The Oklahoma Sooners moved to 2-0 on the season with their 16-12 win over Houston. It wasn’t the offensive performance that they would have liked, but the defense picked up the slack, keeping Houston from sustaining drives.
Oklahoma needed several late stops to secure the victory and with just under two minutes to play in the game, OU got the stop they needed to seal the deal.
After Luke Elzinga’s punt was downed at the Houston five-yard line, the Cougars had first and 10 but were down just two points. A field goal could have earned Houston the upset. On first down, Cougars quarterback Donovan Smith handed off to Stacy Sneed, who was immediately met at the goalline by defensive tackle [autotag]Gracen Halton[/autotag], who earned the first safety of his career and extended Oklahoma’s lead to four and got the ball back for the Sooners offense to take more time off the clock.
By the time Houston got the ball back, there wasn’t enough time to mount a serious drive for a go-ahead touchdown. And it was all because of Halton’s impressive penetrating ability.
Along with his first career safety, Halton had two tackles for loss and a sack in the game. For his efforts, he was named SEC Defensive Player of the Week. It’s the second weekly award of the season for the Sooners after Luke Elzinga earned Special Teams Player of the Week in the SEC last season. This is the first weekly honor of Halton’s career, signaling a strong start to the season for the former 2022 four-star signee.
https://twitter.com/OU_Football/status/1833174719710757012
Halton currently leads the team with 3.5 tackles for loss and 2.5 sacks. He’s been incredibly disruptive for the Sooners in his rotational role and is the second highest-graded player on the Sooners, according to Pro Football Focus. He’s second among defensive tackles in snaps through two games.
It’s a great start to the season for Halton and as Oklahoma get set to host Tulane, they’ll need more from the standout defensive tackle from San Diego, California.
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