Sawchuk

Grade: A

The redshirt freshman has emerged as OU’s lead running back.

Sawchuk rushed for a season-high 135 yards — 107 of which came in the first half — a week after running for 111 yards against OSU in Bedlam.

Sawchuk averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

The Sooners out-rushed West Virginia 223 to 160.

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OU’s unity uniforms

Grade: A

OU’s alternate uniforms, with the word “unity” replacing last names on the back, honored Prentice Gautt, the first Black scholarship football player at OU.

The Sooners debuted the uniforms last season against Kansas.

The jerseys, pants and helmets were a dark gray, “anthracite” color with crimson trim.

One quibble: The crimson numbers were hard to read against the gray jerseys.

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Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables lines up with players before the college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov., 11, 2023.
Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables lines up with players before the college football game between the University of Oklahoma Sooners and the West Virginia Mountaineers at Gaylord Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman, Okla., Saturday, Nov., 11, 2023.

OU’s punt-return unit

Grade: F

The Sooners’ biggest special teams blunder, a muffed punt resulting from friendly fire, didn’t bite them.

In the second quarter, OU’s Kani Walker barreled into return man Gavin Freeman. The ball was jarred loose and West Virginia recovered.

What could’ve been a big momentum swing in WVU’s direction didn’t result in anything. After getting the ball back, the Mountaineers ended up missing a 48-yard field goal.

Freeman muffed a second punt, but this time he didn’t have an excuse. He dropped the ball but pounced on it before a Mountaineer could.

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Defending on third-and-fourth downs

Grade: A

OU’s defense bowed up when it mattered most.

The Sooners limited the Mountaineers to a 4-of-15 conversion rate on third down.

Early in the second quarter, OU linebacker Danny Stutsman stuffed West Virginia running back CJ Donaldson on third-and-1 for a one-yard loss. The Mountaineers went for it on fourth-and-2 near midfield, but Garrett Greene’s pass was broken up by OU linebacker Kobie McKinzie to force the turnover on downs.

OU’s defense made another statement stop, a goal line stand, two minutes before halftime.

After stuffing a tush push on second down, the Sooners stopped a run on third down and then sniffed out a shovel pass on fourth down.

OU’s offense took over at the 1-yard line.

OU’s defense added to its third-down highlight reel midway through the third quarter when Reggie Pearson intercepted Greene on third-and-long. The ball was tipped by Billy Bowman before landing in Pearson’s hands.

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Neal Brown as Mark Daigneault’s doppelganger

Grade: B-

A reader (@OKCOK1907) pointed out the resemblance, as did our guy Justin Martinez.

I think they might be onto something. It’s not a perfect resemblance, but it’s pretty close.

I’ll try to arrange the Daigneault-Brown meetup. I wonder if Brown knows more about Thunder basketball or Daigneault about West Virginia football.

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football grades vs. West Virginia: Drake Stoops shines for Sooners