Takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners impressive win over West Virginia
In Saturday’s 59-20 win over West Virginia, the Sooners were able to exorcise their demons from the last two weeks.
The offense was explosive through the air and on the ground. They attacked down the field as opposed to working at or behind the line of scrimmage.
Defensively, they looked like a better tackling team this week than either of the previous two weeks.
There are always going to be things to clean up from a game, but when you win 59-20, a lot of things went really right for the Oklahoma Sooners.
Here are this week’s takeaways from the game.
Drake Stoops is WR1
After Andrel Anthony was lost for the season, there was a thought that the Oklahoma Sooners would be just fine because of their wide receiver depth. However, nobody on the outside really stepped up. But in the last few weeks, as he’s gotten more and more opportunities, it’s clear that Drake Stoops is the top target in the passing game.
In the win over West Virginia, Drake Stoops set a new career high for the second week in a row with 164 receiving yards and three touchdowns. He had 10 receptions for his second double-digit catch game in a row.
Prior to last week, his previous high in receptions was eight, and yardage was 93. The three touchdowns marked just the second multi-touchdown game of his career.
Since the bye week (five games), Drake Stoops has recorded 33 receptions for 434 yards and five touchdowns. Notably, his yardage numbers have increased each week.
Jeff Lebby and Dillon Gabriel have found their No. 1 target in the passing game.
Dillon Gabriel is that dude
In the first quarter, Dillon Gabriel looked a little erratic. He was underthrowing the short stuff and throwing behind receivers. In the first, Gabriel was just 4 of 8 for 60 yards.
Over the final three quarters, Gabriel completed 68% of his passes for 363 yards and three touchdowns.
18 of his 23 completions either went for a first down or a touchdown. He came up big in the passing game, and then when asked to run, he was nearly unstoppable.
Gabriel finished the day with 423 yards, five touchdowns, and completed 64% of his passes. He also ran for 50 yards and three scores.
Defensive Response
The West Virginia Mountaineers started the game with a strong statement. Led by Garrett Greene and C.J. Donaldson, the Mountaineers orchestrated an eight-play, 75-yard touchdown drive to open the game.
And then the Sooners defense responded.
West Virginia’s next six drives went…
3 plays, -2 yards, punt
3 plays, -1 yard, punt
4 plays, 3 yards, missed field goal (after Gavin Freeman muffed punt)
4 plays, 8 yards, turnover on downs (after a long WVU kick return)
3 plays, 5 yards, punt
8 plays, 74 yards, turnover on downs (goal line stand)
The Mountaineers had four shots with first and goal at the three-yard line and Oklahoma stopped them dead in their tracks. Garrett Greene gained two yards on first down, but WVU couldn’t gain another yard and turned it over to the Sooners.
Dating back to the Texas game, the Oklahoma Sooners defense has shown a ton of resiliency. They battle. They’re tough. They have a never-say-die attitude.
All season long, the defense has shown signs of improvement. Again, in their win over West Virginia, the defense is proving they’re on the right track.
Austin Stogner Sighting
When Brent Venables mentioned earlier in the week that a position group had to be better, the speculation was he was talking about the tight end position.
Led by Austin Stogner and Blake Smith, the position hadn’t really done much for the Sooners. In the passing game, he was nonexistent. As a blocker, it felt like he struggled.
In the win, Stogner had his best game of the season. He caught four passes for 69 yards and a touchdown. Had Stogner and Gabriel been able to connect in other moments, Stogner could have had an even bigger game.
Still, it was nice to see the veteran tight end provide something in the passing game. Through nine games, Stogner had 10 receptions for 91 yards and just one game with more than one reception.
Defending the QB Run Game
West Virginia came into this game with the No. 7 rushing offense in the country. They were averaging 218 yards per game on the ground at 4.8 yards per carry.
C.J. Donaldson and Jaheim White had solid days, combining for 118 yards on 23 carries (5.1 yards per carry).
Meanwhile, Garrett Greene didn’t have much success on the ground. He ran for 23 yards on 10 carries. Greene was able to break containment a couple of times, but generally, the Sooners were in good position to keep Green from killing them softly with his legs.
That’s a sign of improved discipline on the defensive side of the ball. They were simply
Gavin Sawchuk has solidified RB1 role
Gavin Sawchuk has gotten the start at running back each of the last two weeks and he’s run for more than 100 yards each of the last two weeks. In both games, he’s created big plays on the ground. Even though he didn’t score this week, he had a big run that put Oklahoma first and goal inside the five-yard line, which led to a score.
It’s obvious he’s getting more comfortable in the offense now that he’s had weeks of practice and significant playing time. On Saturday, he set career highs in attempts and rushing yards.
Sawchuk’s Sooners’ career might have been off to a slow start, but he’s putting things together for Oklahoma’s stretch run.
Jeff Lebby: With a Vengence
Jeff Lebby hasn’t been a bad offensive coordinator. In fact, despite the struggles, he’s been good. The Sooners have put up good numbers, but at times, the playcalling felt disjointed. It felt like it had little rhyme or reason.
In this win, the Sooners played better than they had in previous weeks, but Lebby minimized the use of the wide receiver screen game and jet sweeps and allowed Dillon Gabriel to attack the intermediate part of the field more, with great success.
Lebby established the run with Gavin Sawchuk and built off of that with the RPO game and with play-action. Last week, Dillon Gabriel wasn’t involved much in the running game. This week, that returned to the offense and Gabriel rewarded his offensive coordinator.
Dillon Gabriel has been this team’s best player in 2023. That’s why it was so frustrating to see the ball taken out of his hands. But on this day, Jeff Lebby let Gabriel cook, and that led to a historic day.
According to OU Athletics, the Sooners recorded nine pass plays and five runs of 20 yards or more. Both of which were season highs. Oklahoma’s 644 total yards were the highest output for the offense this season. The previous high came back in week 1 against Arkansas State where they produced 642 total yards.
The last time Oklahoma had more than 500 total yards was the week 5 win over Iowa State. That was also the last time Oklahoma scored more than 35 points in a game.
Jeff Lebby was on a mission on Saturday and all you can really say is mission accomplished.
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Transfer Portal Gem
Due to the nature of the position he plays, Da’Jon Terry’s contributions can be minimized or go unnoticed. But he’s been fantastic for the Oklahoma Sooners in their goalline and short-yardage situations. On Saturday, the Sooners faced first and goal at the three yard line.
Garrett Greene gained two yards on first down, but over the next three plays, the Sooners defense stonewalled the Mountaineers to keep WVU from scoring.
Good defense requires good play from every unit. At the same time, having a presence like Da’Jon Terry in the middle of the defensive line makes things a lot easier for everyone.
