Tag: ethan downs

Oklahoma Sooners depth chart for Alamo Bowl matchup vs. Arizona Wildcats

A look at the Oklahoma Sooners depth chart heading into the Alamo Bowl.

The Oklahoma Sooners released the depth chart for the 2023 Valero Alamo Bowl matchup with the Arizona Wildcats.

The depth chart is one of the more intriguing storylines, considering the opt outs and the transfer departures. That is particularly true on the offensive side of the ball. Oklahoma will break in a new starting quarterback and multiple offensive linemen when it takes on an Arizona defense that ranked No. 27 in the nation in points per game allowed.

The biggest storyline for the Sooners comes at quarterback. Jackson Arnold is set to make his first career start for OU. That alone makes the game incredibly intriguing for the Sooners, who hope Arnold can take their offense to another level as they prepare for their first season in the SEC.

The Oklahoma Sooners depth chart heading into the Alamo Bowl:

Led by Dillon Gabriel, 6 Oklahoma Sooners named to All-Big 12 team

Led by a unanimous selection for Dillon Gabriel, 6 Oklahoma Sooners earned All-Big 12 honors.

The 2023 season finished on a strong note for the Oklahoma Sooners. After losing back-to-back games to Kansas and Oklahoma State, OU closed with three-straight wins over West Virginia, BYU, and TCU.

Against West Virginia and TCU, the Sooners scored 59 and 69 points.

It didn’t end with a Big 12 title game appearance, but Oklahoma showed that the 2022 season was a blip on the timeline of OU Football.

In their bounce-back season, several Sooners had career years and earned All-Big 12 honors with their performances.

Here’s a look at the Sooners who make the All-Big 12 first and second teams. The voting was done by the coaches, who were not allowed to vote for their own players.

Oklahoma Sooners name permanent captains for the 2023 season

Oklahoma has named the permanent captains for the 2023 season.

Just like that, the 2023 Oklahoma Sooners regular season is about to come to a close. As we head into the final game of the season, the Sooners have announced who their permanent captains will be for the remainder of the season.

Those are [autotag]Billy Bowman[/autotag], [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag], [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag], [autotag]McKade Mettauer[/autotag], [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag], [autotag]Danny Stutsman[/autotag] and [autotag]Woodi Washington[/autotag]. Four of those players will be honored on senior night this weekend.

Bowman has emerged here lately and taken his game to another level. He has 52 tackles, which ranks third on the team, and leads the team with five interceptions.

Downs has had a solid season, leading the Sooners with 4.5 sacks on the year. He’s also been one of the best interviews all season. You can tell how much of a leader he is for the team.

 

Gabriel is having a career year for the Sooners. His 69.9% completion percentage is a career high. He’s also only a little under 400 yards shy of breaking his career high in yards and only five passing touchdowns shy of setting a career-high in passing touchdowns. His 38 total touchdowns, however, is a career high.

Mettauer has been a steady force on an offensive line that has really found its groove recently. It’s helped pave the way for [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag] to have three straight 100-yard games on the ground.

Stoops embodies what this program is all about both on and off the field. He leads the team with 66 receptions and 755 yards and is tied for the team lead with nine touchdowns.

Stutsman is the emotional leader of the defense. You could tell his presence was greatly missed in the two losses. He leads the team with 91 tackles and 15.5 tackles for loss.

Washington has played a position that has seen a lot of turnover due to injury at the cornerback spot opposite of him. He’s been a steady force and leader for the cornerback position.

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‘There’s always a story behind it’: Brent Venables on the low sack numbers

The lack of sacks is not a worry for Brent Venables and Co.

The 2023 season for the Oklahoma Sooners was about improvement. Across the board, there has been improvement in just about every area.

But one area that has not seen much improvement is the defense’s inability to create sacks. The Sooners had 28 sacks a season ago and currently sit at 18 sacks with one game remaining in the regular season.

Often sacks are used to determine if a defensive line has had a good season or not. However, while it’s a good thing to have a lot of sacks, it’s not always indicative of the play of a defensive line. Run defense can be more telling of a team’s ability up front.

But still, they’ve clearly taken a step back in the sacks department. A big reason is they just don’t have a true difference-maker on the defensive line.

Brent Venables spoke about some other reasons as to why that number might be as low as it is. “There’s always a story behind it,” Venables said. “I think the easy one is ‘Oh look this final stat sheet there are no sacks, they must suck.’ Or you just watch the game, and oh I see either we are not stopping the run, so it’s a lot of 3rd and short, or it’s 4th and short, so you aren’t going to get a lot of seven-step drops. Or maybe it’s a team that’s committed to running three-man routes and seven-man protections. Last I checked, seven against four is hard because people respect things that we do. We are not getting a bunch of five on four.”

