Report Card: Defense flies high, offense stuck in a rut in 28-11 win over SMU
The offense didn’t put its best foot forward in the Sooners 28-11 win over SMU. However, the defense kept Oklahoma in control until the Sooners were able to put together a couple of late scoring drives to seal the win.
Oklahoma knows it will have to play better as the season wears on. They’ll need to improve in all three phases to be in the mix for a Big 12 title berth in November. But for this game, it was enough.
Instead of a shootout, we got a game where neither team even scratched 40 points.
Here’s how each position group graded out in the 28-11 win over SMU.
Quarterbacks: B
As many expected, the Sooners didn’t replicate the pure mastery at quarterback they had against Arkansas State. SMU had a number of upperclassmen who played hard, making moving the ball challenging for the Oklahoma offense.
Dillon Gabriel wasn’t nearly as crisp as he was in game one. But he stayed focused, avoided turnovers, and when the Sooners needed him most after the Mustangs brought the game to within three, he locked in.
In an immediate response, Gabriel went 6 of 8 for 88 yards with two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter. It helped show the growth of Gabriel, who worked hard all season to be a better performer in situational football.
Jackson Arnold saw time in designed QB run packages, which was a bit head-scratching to some. He rushed four times for 11 yards.
Oklahoma attempted just one pass beyond 20 or more yards, which fell incomplete. The Sooners had more attempts at completing deep passes in the first quarter against Arkansas State alone.
Hopefully, against Tulsa, Oklahoma can open up their playbook again, have things flow a bit easier, and produce more explosive plays.
Running Backs: B
Part of the reason the running backs are getting a C is that it feels as if there’s a disconnect with how to deploy their running backs.
After Jovantae Barnes’ performance as a freshman, it’s completely baffling that we would see less of him this year than we did in 2022. Marcus Major had some flashy plays in the second half against SMU but struggled to get anything going in the first.
Offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and running backs coach DeMarco Murray gave the bulk of the work to Tawee Walker. Walker rewarded the coaching staff’s faith with 117 yards on 21 carries. He averaged 5.6 yards per carry and 3.67 yards after contact. Walker was responsible for three runs of 10 or more yards, including the Sooners’ longest rush of the day for 30 yards.
Saturday was such an odd game for the Oklahoma running backs, but again, credit is due to Marcus Major for executing when his team needed the most despite previously not playing his best.
Offensive Line: C
After their opening game masterpiece, we hoped we’d see the offensive line build on that with an excellent follow-up performance against SMU.
The SMU defensive line proved much more challenging to move in the run game than anyone imagined. Tyler Guyton continued his strong start to the season with Pro Football Focus’ highest grade for an offensive lineman in this contest.
Andrew Raym posted the best pass-blocking grade. Savion Byrd had a rough go of it and was replaced mid-game by App State transfer Troy Everett. Byrd was not good in pass protection.
His performance may have been just some young player growing pains, but it will be interesting to see if he is starting when the Sooners take the field against Tulsa or if Bill Bedenbaugh has Everett take over that spot.
Wide Receivers: B+
Emmett Jones’ receivers did their part on Saturday. At times, they struggled to get free in press-man coverage, but ultimately it didn’t matter. Oklahoma’s conservative approach limited the wide receivers’ potential.
Andrel Anthony led the way with seven catches for 76 yards and a touchdown, while Jalil Farooq caught a slant off play action and shook a few defenders on the way in for a 21-yard score.
Neither Gavin Freeman, Jayden Gibson, or true freshman Jaquaize Pettaway had a catch after featuring heavily in the first game.
Again, the conservative, run-heavy approach would always negatively impact the receivers, and on Saturday, they did their best with what they were asked to do. On a separate but related note, run blocking also looked outstanding from these guys.
Tight Ends: C-
We spent the offseason wondering who would step up to help replace the lost production from Brayden Willis. We haven’t seen any of the tight ends come close to that.
Transfer tight end Blake Smith got on the stat sheet on Saturday as he scored his first touchdown as an Oklahoma Sooner.
Austin Stogner also reeled in his first catch since returning back to Oklahoma.
This group is a work in progress, and it’ll be interesting to see how they perform next week.
Defensive Line: B+
Last week, we were at a bit of a crossroads on how to judge the defensive line because Arkansas State was frequently in six, seven, or eight-man protections.
Well, the picture is slightly clearer after Oklahoma went up against SMU. This defensive line is pretty good. It’s hard to say it’s elite, but they did a great job against the veteran SMU offensive line. Four of Pro Football Focus’ top six grades on defense came from Jonah Laulu, R Mason Thomas, defensive tackle Jordan Kelley, and Ethan Downs.
Laulu and Kelley were disruptive in the middle, allowing Oklahoma to stymie the SMU rushing attack. The Sooners held the Mustangs to 3.4 yards per carry for a total of 117 yards.
Kelley, Laulu, Adepoju Adebawore, Rondell Bothroyd, Trace Ford, and Isaiah Coe recorded QB hurries. It felt like we saw some positive steps in the right direction for the guys up front.
Linebackers: A-
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Danny Stutsman played his best game as a Sooner on Saturday. He was so dominant that he was named Walter Camp National Defensive Player of the Week and Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week.
He earned PFF’s highest grade for a defender. Stutsman’s 17 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a sack, a quarterback hit, and recovery of Key Lawrence’s forced fumble made for one heck of a day.
The rest of the linebackers also provided some encouraging signs. Kip Lewis saw 19 snaps and was second on the team in total tackles with nine.
Jaren Kanak started to look a little more comfortable in the middle of the defense.
Justin Harrington did a terrific job at Cheetah on SMU tight end RJ Maryland. He also put the game on ice with an interception deep in the 4th quarter after a Preston Stone overthrow hit him in the chest.
Defensive Backs: B
Oklahoma’s secondary had to show up against SMU’s talented group of receivers. In the game’s aftermath, it’s safe to say we saw something different from this unit.
Peyton Bowen, a true freshman, is a player. He had a pass breakup on fourth down and blocked a punt early in the game. Kani Walker replaced and injured Gentry Williams and had a pass breakup.
The older safeties made some nice plays, like a Key Lawrence forced fumble on Jaylan Knighton. Billy Bowman had a pass breakup.
Special Teams: B
Zach Schmit didn’t have the opportunity to kick any field goals this week, but he was perfect on extra-point attempts. Luke Elzinga and Josh Plaster got to punt, and their five combined punts went for an average of 40.6 yards. Both punters had two punts downed inside the 20. They were an underrated but pivotal part of the game Saturday.
For the second week in a row, the special teams unit came up with a huge play when Billy Bowman blocked a first quarter punt. That put the Sooners in SMU territory and three plays later, Andrel Anthony was walking into the end zone for the Sooners’ first score of the day.
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