Tag: Adepoju Adebawore

‘We’re really proud of ourselves’: Ethan Downs on the goal-line stop vs. West Virginia

After back-to-back poor showings, the defensive line rose to the occasion against the West Virginia Mountaineers.

The Oklahoma Sooners defensive line has been up and down all season long. They have never been able to consistently bring a pass rush.

A big part of that is they don’t have a dominant pass rusher on the team. They have some guys with a lot of potential like [autotag]R Mason Thomas[/autotag] and [autotag]Adepoju Adebawore[/autotag] but those guys still need time to develop.

But a big misconception is sacks are what determine how good a defensive line is or isn’t. Sacks definitely help, and you need to get pressure on the quarterback, but there are so many other ways a defensive line can dominate. Mainly in the run game.

The Sooners currently rank No. 7 in the country in tackles for loss. They also rank No. 47 in rush defense after playing four teams in the top 17 in the country and the nation’s leading rusher. That’s pretty good. It’s not great, but it’s pretty good.

The issue is in the losses. They haven’t been as disruptive up front. They had six tackles for loss in those games combined. They average nearly eight per game. Last week against the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag], they were back up at their average with eight tackles for loss.

Ethan Downs spoke with the media about how well the defensive line played. “We are trying to follow our keys, alignments, everything,” Downs said. “Be as crisp as possible so they can’t move the ball. I feel like we did a great job stopping the run, especially on that goal-line stop. We’re really proud of ourselves.”

Now, that performance needs to resurface this week in Provo as the Sooners get set to take on the BYU Cougars.

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Attack Quinn Ewers: Keys to an Oklahoma Sooners win vs. the Texas Longhorns

Oklahoma faces off with Texas on Saturday in a big time matchup. Here are our 6 keys to the Sooners knocking off the Longhorns.

Oklahoma will have to up the level of play for its showdown with Texas. The Sooners have played some outstanding football throughout the season and have dominated nearly every team they played on one side of the ball or both.

Texas represents a significant leap into a new stratosphere regarding talent and the game’s overall magnitude.

Oklahoma will have to do some things this week that they’ve struggled to do all season. There are some major hurdles in winning the Red River Rivalry game this year.

Without further adieu, let’s look at what Oklahoma can do on Saturday and walk out of Dallas with the Golden Hat and first place in the conference.

Stock Report: Young playmakers rising as Sooners prepare for season’s biggest test

Oklahoma is 5-0 and on a upwards trajectory so check out how they fair in this week’s stock report as they prepare for the Texas Longhorns.

Oklahoma has passed each of the tests put before them through the first five weeks of the season. Now all eyes turn to their Red River Rivals, the Texas Longhorns. To get to that point, the Sooners had to dispatch the last five teams in front of them. The most recent being their final Big 12 matchup with the [autotag]Iowa State Cyclones[/autotag].

The Sooners won in decisive fashion, 50-20. Coming into the game, Brent Venables’ team had to avoid looking ahead and also leave no doubt that they weren’t the teams of the past that got tripped up by Matt Campbell’s Cyclones. Campbell has been a thorn in Oklahoma’s side since taking over the Iowa State program. However, an explosive passing game and stifling second-half defense put the game away.

As the Sooners prepare for Texas, some notable things are on an upward trajectory around Norman. And still, there are areas that aren’t on the right track. Will the positives prove pivotal on Saturday, or will the negatives continue to trend downward and affect Oklahoma’s chances of pulling off the upset of the Longhorns in Dallas?

Report Card: All three phases contribute as Oklahoma cruises to 30 point win over Iowa State

Oklahoma plays complementary football and rolls to a 50-20 win over Iowa State. A look at this week’s report card.

Oklahoma put together a complementary effort on Saturday night, beating Iowa State in their last matchup as Big 12 foes. In the Sooners’ 50-20 win, Oklahoma had big day on offense, added a defensive score, and a blocked punt resulted in a safety.

It was a pleasant sight as the Sooners avoided getting caught in a trap game. A few busts in coverage made the game closer than it was.

Outside of the two big plays, the Sooners allowed 234 yards and six points across the remaining three quarters. Brent Venables was able to rally and refocus his troops when the game got to 21-20 in the second quarter. The Sooners didn’t allow another point over the final 39 minutes of the game.