Combine that with a lot of teams getting the ball out quickly and more athletic quarterbacks and it makes it harder to get home.

When you watch a game, the other team will generally tell you what they think about the Sooners. No, Oklahoma doesn’t have crazy sack numbers, but with teams keeping seven men into block, they are telling you how much they respect Oklahoma as a pass-rushing team.

There’s always more to the story than meets the eye.

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Oklahoma Sooners keep Big 12 title hopes alive; beat the BYU Cougars 31-24

The Oklahoma Sooners didn’t play their best game but came away with a 31-24 win over the BYU Cougars.

The Oklahoma Sooners made their first trip to the state of Utah to take on the [autotag]BYU Cougars[/autotag] for the one and only time as Big 12 foes. It was a game with sloppy field conditions. Players constantly slipped all game long.

After both teams opened the game with punts, but [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] hit [autotag]Jayden Gibson[/autotag] on a 55-yard pass to set up Oklahoma with a first and goal. Gabriel found [autotag]Nic Anderson[/autotag] for the touchdown to put the Sooners up 7-0. It was Anderson’s ninth touchdown of the season and broke a three-game scoring drought.

On BYU’s next possession, Cougars quarterback [autotag]Jake Retzlaff[/autotag] found [autotag]Chase Roberts[/autotag] for the 23-yard score on a fourth and one just outside the red zone.

The Sooners stalled on their next drive but nearly got a fresh set of downs. Oklahoma nearly pulled off a fake punt when [autotag]Luke Elzinga[/autotag] connected with Ethan Downs, but Nic Anderson was called for offensive pass interference and the Sooners were forced to punt. After a great BYU punt return, the Cougars would be set up in OU territory but fumbled the first play.

Seven plays later, Gabriel found Gibson for a 27-yard touchdown pass to put the Sooners up 14-7. BYU answered on the following drive after converting a pair of third downs to tie it up.

After a couple of long 3rd Down conversions themselves, the Sooners were set up with a first and goal at the five but were forced to settle for a field goal. BYU tied it up on a field goal of their own as time wound down in the first half.

The Sooners outgained the Cougars 236 to 213 in the first half. The Sooners went 5 of 8 on third down, and the Cougars were 6 of 10 on third and fourth down in the first half.

As the Sooners were headed out for the second half, they were without star quarterback [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag]. It was reported Gabriel suffered a head injury and wouldn’t return. [autotag]Jackson Arnold[/autotag] started the 2nd Half.

Both teams couldn’t get much going to start the second half. However, BYU found success on their second drive of the half, moving inside the Sooners five-yard line. On first and goal from the two, Retzlaff threw it out to the left, and Billy Bowman picked it off and returned it 100 yards for the touchdown. The Sooners led 24-17 midway through the third quarter.

The pick-six wouldn’t deter the Cougars, who responded with an eight-play 75-yard drive to tie the game at 24. The Cougars gashed the Sooners in the running game, and Retzlaff ran it in from 11 yards out to tie it back up.

After a good return by [autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] and back-to-back solid runs [autotag]Gavin Sawchuk[/autotag], the Sooners were in Cougars’ territory. Unfortunately, the promising drive came up empty as [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag] missed wide left, and the score stayed tied.

On the ensuing drive, the defense came up with another huge play. With the Cougars facing a third and four, [autotag]Kobie McKinzie[/autotag] and Danny Stutsman blitzed off the right side. McKinzie drew the offensive linemen inside, freeing up Stutsman for a free run at Retzlaff. Stutsman hit him hard and came up with a strip sack to give Oklahoma the ball in Cougars’ territory. The Sooners capped the turnover off with a tough, physical 16-yard touchdown run by Sawchuk to put the Sooners up seven with about eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.

The Sooners’ defense continued their best stretch of the game, forcing a three and out after two false start penalties on the Cougars.

The offense took over with nearly six minutes left in the game. It was a masterful, time-killing drive to end the game. The drive started with a deep shot to Nic Anderson, which Arnold overthrew, but it was an opportunity for Oklahoma to put a stamp on the game and win it. After the incomplete pass, the Sooners ran nine plays for 22 yards (including three kneel downs) and took 5:08 off the clock to finish the game.

The key play in the drive came as the Sooners faced a third and eight at the BYU 38-yard line. Three weeks ago against Kansas, facing a similar situation, Jeff Lebby opted to run the football to force the Jayhawks to burn their timeouts. Today against BYU, Lebby put the ball in his true freshman quarterback’s hands to win the game.

Arnold threw a strike to Jalil Farooq on the short slant and Farooq fought his way to pick up enough yardage to get the first down.

The Sooners kneeled out the clock to escape with the win.

