Undefeated Sooners head to Red River Rivalry
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel had his best game of the season on Saturday night, as the No. 14 Sooners rolled past a fiesty Iowa State club that gave the OU defense a tussle enroute to a more formidable opponent in next week’s contest at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.
The Sooners won 50-20. Iowa State kept the game close in the first half. Oklahoma’s defense shut them out in the second.
Gabriel had 366 yards passing, three touchdowns in the air and two with his legs. He completed 67 percent of his passes. It was a fine tuning of quarterback play necessary before the Sooners cross the Red River to play its next opponent, the No. 3 Texas Longhorns, who are having their best season in decades.
Both Oklahoma and Texas enter the annual Red River Rivalry undefeated. Ticket prices for the October 7 game at the stadium plopped in the middle of the Texas State Fair Midway are hovering above $400 a piece.
ESPN’s Gameday announced it would be at the Fair.
Texas beat Kansas 40-14. The Longhorns and Sooners will play their last games as Big 12 conference opponents. Next year they will play as SEC opponents.
The Oklahoma defense punched Iowa State in the face early, at just 57 seconds into the game, with a Billy Bowman pick six of a Rocco Becht pass that was returned for 44 yards and Oklahoma’s first points of the game.
Iowa State made it a game in the first half, drawing within four points of the Sooners on a 67-yard touchdown pass from Becht to Jayden Higgins, and Chase Contreraz’s field goal made it 21-20 with 9:06 left in the second quarter.
But after that, Oklahoma did not allow another point.
Fan favorite receiver Drake Stoops grabbed a Gabriel pass in the back of the endzone and deftly kept his feetin bounds with seven seconds left in the second quarter to put the Sooners up 40-20 at halftime.
The Sooners gained 339 yards in the first half, and Gabriel passed for two touchdowns and ran for two before the break.
Oklahoma scored again on the opening drive of the second half.
Spectacular was Jayden Gibson’s high-handed 41-yard touchdown grab from Gabriel on fourth down to give the Sooners a 47-20 lead. Equally spectacular was Gabriel reading throw his progressions of receiver targets, then stepping up into the pocket to hit Gibson near the goal line. The rest was all Gibson — fighting to break the goal line plane.
The Sooners will travel to Dallas without Justin Harrington, who underwent ACL surgery on Thursday.
“Hate that for Justin, but he’s going to try to get another year,” Coach Brent Venables said after the Iowa State game. “It looks like that’ll likely take place but that has to go through its process after the season.”
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