Folks, Dillon Gabriel set a school record on Saturday.

You’re entitled to your own opinions on how good Dillon Gabriel is as a football player, and without question, that debate will rage on (a la Landry Jones) for decades among Oklahoma football fans.

But there are two things you can’t take away from Gabriel: his magnificent final drive in the 2023 Red River Showdown to beat Texas, and his school-record eight total touchdowns on Saturday night in Norman. That’s not a cheap record, either. That’s not a record established against some useless FCS nonconference opponent on a 100-degree day in early September. Gabriel utterly torched a Big 12 program that came into Norman one very unfortunate Hail Mary away from being 7-2.

And what’s more, he did it on a night where he quite obviously didn’t have his best stuff.

Gabriel missed numerous throws throughout the evening, and was off-target rather regularly during the first half of play. He one-hopped his very first throw of the night. He sailed a pass to Austin Stogner that might have gone for six. He was nearly intercepted on a ball he threw well behind Nic Anderson.

Yet on a night where Jeff Lebby could have perceived those imperfections in Gabriel’s play and leaned more heavily on the run, he continued to air the ball out with his southpaw quarterback. And when the smoke cleared, Gabriel had gone where no Sooner had gone before, racking up five touchdowns through the air and three more on the ground to shatter Baker Mayfield’s previous mark of seven total TD’s (2016 at Texas Tech).

There are three, maybe four games left in the Dillon Gabriel era at the University of Oklahoma. And I think that begs the question: how will this era be remembered? In the grand scheme of things, the Sooners didn’t — and likely won’t — win anything of great consequence with Gabriel at the helm. And given the wondrous standard of his predecessors like Mayfield and Kyler Murray and Jalen Hurts, perhaps Gabriel lacks the flash to have a lasting impression in Sooner lore.

But don’t let a subjective interpretation of “the standard” cloud your perception of Gabriel. Because by most anyone’s standard, he’s played phenomenal football over the course of his two years as the inaugural starting quarterback of the Brent Venables era. He’s probably not going to New York City for the Heisman ceremony next month, as that dream officially died in Stillwater when Drake Stoops was tackled short of the sticks. But on the heels of a statistically solid (albeit unspectacular) 2022 campaign, his 2023 season has been fantastic in every capacity. He’s hitting on 70 percent of his passes this season, and is fourth in the nation with an 86.1 QBR. He’s got 25 touchdown passes to just five interceptions. And don’t look now, but his eleven rushing touchdowns are tied for second-most in the nation by a quarterback (Jalen Milroe has 12 and a guy by the name of Caleb Williams also has 11).

Gabriel isn’t the Ronnie James Dio to Oklahoma’s Black Sabbath. He’s not just another Trevor Knight who had his day as a starter, even if that’s how some fans addled by their cherry-picked memories of impeccable quarterback play might portray him. It’ll never be possible for him to occupy the same conversations as Mayfield, Murray, Hurts, Sam Bradford and Jason White. But his performance yesterday against West Virginia helps ensure that his on-field accomplishments will always have their place in the annals of Sooner history. But even more so than what he’s accomplished on the field, Gabriel ought to be remembered for being three things: the foundational signal-caller of the Venables regime, a model leader and figurehead amidst a period of vast change, and a passionate competitor and teammate who never let his physical limitations place constraints on his style of play.

Gabriel deserved that game and that record on Saturday, and it’s a record that will likely stand for a long, long time.

With that, let’s get wild.

— I might be pissed, but I am not as pissed as McKade Mettauer was last night. And he had good reason to be pissed. Let’s review the sequence of events…

1) Drake Stoops catches a touchdown pass, taking a piercing shot from Anthony Wilson in the process.

2) Wilson stands over Stoops and lingers, which leads Dillon Gabriel to come to the aid of his favorite receiver and best friend. Gabriel scraps with a couple Mountaineers and ends up on the ground, at which point it appears as though Wilson either spits at Gabriel or fires a few choice words his way. Gabriel springs to his feet as Austin Stogner and Nic Anderson enter the fray, and a melee ensues. Brent Venables and several other members of the Oklahoma staff come sprinting from the sidelines to help restore order.

3) The officiating crew reviews the play, and there is no foul assessed for targeting.

4) On the ensuing extra point, Mettauer gives Wilson a couple extracurricular shoves, jawing all the while. Referees flag Mettauer for not one, but two unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, which jointly earn him an early trip to the showers. Mettauer gets a supportive fist bump from university president Joseph Harroz as he walks off the field.

