Dillon Gabriel plays, dominates in Sooners' blowout win over TCU

NORMAN — There was a lot of speculation about whether Dillon Gabriel would play against TCU on Friday. The redshirt senior missed the second half of last week's win over BYU with what OU coach Brent Venables called an "upper-body injury."

But it became pretty clear during pregame warmups that he was going to play. Two minutes into the game, it became pretty clear that he felt fine, too.

Gabriel launched a deep throw to Nic Anderson for a 50-yard gain on the team's first play. Two plays later, he scored on an eight-yard touchdown to give the Sooners an early 7-0 lead.

That was just the beginning of what was to come in the Sooners' 69-45 win over TCU.

Gabriel completed 14-of-23 attempts for 278 yards and two touchdowns — in the first half. He finished the game with 400 passing yards and four total scores.

In the first two quarters alone, he completed three passes of 50 yards or more, marking the first time the Sooners had three such plays in a game since 2019 against Texas Tech.

There were absolutely no restrictions on Gabriel, as OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby dialed up passing play after passing play. Ten of the Sooners' first 13 plays were passing attempts, and Gabriel finished the game averaging 16.7 yards per completion.

It was one of Gabriel's best performances as a Sooner, and it came on Senior Day in a must-win game. It was great overall performance for the offense, which finished with 607 total yards.

Here's a look at the good, the bad and the big-picture takeaways from the Sooners' win:

Jayden Gibson's makes the highlight play of the game: It almost seemed like time froze for a second.

Gabriel launched another deep ball down field and found Gibson down the right sideline. Gibson proceeded to push his way to the goal line despite dragging a defender, who was also pulling his jersey. The sophomore then proceeded to point at fans in the stands before he even crossed the goal line.

It was a bizarre, impressive 59-yard touchdown that put the Sooners up by a touchdown. He finished the game with two receptions for 76 yards. It marks Gibson's second-straight game with a touchdown of 25 yards or more.

Gibson hasn't played a ton of snaps this season — he logged 168 snaps all season coming into the game, an average of just over 15 per game, per Pro Football Focus — but he's been reliable, posting a catch rate of 73%. It appears the issues with dropping passes are in the past.

Gavin Sawchuk continues to get it done: The redshirt freshman made his sixth-consecutive start and again paid it off for the Sooners. He ran for 130 yards on 22 carries, adding two touchdowns. That marks the fourth straight game for Sawchuk with over 100 rushing yards while averaging at least 5.9 yards per carry. Tawee Walker also had a solid day with 29 yards and a touchdown on five carries.

Drake Stoops gets a proper sendoff: The game just wouldn't have felt right without a touchdown from No. 12, right?

OU fans did have to wait for a bit. But it finally came late in the fourth quarter, when Gabriel found him for a nine-yard score. Stoops finished the game with a team-high 12 receptions for 125 yards. It's the third time in four games that Stoops has had both 10 or more receptions, 125 yards or more and a touchdown.

It was a fitting end to the sixth-year senior's tenure at Owen Field.

On the season, Stoops now has 78 receptions, 880 yards and 10 touchdowns.

Zach Schmit gets back on track: The struggling kicker received a nice ovation in the fourth quarter after drilling a 40-yard field goal that put the Sooners up by 17 points. Schmit also made a 23-yard attempt in the third quarter, finishing the day with two makes on two attempts. He's now 2 of 4 on field goals of 40 yards or more this season.

Schmit had made just four of his last eight attempts coming into the game.

Billy Bowman does it again: It's hard to know what's more impressive — the fact that Bowman snagged his sixth interception of the season, or the return that solidified his third pick-six.

You be the judge.

Bowman now has twice as many interceptions as any Sooner this season.

OU's defense: It just wasn't a pretty performance for the Sooners.

TCU wracked up 45 points, marking the most points OU has given up in any game this season, and the Horned Frogs did it while routinely gashing the Sooners. The Horned Frogs gained 520 yards — the most the Sooners have surrendered this season — and 176 yards on the ground, averaging 6.1 yards per carry.

The Sooners particularly struggled in the second half. The Horned Frogs opened the third quarter with three consecutive touchdown drives of 78, 74 and 76 yards, respectively. TCU averaged 11 yards per carry in the second half alone. The Sooners were particularly bad at defending against explosive plays, surrendering seven plays of 25 yards or more.

There were good moments. In additions to Bowman's interception, the Sooners forced five possessions without a first down. But it was a discouraging performance, especially considering the struggles they had against BYU.

Gavin Freeman's struggles continue: The sophomore again muffed a punt in the first quarter while attempting to wrangle a ball that bounced several times. The Horned Frogs recovered it and scored a few plays later. That marked his fourth muffed punt in 17 attempts.

— The Sooners finish the regular season with a 10-2 record and 7-2 Big 12 record, a marked improvement over last season's 6-7 campaign. The Sooners also finished the season undefeated at home, marking the program's 59th perfect home season.

— All attention now turns to tonight's Texas-Texas Tech game (6:30 p.m. ABC) and Saturday's Oklahoma State-BYU game (2:30 p.m. ABC). The Sooners need either Texas or Oklahoma State to lose to clinch a spot in the Big 12 title game.

— Friday marked the final home game for the Sooners as a member of the Big 12. When next season's home opener comes around, they'll be in the Southeastern Conference.