Oklahoma would be outgained 390 to 374 in the game but the defense would tie the Cougars in the 2nd half, 7-7. The defense would also force three turnovers.

In the win, Dillon Gabriel completed 62% of his passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns. Arnold was 5 of 9 for 33 yards. He also ran the ball eight times for 24 yards.

Gavin Sawchuk earned his third-straight 100-yard game, carrying the ball 14 times for 107 yards and a touchdown.

Jalil Farooq had five receptions for 53 yards, and Drake Stoops caught four passes for 63 yards. But it was Jayden Gibson who provided the big plays for the Sooners offense, with two receptions for 82 yards and a touchdown.

On defense, Danny Stutsman recorded 10 tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble. In addition to his pick-six, Billy Bowman had eight total tackles and a tackle for loss. The interception was Bowman’s fifth on the season.

The Sooners are now 9-2 on the season and 5-2 in Big 12 play. They still have an outside shot at making the Big 12 title game but will be watching Texas vs. Iowa State and Oklahoma State vs. Houston closely on Saturday.

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20 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through Week 10 per Pro Football Focus

The 20 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through week 10 per Pro Football Focus.

Though the Oklahoma Sooners are on a two-game losing streak, they’ve already surpassed their win total from a year ago with three games to go and a bowl game.

They still have a shot at a Big 12 title game berth. And after 6-7, that’s all we can really ask for.

The offense has shown improvement on third down and in the red zone. Dillon Gabriel is having a career year. The defense has shown significant improvement this season. A year ago, they allowed 30 or more points seven times. This year that’s only happened once against Kansas. Texas scored 30, but seven of those can be attributed to special teams on the blocked punt.

Yes, they lost winnable games the last two weeks, playing uncharacteristically sloppy football. Otherwise, they’ve been a really good team this year.

As they get ready to close the season, here are the top 20 highest-graded players according to Pro Football Focus through week 10.

Minimum 25% snap count

Offense: 177.75

Defense: 167.75

‘We’ve got a standard to uphold’: Ethan Downs on what they have left to play for this season

Despite the previous two losses, Ethan Downs feels there is a lot to play for including a standard to uphold.

The Oklahoma Sooners are looking onward and upward after suffering back-to-back losses on the road. Now, they return home to face the [autotag]West Virginia Mountaineers[/autotag] to hopefully get back on track.

Even with two losses, the Sooners still have an opportunity to salvage their season by winning double-digit games. If the Texas Longhorns slip up in one of their remaining three games, the Sooners could still find themselves in Arlington, Texas, most likely in a [autotag]Bedlam[/autotag] rematch.

One of the leaders for the Sooners this year has been [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag].

He told reporters they still have a lot to play for in 2023.

“All of our goals are still in front of us,” Downs said. “We don’t like that we have to hope for someone else to slip up for us to make it to the Big 12 (Championship). But we’re on the road right now. Even if it’s a narrow road, we’re still fighting together. We have goals that stretch far beyond a Big 12 Championship. We’re creating a legacy here. We’ve got a standard to uphold and if we get to the championship, that would be amazing. That’s one of our goals to achieve.”

The Sooners face a Mountaineers team whom they lost to a season ago on the road. They bring one of the best rushing attacks in the country and a really solid defense into Norman. It won’t be an easy task for the Sooners to right the ship, but it’s one we’ll see if the team is up for.

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‘We do need to maintain an aggressive mentality’: Brent Venables feels the offense needs to keep an aggressive mentality

The Oklahoma Sooners need to bring back an aggressive mentality as they travel to Stillwater this weekend.

The Oklahoma Sooners are coming off their first loss of the season, falling to the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag]. This one was a heartbreaker as the team had every chance to win but never was able to pull it out.

Ethan Downs picked off [autotag]Jason Bean[/autotag] with around 2:30 left in the game and returned it into Jayhawks’ territory. At that point, it looked like the Sooners once again were going to pull out a victory. They needed one first down to win it, and instead of being aggressive and putting the ball in your Heisman candidates’ hands, [autotag]Jeff Lebby[/autotag] ran the ball three times, and the Sooners punted it away.

The Jayhawks would end up scoring and winning the game on their final drive. [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag] took a lot of the blame for the loss in his post-game press conference, but this game falls back on the lack of aggression on the offensive side of the ball. [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] had 13 passes before the final drive. He threw the ball six times on the final drive and looked pretty good doing so. His quarterback counterpart threw the ball 32 times in the game.

Venables talked in his press conference this week about the lack of deep shots and aggression by the offense. “I think the opportunity was there,” Venables said. “Wishing is not going to do anything, but we do need to maintain an aggressive mentality. There’s always that balance when you try to be efficient and protect the football, but at the same time, at the right time, take your shots. We’ve got good players who can run past people and go up and make competitive plays.”