To say nothing of two phantom pass interference calls that led to a West Virginia touchdown late in the first half, Big 12 referees are an embarrassment. McKade Mettauer should not have been ejected. But especially given that the Sooners already led 52-20 at the time, the nature of the circumstances that led to his disqualification only further served to galvanize the team and the fanbase against Brett Yormark’s operation. Chants of “S-E-C! S-E-C!” were rampant throughout the second half of play.

— Gavin Freeman has been nothing but reliable as a punt returner for Oklahoma this season; however, he appeared to have a case of the yips last night. Though it didn’t prove all too costly in the end, Freeman muffed not one, but two punts. West Virginia recovered the first muff, but Freeman managed to get on top of the second one, preventing a turnover that would have set the Mountaineers up inside the Oklahoma red zone. Special teams continues to be a vulnerability for the Sooners, and evidently, no one is immune. Freeman hadn’t had an issue handling a punt all season. Would it have cost Oklahoma in any significant fashion? Probably not, but it’s still somewhat alarming.

— For years, even decades, we will look back on the 2023 season for the Oklahoma Sooners and wonder what in the world happened for a three-game stretch after the bye week. When this team is playing well, they’re capable of beating anybody in the nation save for Georgia and perhaps Michigan. The team that showed up to Owen Field last night is a CFP-caliber team. That was the team we saw for the first six games of the regular season. It’s as if the Sooners collectively have a dissociative personality disorder, because the team we saw in the three games prior to last night’s contest was thoroughly unrecognizable. Oklahoma’s early-season victory over SMU looks more and more impressive by the week, as does their dismantling of an Iowa State team that could still play in the Big 12 championship game. So the perpetual question burns: why did the Sooners look like a shell of themselves for the most crucial three-game stretch of the year, the stretch that would define their season? I don’t have an answer. I have theories, as do each of you. But none of it quite adds up to a satisfactory explanation.

— Drake Stoops talked the talk on Monday and then walked the walk on Saturday. After adamantly proclaiming that there was still a great deal ahead of Oklahoma in the 2023 season despite a two-game losing skid, Stoops followed up his career day in Stillwater with another career day before the Sooner faithful. He logged 12 receptions for 134 yards and a touchdown in the Sooners’ Bedlam loss, dropped the soundbite of the year 48 hours later, and then popped off for 164 yards and three touchdowns on 10 catches last night. One of those scores covered 60 yards, and featured Stoops weaving his way through downfield traffic and dragging a pair of Mountaineer defenders for the final five yards to get across the goal line. Buoyed by his two straight standout performances, Stoops now leads Oklahoma in receptions (62), yards (692) and touchdowns (9). There is a world in which Stoops cracks the 1,000-yard threshold by season’s end, which would be one hell of a swan song for the guy that so many regard as the consummate Sooner. He’s earned everything he’s ever been given at Oklahoma, and that includes your respect and admiration — apparently unless you’re the Lost Ogle, which hasn’t been a viable source of entertainment since Dean Blevins took a whiz on the air in like 2007. Don’t be like the Lost Ogle. Support the Stoops.

— Gavin Sawchuk was awesome! He was awesome. It took nine games, but the Sooners may actually have found themselves a true bell-cow back. Up until this point, I was all aboard the Tawee Walker bandwagon, because despite his obvious limitations, he had been the Sooners’ most stable option. But he wasn’t — and isn’t — a complete back. Sawchuk looked like a complete back last night, rushing for 135 yards on 22 carries. Daylan Smothers logged two totes for six yards, and Walker had one carry for a loss of two yards. Neither Marcus Major nor Jovantae Barnes touched the field. Sawchuk turned in a performance reminiscent of his breakout Cheez-it Bowl showing, as he demonstrated both the ability to break away for chunk gains with speed and the ability to forge ahead for extra yards with power. Dillon Gabriel stole the show with his eight total touchdowns, but you would be exceedingly naive to think that Sawchuk’s performance out of the backfield didn’t make life significantly easier for Gabriel through the air.

— Danny Stutsman’s return was a boon for the Oklahoma defense, but Kip Lewis is quickly becoming a superstar alongside Stutsman in the center of the Sooner defense. Entering the year, many (including me) had Stutsman and Jaren Kanak pegged as the clear-cut starters at linebacker. And to be fair, they were the clear-cut starters for some time. But Lewis’ play has made it near impossible to deny him the lion’s share of the snaps that once belonged to Kanak, who hasn’t lived up to his billing over the last few games and has looked lost at times. As Kanak has scuffled, Lewis has improved every single week and has displayed a particular propensity to blow up run plays in the hole. He continues to showcase tremendous instinct, plus the natural nose for the football that coaches and fans covet in linebackers. Brent Venables said before the season that he’d come to refer to Stutsman and Kanak as “Frick and Frack.” I submit that Lewis has earned his place alongside his two compatriots in a uniquely labeled trio. For my fellow How I Met Your Mother fans, how about referring to them as R2D2, C3PO, and the robot Luke’s uncle almost bought from the Jawas?

