As Lincoln Riley says, “The game is never as good as you thought, and it’s not going to be as bad.”
On first glance, Oklahoma dominated this game from the second-quarter on in the trenches and made life extremely tough for Chuba Hubbard and the Oklahoma State defensive front.
After every game, Sooners Wire’s Kegan Reneau will rewatch and provide his final thoughts before moving on to the next one.
Here are the grades for the unit and the grades for individuals who ended up on the stat sheet or were noticeable for Oklahoma. These grades reflect how the Sooners played on that game indicative of the perception Reneau expects them to play.
QUARTERBACK — B
Jalen Hurts — B
About as solid of a game as Oklahoma needed its QB1 to play.
Took what the defense gave him, read Riley’s read concepts perfectly and didn’t give the ball away.
The Sooners will need more out of Jalen Hurts if they want to win a national championship, but you can’t complain about this performance.
RUNNING BACK — A+
Kennedy Brooks — A+
Rhamondre Stevenson — A
Kennedy Brooks has a different running style than the past great running backs at Oklahoma, but man, is his vision, patience and ability to understand blocks in front of him is unparalleled. Probably since Joe Mixon and before that since the early 2000s Oklahoma had a running back with the vision Brooks has.
Stevenson came in like a wrecking ball. Figuratively and literally.
H-BACK — B+
Jeremiah Hall — B+
Brayden Willis — B+
The blocking done by these two may be the most underrated aspects of their game.
WIDE RECEIVER — B
CeeDee Lamb — C+
Charleston Rambo — B-
Nick Basquine — B+
Not a lot of opportunity for the wide receivers in this game, but they made the most of them. Thought Nick Basquine’s catches were big.
TIGHT END — B+
Lee Morris — B+
Lee Morris remains one of the steadiest forces Oklahoma has.
OFFENSIVE LINE — B+
This offensive line is close.
So close.
They took shape of what the 2017 and 2018 offensive lines looked like. Creed Humphrey, and specifically Marquis Hayes, are starting to become dominant forces at center and left guard. R.J. Proctor’s starting to trend in the right direction. The offensive line is coming around at the right time.
OFFENSE — 87
I believe this is my highest offensive grade of the year and for good measure. The Sooners got everything they wanted and then some against a defense that started to play better towards the end of the season. Now if they add on the vertical passing game …
NOSE TACKLE — B-
Neville Gallimore — B-
Marquise Overton — B-
Dillon Faamatau — N/A
Solid performance from these two. Did no harm.
DEFENSIVE TACKLE — B
LaRon Stokes — B
Didn’t show up on the stat sheet, but LaRon Stokes played a major role in Chuba Hubbard being deterred from hitting running lanes.
DEFENSIVE END — B+
Ronnie Perkins — B+
Marcus Stripling — N/A
Ronnie Perkins continues to flash his NFL-like potential.
RUSH — A
Nik Bonitto — A
David Ugwoegbu — A
Some of the stars of the show Saturday night were two young pups that flashed star potential. Ability to set the edge and also make plays in coverage and in the backfield loomed large.
WILL — C+
DaShaun White — C+
Caleb Kelly — C+
A lot of the same here. Didn’t notice them too much, but these two didn’t hurt the cause.
MIKE — B-
Kenneth Murray — B-
Some flashes, some over-pursuits. Still feel like Murray has one more monster game left in him.
CORNER — B
Tre Brown — D+
Parnell Motley — A
Jaden Davis — B
If it weren’t for Tre Brown’s play, this position group would have been in the upper B, lower A range. Parnell Motley is playing himself into the NFL draft and Jaden Davis missed a couple tackles, but ultimately played well.
NICKELBACK — B
Brendan Radley-Hiles — B
Bookie was everywhere and really seems to be getting comfortable at the nickel spot.
SAFETY — C+
Pat Fields — B
Delarrin Turner-Yell — C
So these two split the cause. Turner-Yell struggled in coverage, but Patrick Fields was a factor in the run game. Not a bad, but not a great performance.
DEFENSE — 82
Nothing flashy, but Oklahoma’s defense was the determining factor Saturday night and it came from solid performances across the board. Just a complete performance from the top, down.
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