The Sooners are rolling into conference play.
In front of the first sellout crowd at H.A. Chapman Stadium since 2009, the Oklahoma Sooners dominated the Tulsa Golden Hurricane by a score of 66-17. This in-state clash was never in doubt, and despite this being an away game on paper, the crowd was majority crimson.
The Offense
Dillon Gabriel had an exceptional day, setting the tone with a nice pass to Jalil Farooq, who made a man miss and scored the first touchdown of the game. The offense continued rolling early as they jumped out to a 28-0 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back. Gabriel would finish his day midway through the 3rd quarter with a stat line of 28-31 passing, totaling 421 yards and five touchdowns. The Oklahoma offense got everyone involved in this game, as three different receivers — Farooq, Andrel Anthony, and Nic Anderson — finished the day with over 100 yards receiving.
The most impressive out of the three, and the most anticipated by many Sooner fans, was the performance from Anderson. This could be just the start of something special for the 6’4” wide receiver from Katy, Texas. Anderson caught three passes for a total of 120 yards receiving and scored a touchdown on all three catches. The offense had several big plays this afternoon, 10 of which went for 20 yards or more.
The Defense
Danny Stutsman was awarded National Defensive Player of the Week for his performance versus SMU last week. Stutsman made a case to be nominated again this week with a big time game, finishing with a team high nine total tackles, two TFLs, and one INT that he returned for a touchdown. The Sooners’ defense forced a total of five interceptions, which is the most in one game since 2003. Oklahoma also tallied 15 total TFLs and three sacks on the day. One of those sacks came from the highly-touted true freshman P.J. Adebawore, who seems to have an awfully bright future ahead of him.
Summary
The Oklahoma Sooners took care of business and did what they were expected to do, which was win and win convincingly. The offense scored 60+ points and the defense dominated an inferior opponent. OU will look to carry this momentum into conference play as the competition begins to heat up. Oklahoma will begin Big 12 play on the road to face a conference newcomer, the Cincinnati Bearcats, next Saturday at 11 a.m. CT. Cincinnati entered the day undefeated, but they would end up falling to Miami (OH) in OT.