In this new addition to the column, Parker’s father, a known OU football doomer and Uncle Rico-esque former high school quarterback, speaks via in-game text messages on behalf of the fans who tend towards a nonconformist perspective on the Sooners.

When the Lebby Breaks: Why did it take us getting humiliated for two games in order for Lebby to find the playbook… It’s obvious that when we run an aggressive playmaking offense we score points… This was the team we had the potential to be all season… We have the playmakers… But you have to call the plays… If you want something to analyze… Lebby’s 1st down play call on the goal line on our first touchdown IS the problem with Lebby’s playcalling… Zone read hand off to Sawchuk… Utterly predictable… Everybody in the stadium knew it was coming… Congrats to DG and Stoops… Those guys balled out tonight… Fun to watch… I still predict we lose one of our next two games

BigHomieJay: Was there no pass rush by design or scheme? I mean WV OL cant be that good

This is not rhetorical, BigHomieJay. I ask this in all sincerity. Did you watch the game? Because it’s easy to look at the box score, see zero sacks and wonder why Oklahoma didn’t get after the quarterback. But I think for those that watched the game start to finish, it was apparent that the Sooners did put consistent pressure on Garrett Greene. They made his life difficult. They may not have sacked him, but that doesn’t mean the pass rush was nonexistent. To Greene’s credit, he did a good job extending plays and getting the ball out before the Sooners’ rush could get home. I would liken it to the SMU game back in early September, when the Sooners didn’t record a sack of Preston Stone but most certainly kept him under duress all night. I thought the OU front seven did a good job against Greene and the West Virginia front. The fact that they didn’t record a sack doesn’t change my opinion.

Sooner_JJ: What do you think sparked the sudden interest in looking for the TE in the passing game? Stogner was targeted 6 times and effective in the passing game.

Indeed, Austin Stogner had by far his best game of the season, reeling in four passes for 69 yards and his first touchdown as a Sooner since Nov. 27, 2021. I don’t think there was sudden interest in looking for the TE; I think Stogner just found ways to get open. I also think Sawchuk’s performance helped in that regard, because when a defense has to account for a dangerous back, it can expose vulnerabilities in the middle of the field. Stogner could have had an even bigger day than he did, as Dillon Gabriel missed him on a couple other throws that might have gone for touchdowns. But nonetheless, it was encouraging to see the veteran get more involved in the passing game and to find the end zone again. I think if Sawchuk remains atop the pecking order in the backfield and dominates the carries, Stogner could continue to enjoy an expanded role and more space to operate.

Mattdj2002: We saw what happens when Lebby gets rid of the cute and calls his offense. Why wait until two embarrassing losses and three games of awful calls to simply do what works?

I don’t know, Matt. I wish I did. I’ve been screaming for Lebby to stick with what works ever since the UCF game. There was never any reason to try and reinvent the wheel. It’s clear what works for this offense. All they have to do in order to find success is 1) feed the rock to the same running back on a regular basis to soften up the defense, and 2) let Dillon Gabriel fling the ball downfield to his most athletic playmakers. If Lebby had approached each of the last four games with those objectives, the Sooners are probably 10-0 right now instead of 8-2.

eboeboebo23: You ever read any Dante? If so, which circle of hell should be reserved for Big 12 officials and what happens to them there?

I do not wish hell upon any human being. But Big 12 officials deserve a good tarring and feathering. Some forms of medieval punishment ought to become commonplace in society once again. The public humiliation of a tarring and feathering seems like fitting retribution for Big 12 officials.

GoatRoper98: Early list of ATM recruits and transfers to watch for please.

I know you all are reveling in Jimbo Fisher’s dismissal and Texas A&M’s wildly licentious spending habits, but this is a postgame column. We will discuss the A&M situation later in the week. There are many days ahead with which we can speculate as to the scope of the mushroom cloud in College Station.

bpatrick31: Chances OU sneaks in the Big 12 Title Game and heads to Arlington?