Here’s how the Sooners fared in this week’s Report Card.

6 Oklahoma Sooners to watch vs. the Iowa State Cyclones

Oklahoma takes on Iowa State for the final time as Big 12 foes. We’re taking a look at 6 Oklahoma Sooners we’ll be watching in week 5.

Oklahoma can improve to 5-0 on Saturday evening and continue to build on their turnaround effort. The Sooners will host their Big 12 foes, the Iowa State Cyclones, one last time this weekend.

Both teams come into the game with wins. The Cyclones showed a little life offensively in their win over Oklahoma State. The Sooners continued to show off their defensive improvement with a stingy win over Cincinnati.

How Oklahoma handles the ever-increasing hype behind its defense and the increased meaning with each passing week, will be fascinating. There’s also the game that looms ahead of them next week. Avoiding looking ahead to Texas will be pivotal.

For Oklahoma to come out on top and avoid being upset at home, they’ll need to play their game from start to finish. Here are six players we believe will be key come Saturday as Oklahoma looks to go 2-0 in Big 12 play.

No. 14 Oklahoma Sooners vs. Iowa State Cyclones: Sooners Wire staff predictions

The Oklahoma Sooners are hoping to continue their undefeated season when they host Iowa State Saturday, and here are this week’s Sooners Wire staff predictions.

The Oklahoma Sooners (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) and the Iowa State Cyclones (2-2, 1-0) renew a matchup that dates back to a 13-0 win for the Cyclones back in 1928. Though they earned the win in the series opener, OU holds a 79-7-2 edge over Iowa State in the all-time series.

Each year is a different game, but Iowa State has played the Oklahoma Sooners tough in recent years.

2022’s win was the largest margin of victory in a win for the Oklahoma Sooners during the Matt Campbell era.

How will the Sooners perform this week? Here’s how we feel the game will go in this week’s staff predictions.

Sooners Wire Staff Predictions

The Iowa State Cyclones have been a thorn in the Sooners’ side since [autotag]Matt Campbell[/autotag] took over as head coach.

They upset the Sooners in Norman in 2017 and also knocked them off in 2020. That doesn’t include the game-winning 2-point conversion stop the Sooners made in 2019 or the interception late in the game in 2021.

No matter how talented the Sooners have been, Iowa State knows how to play them close.

They do that with elite defense and by taking care of the football.

People will look at Iowa State this year and think they aren’t very good, and the Sooners will roll. Well, that’s not entirely true. They still are elite defensively and had a coming-out party on offense in their win over Oklahoma State a week ago. I wouldn’t be surprised if this game was another low-scoring game for both teams, similar to last week.

Sooners 27, Cyclones 6

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‘P.J.s’ gotta play more’: Brent Venables excited about what he’s seeing from Adepoju Adebawore

Five-star true freshman defensive end Adepoju Adebawore is having an impact early in his career for the Oklahoma Sooners.

The Oklahoma Sooners’ 2023 recruiting class was arguably the best in the modern recruiting era. Brent Venables and his staff earned commitments from five-star prospects [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag], [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag], and [autotag]Adepoju Adebawore[/autotag].

Early in the 2023 season, we’re seeing the fruits of their recruiting efforts, with each of those guys making plays. Arnold will wait for his opportunity to be the starter in 2024. Bowen and Adebawore have already figured into the rotation on defense.

But it looks like the Oklahoma Sooners will need to find a way to get the player affectionately referred to as “P.J.” on the field more.

In the win over Cincinnati, Adebawore had an effective game rushing the passer from his defensive end spot. According to Pro Football Focus, the five-star freshman saw 22 snaps. Of those 22 snaps, he was called upon to rush the passer 16 times, creating two pressures and earning a pass rush win rate of 18.8%.

This one nearly created a sack-fumble but fell incomplete as Emory Jones got the ball out a split second before Adebawore arrived.

Among Sooners who have rushed the passer at least five times this season, Adebawore has the highest pass-rush win rate at 20%. This means he’s beating his blocker one out of every five pass rush attempts. He’s third in the Big 12 in pass rush win rate among players with at least

To hear his head coach talk, there might be more playing time coming in the future.

At his weekly coaches show at Rudy’s BBQ (ESPN+), Venables noted the performance of his freshman defensive end.

