OU notepad: Gavin Sawchuk shakes off early struggles, scores critical TD

NORMAN — Things really couldn’t have started much worse for Gavin Sawchuk against UCF on Saturday.

On the Sooners’ first possession the redshirt freshman — making his first collegiate start — dropped a direct snap on second down, leading to a five-yard loss. On third down, he dropped a pass from Dillon Gabriel that hit him in the hands. Those two bad plays appeared to cost Sawchuk playing time, as he recorded just two more touches through the end of the third quarter.

But things turned around in the fourth quarter.

With the Sooners trailing 23-17, Sawchuk started the drive with 22 yards on three carries, which helped eventually lead to a Drake Stoops touchdown that gave the Sooners the lead. Later in the fourth quarter, Sawchuk busted off a 30-yard touchdown run that put the Sooners up 31-23 with 3:13 to go.

Sawchuk even hesitated before scoring, looking at the coaches on the sideline upon reaching the goal line as he considered kneeling down at the one-yard line to run more time off the clock.

“I wanted to be a team player,” Sawchuk said. “Sometimes there’s situations where you just want to slide down so you can take more time off the clock, help the defense out, (not) give the other team too much time,” Sawchuk said after the game. “Just looking at the sideline, making sure that it was the right decision to make, and it ended up being that.”

But Sawchuk eventually decided to score, and that touchdown proved critical in the Sooners’ 31-29 win over the Knights.

It was also a big moment for Sawchuk. The expectations were high for the Colorado native coming into the season after his big performance in last year’s bowl game, but a hamstring injury has kept him from making a big impact. In the first six games, Sawchuk had just 18 carries for 49 yards and a touchdown.

On Saturday, he finished with 10 carries for 63 yards and had the highest yards-per-carry average (6.3) of any OU rusher.

“It feels great,” Sawchuk said. “(It’s) a lot of confidence building, but also just the opportunity to be out there with the guys. It’s often you don’t have that time, even if you’re on the sidelines and injured, you don’t get to be out there and celebrating the same way as you do when you’re out there on the field. So, it was great to be out there, great to be with the guys and really celebrate that win.”

Now, it’s about building on that fourth-quarter performance. That late-game success helped the Sooners finish with decent rushing production (46 carries, 189 yards), but the team still averaged just 4.1 yards per carry.

Maybe Sawchuk’s performance helps him find his way on the field more in the coming weeks.

“Gavin we know can be a really explosive guy,” OU coach Brent Venables said. “He had some good, tough runs where he busted some tackles there late, and that’s what we all saw at Florida State. He battled a hamstring injury all summer and those hamstrings are funky, but good start for him and good moment for him to have some success. We need him.”

It’s important to note that Sawchuk’s increased involvement was related to the absence of Walker, who led all OU running backs in rushing yards and touchdowns coming into Saturday. Walker missed the game due to a “in-house suspension,” Venables said, but Walker is expected to be back for next weekend’s game against Kansas.

Walker’s absence also meant more opportunities for Major, who finished with team highs in carries (18) and rushing yards (82). But it was clear Major was not fully healthy on the field, and Venables said the running back is dealing with a “banged up” shoulder.

The Sooners might have put the Knights away earlier had they capitalized on opportunities. A big reason was Schmit, who missed field goals of 38 and 43 yards in the first quarter.

Schmit did eventually make a 25-yard attempt heading into halftime, which broke a streak of three straight misses. Schmit is now nine of 13 on attempts this season.

Despite the misses, Venables said the Sooners are still confident in Schmit.

“I got great confidence in Zack,” Venables said. “A little rough patch but I believe in him, I’ve seen him in practice over and over and over deliver. He came back after two misses and made one. We’ve got to be more consistent there. Same thing. There’s gonna be more tight games. I’ve got confidence that he’ll make them at the right time.