It has not been perfect since Jeff Lebby came to Norman. The criticism has been there. But say what you want, Lebby brought it on Saturday.
The play-calling was fantastic. The Oklahoma Sooners went for 486 yards and had their first 200-plus yard rushing game since the Week 1 win over Arkansas State. Mind you, this was against one of the best defensive lines in the country — a unit that tormented an Alabama Crimson Tide offense earlier in the season.
Lebby talked to reporters after the game about how that game-winning drive didn’t start on Saturday.
“We worked that a ton of times,” Lebby said. “We worked it on Wednesday. We had a two-minute drill where it was no timeouts with 1:15 and a touchdown to win, and here we are on Saturday with a similar situation.”
OK, technically, it was 1:17, but that’s why preparation is so important. The Sooners had been there, done that, even if it was in practice. They knew exactly how to handle that situation.
Lebby can call all of the great plays in the world, but it has to be executed. That starts with the quarterback.
“I think he’s done a great job of one, taking care of the rock, being able to make plays with his feet when he needs to make plays with his feet, and not taking unnecessary shots,” Lebby said. “I think it creates a bunch of balance for us and creates issues for the other team. We need to continue to do that to move forward. But he is, he’s playing incredibly tough right now.”
Dillon Gabriel finished with nearly 400 total yards by himself. He did that both through the air and on the ground, something we thought would be more of the offense this year.
If there were doubts about Jeff Lebby and Dillon Gabriel coming into the Red River Rivalry, it’s safe to say, they put that to rest.
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