Right now? The odds are still low. Jonathon Brooks’ ACL injury should make Texas a bit more vulnerable next weekend as they hit the road to face Iowa State, but even if the Longhorns drop that contest, you get a bunch of wild tiebreaker scenarios that come into play depending on the exact circumstances at season’s end. For Oklahoma, the easiest and most straightforward path is as follows: Oklahoma State loses to Houston, Texas beats Iowa State and Kansas beats Kansas State. At that point, it would set up an OU/Texas rematch in Arlington, and no tiebreakers would be necessary.

UnhitchtheWagon14: What’s up with Guyton? How did you think Sexton played in his place?

I’m not going to get too deep into the weeds on what exactly is wrong with Guyton, but suffice it to say that I don’t expect him to be out for a prolonged period of time. All things considered, Sexton did an admirable job filling in, especially given that he’s been working primarily at left tackle this season. To switch sides and effectively have to reverse all your footwork and muscle memory — in the span of a few days, at that — is a tall task, and he handled it just about as well as one could have asked him to.

SoonerSteve1: Gentry? Walker not cutting it.. getting better but a liability.

I agree wholeheartedly. There is a world of difference between an Oklahoma secondary that prominently features Gentry Williams, and an Oklahoma secondary that prominently features Kani Walker. I would like to see Jasiah Wagoner or even Jacobe Johnson get more run at the other cornerback spot, because Walker looks like a fish out of water at times. Williams dressed but didn’t play, which would suggest that he’s not too terribly injured and should be back to full speed soon. In the meantime, the Sooners have to figure out who they can trust at the other corner spot opposite Woodi Washington, because I don’t think Walker is the droid you’re looking for. Is that two Star Wars references in one column??

West Virginia head coach Neal Brown, on Drake Stoops: "Drake Stoops is a hell of a football player… He's one of those kids that you don't appreciate when you're playing him, but you turn on the tape and he's a hell of a player... He's going to play in the NFL."

Never did I imagine I would find myself comparing Neal Brown to the Lost Ogle, but here we are. One is a Power 5 football coach and one is a faceless Twitter account with a niche following. One, and only one, has an opinion that actually carries weight. Drake Stoops is an NFL football player, and it’s invigorating to hear it from an opposing coach who doesn’t need to go that far out of his way to praise him.

Dillon Gabriel, on the fourth-quarter scuffle: “Yeah, it’s football. It’s competitive. If you want to watch tennis or something that’s not as competitive, you can flip the channel… That’s what you sign up for. It’s a competitive environment.”

As the star quarterback was walking off the podium, Oklahoma’s sports information director joked that the OU tennis program had gathered on the other side of the door to confront Gabriel, whereupon he quickly apologized and said he meant no offense. If nothing else, we know he will not be dining on strawberries and cream as a guest of honor at Wimbledon any time soon.

Drake Stoops, on McKade Mettauer’s ejection: “We just got done in the locker room and he apologized. He just got lost in an emotional moment. Emotions kind of hijacked him. And that’s not who he is and that’s not the type of player he is, and we all know that… I appreciate him always having my back.”

The only mistake McKade Mettauer made was apologizing, and I’ll stand by that opinion. It’s a different conversation if he takes a needless cheap shot or swings on Anthony Wilson. All he did was get up in his face and let him know his BS wouldn’t be tolerated. That’s worthy of respect, and even if he was compelled to apologize, it’ll certainly earn him some brownie points with his teammates in the locker room.

Jeff Lebby, on the criticism he’s faced recently: “That noise has no effect on my day-to-day. It takes none of my focus, my energy, my joy, what I’m trying to get done with our unit and our guys every single day.”

Good for Leb. He deserved this one, and it felt like he was coaching with a little bit of an extra edge on Saturday. Sending Dillon Gabriel out with a 52-20 lead is pretty tangible evidence of that. Lebby again showed that when he’s in his bag, he’s an excellent playcaller. Now if he could just stay in that bag on a consistent basis, it would no doubt save Sooner Nation a few hundred thousand dollars of blood-pressure medication.

Brent Venables, on what a championship team looks like: “Through seven weeks, we hadn’t even played a complete game [despite] being 7-0. That’s what my eyes told me. And when we put it all together, we can be pretty dang good.”

What’s the closest this team has come to playing a complete game? If it wasn’t last night against West Virginia, it was probably Iowa State at the end of September. Playing four quarters of complete, relentless football is hard. It’s what separates teams like Georgia from teams like LSU. It’s one thing to dominate in spurts; it’s another thing to do it for 60 minutes without letting off the gas. It’s the difference between a team that can win a New Year’s Six bowl and a team that can win a title. And that’s why Oklahoma is a top-15 team and not much more at the moment. It’s because they can play dominant football, but only in herky-jerky, stop-and-start fashion.

