The Oklahoma Sooners took on the [autotag]Iowa State Cyclones[/autotag] in their conference home opener in Norman on Saturday and came away with a huge 50-20 win to move to 5-0 on the season and 2-0 in Big 12 play.
The Sooners had a great start to the game as [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag] picked off [autotag]Rocco Becht[/autotag] and took it back for a touchdown on the first drive of the game. Iowa State came right back with a 51-yard strike on a 3rd and 18 on a busted coverage.
The Sooners took their first drive right down the field to answer. [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] led the 75-yard drive and capped it off with a one-yard touchdown run. The Sooners immediately gave up a huge run but ultimately held the Cyclones’ offense to a field goal.
Oklahoma got a touchdown on their next possession as Gabriel hit a wide-open [autotag]Nic Anderson[/autotag] for 39 yards.
But then another defensive bust led to a 67-yard touchdown for the Cyclones. After a missed field goal by Zach Schmit, the Cyclones cut the game to one on a field goal of their own.
But the Sooners responded as Gabriel hit [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] for 46 yards. Gabriel ran it in from six yards out on the next play to make it 28-20 and the Sooners never looked back.
On the Cyclones ensuing drive, Oklahoma got a stop and then Peyton Bowen blocked his second punt of the season. After Trace Ford was unable to recover the blocked kick, the ball rolled out of bounds for a safety.
On their next drive, the Sooners put three more points on the board to go up 33-20.
Gentry Williams picked off Becht on the Cyclones’ next drive. Gabriel then found Stoops to end the half with the Sooners up 40-20.
Oklahoma outgained the Cyclones 340 to 272 in the first half.
The Sooners started the second half where they left off as Gabriel found [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag] on a 41-yard touchdown pass on 4th down. It was an incredible display of balance and athleticism as Gibson bounced off of several would-be tacklers to get into the end zone and extend Oklahoma’s lead to 47-20.
After that, it was a defensive showdown for both teams for the rest of the quarter. The Sooners ended the quarter with a 4th down stop and took a 27-point lead to the fourth.
In the fourth quarter, Oklahoma was content to simply run the clock out. Though they only added a field goal, in the fourth, they did a great job milking the clock and holding strong on defense to close out the game.
They outgained the Cyclones 523 to 352, allowing only 80 yards in the second half.
Dillon Gabriel was fantastic yet again for the Oklahoma Sooners. He completed 67% of his passes for 367 yards and three touchdown passes. He also carried the ball eight times for 37 yards and two scores.
Jalil Farooq led the receiving corps with five receptions for 81 yards on the day. Brenen Thompson saw his first action as a Sooner with two catches for 62 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, the Oklahoma Sooners shut down the Cyclones after allowing 20 points in the first 21 minutes of game time. The Sooners held Iowa State to just 4 of 15 on third down. They held Rocco Becht to a completion rate of 45% and limited the damage after the early coverage issues.
For the first time this season, a team found some success on the ground. Iowa State ran for 150 yards and 5.6 yards per carry. However in the second half, the Sooners held the Cyclones to 2.63 yards per carry.
The Sooners remain unbeaten, setting up the [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag].
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