Miscues doom Sooners
Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables threw his hands up in the air and said he couldn’t explain it as an answer to a couple of questions following the game.
For everything Venables has preached about accountability and physicality and discipline, Saturday proved to be another occasion where the Sooners didn’t have enough of any of those traits in a 38-35 loss to visiting Baylor to fall to 5-4 overall and 2-4 in Big 12 play.
A game where neither side ever played off each other – complementary football. If the offense was on a roll, the defense was stumbling. When the defense rose to the task, then it was the offense taking a step back.
“We have to be more disciplined,” Venables said. “I’ve been talking about discipline for 11 months and being a more disciplined football team. It starts with coaches getting the players to play with more discipline and then the players in the moment playing with more discipline.”
After allowing less than three yards per carry at Iowa State last week, everybody knew this was going to be a real test. Baylor’s offense, specifically its running game, was going to let college football know whether the Sooners had really rebounded.
But OU had no answer for Sqwirl. Craig “Sqwirl” Williams rushed for 192 yards and two touchdowns as the Bears had 48 carries for 281 yards.
“We got caught out of some gaps,” Venables said. “They’re 4 of 13 on third downs I believe and 3 for 3 on fourth down. We got outplayed, outexecuted and outcoached in all those situations. We have to be better and not at just one thing. They were literally running the ball left and running it right and checking in and out of it regardless of where they’re sending the run.”
Williams put the game on ice with a 43-yard run on third-and-three with 2:06 left in the game. Williams could have scored a touchdown but opted to slide down on the turf so the Bears could get into victory formation and move to 6-3.
Turn the page to the offense, and it was an uncharacteristic turnover performance from quarterback Dillon Gabriel.
Gabriel threw three interceptions in the first half that turned into 10 points for Baylor.
“It’s a pretty short story for us, offensively,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said. “Three turnovers, fourth-down non-conversion, that’s four series in the first half where we put the defense in a bad position and we get no points.”
Gabriel was not made available for a postgame interview.
He finished 22-of-34 passing for 261 yards with two touchdowns and the three picks. He also rushed for 70 yards and another score.
For someone who has done such a great job of taking care of the football, just the wrong time for Gabriel to not be at his best.
“Time to move on,” wide receiver Marvin Mims said. “At the end of the day, we’re going to come in tomorrow, watch the film, talk about it, all that stuff. We’ve got West Virginia next week in Morgantown, so it’s not something that can be taken lightly especially a road game like that in those conditions. We’ve just got to move on, keep building.”
Baylor imposes its will
All the turnovers and all the issues, OU still had a chance to attempt to pull out a comeback victory. Running back Eric Gray scored his second touchdown of the game with 4:05 left to make it Baylor 38-35.
Nine plays, 63 yards, take a few knees and game over.
Baylor faced two third downs on the drive, with Blake Shapen completing a third-and-six pass for 14 yards, and then Williams ending it with the 43-yarder.
“That entire last drive was we had guys in the right spot but guys missing tackles,” linebacker DaShaun White said. “Nobody is going to be perfect. With the game on the line, everybody has to step up. It starts with me, starts with the leaders of this defense. We have to do a much better job.”
OU had two timeouts entering the possession but simply couldn’t get the job done to give Gabriel and the offense a chance.
Gray’s versatility a spark
Another week, another stellar outing from running back Eric Gray. He finished with 31 touches (23 carries, eight receptions) and showed what a workhorse he could be as OU didn’t have Jovantae Barnes for a second game in a row and Marcus Major was gutting out another performance.
Gray rushed for 106 yards and had 58 yards receiving.
“Eric did today what he’s done all year, whatever we’ve asked him to do,” Venables said. “He’s as consistent of a player as we’ve had. He’s a man with toughness. He’s always straining and he’s a very, very dependable player. It means a lot to him and he makes those plays when he gets his opportunities.”
Gray has been that type of runner all season, but he added catching out of the backfield against the Bears. Gray doubled the amount of catches of the next receiver, with eight grabs and Mims coming down with four.
“Just showing more of my game, showing more of what I could do,” Gray said. “If it's not there rushing, maybe I can get out and catch some passes. Loosen up the defense. So it's definitely helpful.”
Mims bounces back
Nobody was overly concerned with Mims, coming off the worst performance of his career last week at ISU. Gabriel and Lebby said they weren’t going to shy away from going to him, and Mims delivered.
He had four catches for 120 yards, including a 63-yard touchdown.
“The best thing about Marv is he’s consistent,” Lebby said. “We knew we were going to come back to him. We pushed it down the field to him. We put the ball in his hands and gave him the opportunity to make plays and he did that.”
Secondary thinned out
Just when it looked like OU was getting to full strength with its secondary, the Sooners lost two crucial pieces vs. the Bears.
Cornerback Jaden Davis went down in the first half and didn’t return. Then safety Key Lawrence was injured on the first play of the second half and never came back.
Despite missing practically an entire half, Lawrence was second on the team with nine tackles.
Safety Billy Bowman didn’t start, but he made his presence known as he continues to recover from his MCL injury.
Bowman had his first-career interception in the first half. But symbolic of the rest of the game, OU’s next drive resulted in one of Gabriel’s picks.