Grading OU's 66-17 win over Tulsa

TULSA — The Sooners walked into Chapman Stadium as 27-point favorites over Tulsa and left as 49-point victors.

Behind Dillon Gabriel’s explosive day through the air, and several early takeaways by the defense, the Sooners jumped out to a 28-0 lead in the first quarter. They rode that momentum to an easy win, closing out their non-conference record with a perfect 3-0 record.

As we look ahead to the start of Big 12 play against Cincinnati next week, here are the letter grades for the Sooners’ performance on both sides of the ball against Tulsa:

OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby dialed up big play after big play for Gabriel and the receivers.

On the first possession of the game — a two-play, 89-yard scoring drive — Gabriel found Andrel Anthony down the field for a 55-yard gain. On the next play, Gabriel found Jalil Farooq for a 34-yard touchdown.

That was only a sign of things to come. Gabriel averaged over 15 yards per completion and completed eight plays of over 25 yards or more. He finished with 421 passing yards while completing 28-of-31 attempts (90.3%) and adding five touchdowns. He also set a program record for completion percentage in a single game (minimum of 25 attempts).

It wasn’t just Gabriel that had success. Jackson Arnold found Nic Anderson for a 50-yard touchdown late in the third quarter. That was just one of three touchdowns on the day for Anderson, making him the first OU freshman to score three times in a single game.

Farooq (team-high 126 yards), Anderson (120 yards) and Anthony (112 yards) also became just the second OU trio to each have 100 yards in a single game. Drake Stoops led the team in receptions (8), setting a new career best for receptions in a single game. 11 different players recorded a reception.

Through three games, Gabriel has completed 82% of his passes. Simply put, the Sooners’ passing offense was fantastic on Saturday.

It’s been difficult to sort out the Sooners’ running back room through three weeks. That was particularly true against Tulsa.

On paper, the rushing offense was fine — 29 carries, 119 yards (4.3 yards per carry) and two touchdowns. But the Sooners’ offensive line struggled to get consistent push against Tulsa in the running game. As a result, Lebby relied on the passing game — in the first half, the Sooners attempted 22 passes and only 13 rushing attempts in a game they led by 24 at halftime.

Another quirk is how the carries were split. After neither saw the field much against SMU, the Sooners leaned heavily on Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk. Barnes (13 carries, 68 yards, 1 TD) had some success, but Sawchuk (9 carries, 25 yards, 1 TD) struggled to find running room. Tawee Walker, meanwhile, didn’t record a carry despite rushing 21 times for 117 yards against SMU.

It’s clear the Sooners are still trying to figure things out with the running back room.

It was quite the interesting day for the Sooners’ passing defense.

Tulsa, almost inexplicably, started Roman Fuller at quarterback. The OU defense responded by intercepting him three times in the first quarter. Gentry Williams picked him off on the first drive, Danny Stutsman intercepted him on the third drive and returned it for a 30-yard touchdown and Kendel Dolby capped it off with a pick on the fourth drive.

Key Lawrence and Trace Ford each picked off Cardell Williams in the second half. The Sooners finished the game with five interceptions, the most in a game since 2003.

However, the Sooners gave up a pair of passing touchdowns to Williams. On the first one, Reggie Pearson bit on Williams’ pass fake, leaving the TU receiver wide open for a 19-yard touchdown. On the other one, a defensive breakdown led to a wide-open 18-yard score.

The Sooners limited Tulsa to 217 passing yards and intercepted five passes. It’s hard to criticize that too much, but OU coach Brent Venables did say there are plenty of things to clean up in the secondary.

The Sooners’ rushing defense has been fantastic to start the season, and Saturday was no different. The Golden Hurricane ran the ball 46 times for just 75 yards (1.6 yards per game).

There’s no better indication than the Sooners’ 15 tackles for loss, their most in a game since 2019. Adepoju Adbowore led the effort with 2.5 TFLs, while Jaren Kanak and Stutsman had two each.

On the season, the Sooners are surrendering just 2.3 yards per carry and haven’t allowed a single rushing touchdown. That’s likely a sigh of relief for OU fans, considering the rushing defense was one of the worst in the country a year ago.

There will be much tougher competition in the weeks ahead. But the rushing defense has been encouraging thus far.

The only blip came when Farooq fumbled on the opening kickoff. However, he still ended up with over 100 return yards.

Otherwise, it was a routine day for the special teams. OU only punted once, and Zach Schmit made his only field goal on a 20-yard attempt before halftime.