— Former Oklahoma offensive lineman Sherrone Moore, now the pseudo-interim coach at Michigan in Jim Harbaugh’s pseudo-absence, led the Wolverines to a gutty road win at Penn State yesterday to keep their record unscathed. After the game, he shed tears, cursed multiple times on live television, and dedicated the victory to Harbaugh. I’m wondering if Harbaugh has indoctrinated the Wolverines into a cult-like loyalty that comes attached to an alternate version of reality. This is now the second time this season that Michigan has done something that might well have led one without sufficient context to believe Harbaugh died. In the season opener, as Harbaugh was serving a suspension unrelated to the sign-stealing scandal that has engulfed Michigan football, the team lined up for their first offensive snap with four fingers held aloft (Harbaugh’s former jersey number at Michigan). Now we have Sherrone Moore bawling on national TV, pointing to the camera and blurting, “This one’s for you!” Perhaps Harbaugh is indeed a cult leader, or perhaps he’s just been giving his team and staff a crash course from the Kirby Smart School of Manufactured Adversity. If the latter is the case, maybe I ought to throw a few bucks down on Michigan to win the national title.

— In presumably its final year of existence, the Pac-12 is a better football conference than it has been in years. And is there anyone whose best-laid plans have been brought to ruin by this reality quite like Lincoln Riley? In his career as a head ball coach, Riley had never lost more than twice in a season before making the move to USC. After a respectable 11-3 campaign in his first year with the Trojans, Riley has now lost four of his last five games, with a 50-49 squeaker over Cal representing the only victory in that stretch. USC is 7-4 and sits fifth in the Pac-12, with virtually no hope of playing in a bowl game that anyone cares about. Alex Grinch has been fired, but his legacy lives on, as Oregon quarterback Bo Nix’s first two pass attempts on Saturday went for touchdowns of 77 and 84 yards. USC is a debacle, and absent Caleb Williams, they may very well be the worst team in the entire Pac-12. Take Williams off the 2023 roster and it’s hard to figure that the Trojans would have a conference win right now. The Sooners’ detested ex-coach made a series of moves this offseason to try and push for a national championship in what is almost certainly Williams’ final year of college football. Instead, here in mid-November, the Alamo Bowl looks like the moon for that program. Of late, Riley’s avocado toast has been accompanied by a side of crow, and his oatmilk latte served with a splash of karma. Sooner fans would have it no other way.

— Sonny Dykes had never lost a game to the Texas Longhorns going into the weekend, and his TCU squad very nearly caused utter chaos in the race for the Big 12 championship last night in Fort Worth. Texas jumped out to a 26-6 lead at the half, but come the waning minutes of the game, that margin had dwindled to 29-26. All TCU had to do to regain possession with a chance to tie or win the football game was get off the field on third-and-12. In essence, all they had to do was not let one of Texas’ outstanding receivers beat them deep. Guess what, MF? Adonai Mitchell got behind the Frog secondary and hauled in a bomb from Quinn Ewers, giving the Longhorns a new set of downs and enabling them to run out the clock. And thus, by virtue of the Poke Choke (more on that in just a second), the Longhorns assumed sole possession of first place in the Big 12. How the tides turn in the span of just a single month.

Look in the mirror, Sooner Nation. It might be you. It might be your team. In fact, I think it is. I understand there is plenty more to the narrative than meets the eye, but consider the surface-level facts for a moment: your program’s last two defeats came against Kansas and Oklahoma State. Yesterday, the Jayhawks went down on their home turf, falling 16-13 in an upset loss to a dismal Texas Tech team that somehow has a chance to go bowling now. Meanwhile, Oklahoma State went to Orlando and got immolated 45-3 by a UCF team that entered the game with all of one conference win. The optics aren’t good there. The Sooners still have a chance to make the Big 12 championship game and/or a New Year’s Six bowl, but the Jayhawks and Pokes did them no favors as far as the ol’ resume is concerned. 48 hours ago, you’d merely experienced back-to-back losses to top-20 teams, which is entirely forgivable. As of right now, you’ve experienced back-to-back losses to a couple of also-ran pretenders in the Big 12, a decidedly average football conference. So sure, Oklahoma won this week, and it was a good win. But even so, it underscores the sheer absurdity of the Sooners’ performances in Lawrence and Stillwater. How did it happen? It’s a question we’ll be asking ad nauseam in perpetuity, because this team could very well have gone to the College Football Playoff. And they have no one to blame for the loss of control but themselves.

Have an outstanding week, folks, and we’ll talk again in this column next Sunday.