Venables said, “Well, I’m on the plane watching some of the game, and you’ve got your computer, and you’re watching the game. And I pause it, and I go find Coach (Miguel) Chavis, and I’m like, ‘Hey, P.J.’s gotta play more.’ And (Chavis) said, ‘Coach, he played 23 snaps. And he played the second most snaps of any of the guys.’ And I’m like, ‘Okay. Alright.’ So he did play more, I just wanted more than that.”

Venables went on to say, “He’s going to be really, really special. He’s got great length, got a great frame. He can run like (expletive). You know, he can fly and super explosive. Not just a fast guy. He’s wiry strong.”

When asked to compare him to someone he’d coached in the past, Venables said, “He’s maybe a much more athletic Clelin Ferrell. At Clemson, he’s a kid who was the fourth pick overall in the NFL draft. He was the 99th-rated defensive end coming out of high school and just developed. Have the same frame. P.J. can run a lot better than Cle.”

It remains to be seen how the Sooners will delineate their defensive end snaps. Rondell Bothroyd had an impressive sack against Cincinnati, and Ethan Downs leads the team in pressures. But it’s becoming clearer each week that Adepoju Adebawore needs to see the field.

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How did the Oklahoma Sooners grade out in their win over Cincinnati?

The Sooners earned a solid win on the road over a tough Cincinnati team. How did each position group grade out in this week’s report card?

The Oklahoma Sooners opened Big 12 play with a win that characterizes the growth of this team so far in 2023. It wasn’t a 48-45 game that we grew accustomed to during the Lincoln Riley era.

It was a 20-6 defensive battle where field position and run defense were the key components of the win.

This is what defensive football looks like. Don’t turn the ball over, run the ball, stop the run, win on third down, and win the field position battle.

The Oklahoma Sooners are taking on a new identity under Brent Venables, and while they didn’t light up the scoreboard vs. Cincinnati, they did what they needed to do to get a win on the road in a tough environment.

Here’s a look at this week’s report card.

Report Card: Saturday against Tulsa was about passing final nonconference test with flying colors

Oklahoma dominated Tulsa from beginning to end. Take a look as we go position by position and hand out grades for the performance.

Saturday’s dismantling of Tulsa was a much-needed conclusion for the Sooners to their nonconference schedule. The Sooners needed to erase any doubts, bouncing back and disposing of teams handily after a grind-it-out win against SMU.

The concerns about the conservative nature of the offense against SMU were put to rest as Oklahoma slung the ball all over the field for 476 yards.

Defensively, the Sooners grounded the Tulsa passing attack, allowing less than 250 yards through the air.

It was a convincing win and a pleasant, feel-good tuneup before they turn their heads to Cincinnati. Big 12 play is upon them, but before we turn the page, let’s pass out grades for this weekend’s performances.

5-star freshman DE Adepoju Adebawore shows flashes of stardom in Sooners win

Adepoju Adebawore showed flashes of what’s to come in his Oklahoma career.

The Oklahoma Sooners are fresh off another dominant performance on the defensive side of the ball to open the 2023 season. The Sooners stifled the [autotag]Tulsa Golden Hurricane[/autotag] offense outside of a rough second quarter.

Multiple players made impacts Saturday, and one of those was five-star freshman defensive end [autotag]Adepoju Adebawore[/autotag]. The true freshman finished with 2.5 tackles for loss and earned the first sack of his young career.

He told reporters after the game, it felt good to finally get home to the quarterback.

“The first sack is very good, great actually. Just to be out there knowing my coaches trust me enough to be out there to be able to execute and make a couple of big plays,” Adebawore said.

Like [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] last week, Adebawore is entering that territory where it will be hard to keep him off of the field. He already possessed the best pass rush win rate of any Sooner coming into Saturday and put another strong performance together.

Adebawore also said his experience at Oklahoma so far has been everything he imagined when he committed.

“I think it’s been better,” Adebawore said. “Everyone here is very loving. Everyone here is very affectionate. It’s a very family-like place, and I feel comfortable here. So, yes, definitely what I imagined.”

Just watching Adebawore play should bring a huge smile to Sooner fans’ faces. He has a bright future, and on Saturday he showed flashes of what’s to come.

Contact/Follow us @SoonersWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Oklahoma news, notes, and opinions. You can also follow Jaron on Twitter @JaronSpor.