The Sooners are going to need that aggressive mentality and play-calling this weekend with arguably the hottest team in the [autotag]Big 12[/autotag] is waiting. If they have another lackluster performance offensively and aren’t aggressive once again, the Sooners could be in some serious trouble.

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Sooners captains for Bedlam have an Oklahoma flavor

The Sooners captains for the final Bedlam are all very familiar with this rivalry.

The Oklahoma Sooners and the [autotag]Oklahoma State Cowboys[/autotag] battle for the final time as Big 12 foes. It’s the final time for a long time in the regular season. This will be the 118th meeting between the two schools with Oklahoma holding a 91-19-7 lead in the series.

This is a big one not just for final bragging rights for both schools, but also for conference title aspirations. The losing school could basically be eliminated from the race.

In preparation for the game on Saturday, the Sooners have named their captains and all are very familiar with this rivalry. Those captains are [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag], [autotag]Trace Ford[/autotag], [autotag]Gavin Freeman[/autotag], [autotag]Drake Stoops[/autotag] and [autotag]Gentry Williams[/autotag].

All five of those players were born and played their high school football in the state of Oklahoma. Downs is from Weatherford and has been the Sooners’ best pass rusher this season leading the team with 4.5 sacks.

Ford is not just from Edmond but he also played for the Cowboys before transferring to the Sooners this past offseason. He’s been a really solid contributor to this defense’s resurgence.

Freeman is from Oklahoma City and has mainly been used as a punt returner and gadget player offensively. It’ll be interesting to see if his role increases at all after a poor offensive performance last Saturday.

Stoops is from Norman and has been one of the best receivers for the Sooners. He leads Oklahoma with 40 receptions, and is fourth in yards and second in touchdowns.

Williams is from Tulsa and has been their best cover guy all season. He missed last week’s game with an injury and it showed big time. This seems to be a good sign about his availability going into this game.

Ultimately, it’s going to mean a lot to these guys who grew up around this rivalry but to walk out of Boone Pickens Stadium with a win, it needs to mean a lot to a lot more than just those five.

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Late game coaching mistakes bring back memories to a season ago

Oklahoma’s late game management put the Sooners in a tough spot vs. Kansas.

With 2:23 left in the game, the Oklahoma Sooners’ offense took over after a great interception by [autotag]Ethan Downs[/autotag]. The Sooners led by one and were at the [autotag]Kansas Jayhawks[/autotag]’ 38-yard line needing one, maybe two first downs to ice the game away.

The Sooners ran it three straight times gaining a total of three yards before punting it through the end zone giving Kansas 1:56 to go win the game. Eventually, [autotag]Jason Bean[/autotag] led them on an 80-yard touchdown drive in just over a minute converting one huge 4th Down play to win the game.

That drive for the Sooners has drawn many questions about playcalling. [autotag]Dillon Gabriel[/autotag] has been someone the coaches have touted should be in the Heisman conversation. [autotag]Jovantae Barnes[/autotag] is someone who hadn’t had a carry since the game against the [autotag]Tulsa Golden Hurricanes[/autotag]. But instead of putting the ball in Gabriel’s hands to win the game, Jeff Lebby put the ball in Barnes’ hands on two of the three plays including the 3rd and 12 play that would have won the game with a first down.

Gabriel was asked about that drive after the game. “We need to get a first down there,” Gabriel said. “We got to help out d (defense) out right there.”

Gabriel threw the ball only 19 times the whole day. Six of those passes came on the final drive to win the game. Gabriel’s day started shaky with a wildly inaccurate pass to [autotag]Austin Stogner[/autotag] on the first play of the game and a pick-six on the third play of the game.

There were also times guys were open but Gabriel didn’t throw them the ball and looked like someone not seeing the field. Still, with the game on the line, you need to trust your quarterback to make the play.

Lebby talked about his mindset going into that drive after the game. “We wanted to make sure they used all three but we were trying like heck to get a first down,” Lebby said. “Felt like running the ball, having the ability to pin them there without any timeouts, make them go the length was the right thing to do. That’s why I ran it there on 3rd Down. Got to execute better. Got a chance to win the game if we stay on the field.”

While we understand the thought process of making Kansas use their timeouts, that’s coaching to not lose the game instead of coaching to win the game. Usually, coaches who coach not to lose the game end up losing the game.

Running it on first down made a lot of sense. But after losing a yard, the plan should have changed. At that point, there was too much time left in the game to worry about Kansas’ timeout situation.

It brought back memories of a year ago and how Oklahoma lost so many close games late because of coaching blunders. Last year, one loss became multiple losses in a row. The Sooners had multiple losing streaks.

We’ll see if this year is any different when they take on Oklahoma State this Saturday in Stillwater.

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