OU football rewind: Why Sooners' offense gets better when tight ends are involved
NORMAN — The tight end hasn’t exactly been a massive piece of the OU offense this season.
That’s been a big departure from last season, when Brayden Willis had 39 catches for 514 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns.
Saturday against West Virginia, tight end Austin Stogner played a key role, with a season-high four catches for 69 yards and his first touchdown of the season.
The second-quarter touchdown was big, but Stogner’s biggest catch might’ve been his 23-yard second-quarter reception.
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After Dillon Gabriel avoided a blitzing defender, then scrambled to open space before lofting a pass to Stogner for a 23-yard gain that ultimately helped set up the Sooners’ first touchdown.
“I felt like he had an opportunity to have a good day,” Sooners’ offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said after OU’s 59-20 win. “We had some things last week where he had a chance to have a good day and it didn’t work that way we wanted. I was proud of him for continuing to play. It was good to have.”
Sooners coach Brent Venables said getting the tight end more involved goes beyond Stogner’s numbers going up.
“You’re attacking the backers. Now they’ve got to be a little more controlled, if you will,” Venables said. “Run game, they can’t get as much downhill. And when you’re running them in behind them, or across their face, it does a lot in how they’re defending the run and the pass for that matter.”
Here’s more of what we learned from Saturday’s win:
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Top 5 players of the week
1. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel: Anytime you do something positive as a quarterback at OU that has never been done, that’s a big accomplishment. Gabriel’s eight touchdowns accounted for against West Virginia broke a record held by Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.
2. Wide receiver Drake Stoops: For a second consecutive week, Stoops set a career high in receiving yards with 164 and three touchdowns on 10 catches.
3. Defensive back Kendel Dolby: Dolby had three quarterback hurries, broke up a pass and had four tackles — three solo.
4. Running back Gavin Sawchuk: Sawchuk had another big game, with 22 carries for 135 yards against the Mountaineers. Sawchuk moved into second on the Sooners in rushing yards, behind only Tawee Walker.
5. Safety Billy Bowman: Bowman had seven tackles, including a team-high four solo, and tipped a pass that wound up being intercepted.
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Top 5 players of the season
1. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel: Gabriel moved into the top 10 in NCAA career passing yards against West Virginia, now throwing for 14,274 yards in his career. He’s thrown for 3,069 yards and 25 touchdowns this season with five interceptions and run for 337 yards and 11 touchdowns.
2. Linebacker Danny Stutsman: Stutsman remains the heart and soul of the Sooners’ defense, with a team-best 81 tackles — 13.5 for loss — with two sacks and an interception return for a touchdown.
3. Wide receiver Drake Stoops: Stoops leads the Big 12 with 62 catches and leads the Sooners with 692 receiving yards. His nine touchdowns are also a team-best.
4. Running back Tawee Walker: Walker missed the West Virginia game but still leads the Sooners with 442 yards, averaging 5.2 yards per carry.
5. Defensive end Ethan Downs: Downs has the most tackles of any OU defensive lineman at 25. Six-and-a-half of those have come for a loss, with a team-high 4.5 sacks.
Ryan Aber covers OU athletics for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Ryan? He can be reached at raber@oklahoman.com or on Twitter at @RyAber. Sign up for the OU Sooners newsletter to access more OU coverage. Support Scott’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com or by using the link at the top of this page.
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OU vs. BYU
KICKOFF: 11 a.m. Saturday at LaVell Edwards Stadium in Provo, Utah (ESPN)
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OU football offense gets better with Austin Stogner, tight ends in mix
