Oklahoma holds onto 31-29 win over offensive power UCF
There is no doubt Oklahoma would have lost this game last year.
A close contest, with the Sooners offense’s sputtering run game hindering its scoring early and an opponent that brought a top 5 offense to town.
But this year Oklahoma has found a way to win the close ones. And did so on a pleasant fall Saturday in Norman, defeating UCF 31-29 to grab its fourth conference win and remain unbeaten at 7-0.
They did it with a good defensive effort, holding UCF to just one first down in the first quarter and holding the nation’s No. 3 rushing offenses to 149 yards on 41 carries. UCF had average 246 yards per game coming into the contest.
Sooners QB Dillon Gabriel, who transferred to OU from UCF before the 2022 season, went 25 of 38 passes for 253 yards against his old team.
Most importantly, Gabriel rallied the Sooners, who entered the fourth quarter behind, 23-17 (the Sooners had trailed for only 12 minutes all season — the fewest in the country). He threw three touchdown passes on the day.
“It definitely was a personal one because I played there and it’s just it’s a part of my journey that I’ll never forget,” Gabriel said. “But, at the end of the day, it wasn’t about me. It was about us as a team finding a way to win.”
An 11-yard Gabriel pass to Drake Stoops tied the game up in the fourth quarter and the extra point gave the Sooners a 24-23 lead.
With just 3:13 left in the game OU’s RB Gavin Sawchuk, who got his first start of the season, ran up the middle for 30 yards and a touchdown, giving the Sooners a 31-23 lead.
Previous starting running back Tawee Walker did not play, due to a suspension.
UCF stormed back, with a 12-yard touchdown pass with only 1:16 left.
But the Sooners defense found a way to win, by stopping the Knights’ attempted trick play, where UCF’s Xavier Townsend caught a backward pass and intended to throw to a receiver in the end zone. Instead, the Sooners’ Kendal Dolby dragged Townsend down for a loss.
Oklahoma was a 17-point favorite going in to the game.
Coach Brent Venables said, “We made enough mistakes today to lose.”
“I love going in on Monday after winning and I get to yell at some guys,” Venables joked. “We’ve got a lot of yelling to do.”
An obvious weakness this season has been in field goal kicking game.
Kicker Zach Schmit missed two first-quarter FGs, from 38 and 43 yards.
This was the first time in Venable’s short head coaching career at Oklahoma where his team won after trailing at halftime (going 0-4 last season in such games).
The game showed that the Sooners have to be able to win the close ones if it intends to compete for a conference championship, and perhaps win in the college football playoffs.
“If you go in there and think things are going to be easy, or you go there and you try to play to a certain level of expectations or to a point spread, to an opinion of others, you’re going to be in for a rude awakening,” Venables said.
Photo credit: Olivia Lauter/OU Daily
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