Tag: Peyton Bowen

Peyton Bowen named midseason freshman All-American by On3

Peyton Bowen has lived up to the hype so far in his Oklahoma Sooners career. That has earned him a midseason honor.

In December 2022, the Oklahoma Sooners staff and fan base sat in anticipation to see where five-star safety [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] would end up. At the time, Bowen was committed to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but the rumors ahead of commitment day were he was going to flip to the Sooners.

Instead, Bowen shocked the nation by picking the Oregon Ducks. As the next day went by, you started hearing reports of issues with his National Letter of Intent to Oregon, and the Oklahoma buzz returned.

Ultimately Bowen signed with the Sooners. Since then, the expectations have been high for Bowen. Oklahoma isn’t used to getting five-star defensive players, especially at defensive back. Bowen even mentioned wanting to be a freshman All-American.

Bowen has lived up to that hype and then some. He has 23 tackles, four pass deflections, two blocked punts and a forced fumble. Bowen was named a midseason freshman All-American by On3.

Peyton Bowen has proven to be an impact player in his first season at Oklahoma. I think he came into college with those expectations. Bowen has played fewer snaps than some of the other defensive backs on this midseason true freshman All-American team, but has made a significant impact in his opportunities to this point. He’s played 190 snaps for Brent Venables‘ defense, tallying 23 tackles and four pass breakups. We’ve seen Bowen look really strong in coverage. He’s been able to stick with receiver and make some key plays. Had a huge play in the Red River Rivalry this week with a big hit on Quinn Ewers jarring the ball loose and a fumble that was recovered by the Sooners, a key play. He’s also made plays on special teams. – Charles Power On3

That forced fumble in the biggest game of the year was just another sign of how the moment isn’t too big for him. We see every year freshmen struggle in big moments. It’s understandable because of their lack of experience. But not Bowen. He was great in that game.

With Bowen playing the way he is and seeing how bright his future can be, it makes those wild couple of days in December all worth it.

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.

15 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through Week 6 per Pro Football Focus

The Oklahoma Sooners are now 6-0 on the seasons after their win over Texas. Which Sooners are the highest-graded after week 6, according to Pro Football Focus.

It takes a team effort to start the season 6-0. Oklahoma is playing well on both sides of the ball through the midpoint of the season. It leads the Big 12 in scoring offense and scoring defense. Nationally, the Sooners are No. 4 in the nation in scoring offense and No. 11 in scoring defense.

They are getting fantastic play from a number of individuals on both sides of the ball. But the biggest difference with this team compared to years past is what’s happening on defense.

It can’t be overstated how much better the defense is. The unit is a big reason Oklahoma is 6-0. Eight of its 15 highest-graded players through the first six weeks of the season are on the defensive side of the ball.

Among players accounting for at least 25% of the snaps, here are the 15 highest-graded Sooners through Week 6, according to Pro Football Focus.

Minimum Offensive Snaps: 119

Minimum Defensive Snaps: 109

Sooners freshman Peyton Bowen continues to make a name for himself

Peyton Bowen continues to show why stars matter on the football field.

We are six games into the 2023 college football season, and it seems like in every game, [autotag]Peyton Bowen[/autotag] is making a key play. Whether it’s blocking a punt or forcing a fumble in the [autotag]Red River Rivalry[/autotag], Bowen has been everywhere.

The Sooners haven’t had a player like Bowen on the defensive side of the ball in a long time. He’s the perfect example why you bring in a coach such as [autotag]Brent Venables[/autotag]: to get those guys to wear the crimson and cream.

Bowen reflected on his first six games as a Sooner.

“It’s been fun,” Bowen said. “There’s games where it’s like the same, but then there’s games that it’s big time. The plays are bigger, the moments are bigger.”

The best attribute Bowen possesses might be how those big games and big moments never seem too big for him. He stays calm and collected at all times.

Bowen doesn’t act like a freshman off the field, either. While everyone is already talking about a rematch, Bowen admitted to feeling that way, too, he knows there’s still work to be done.

“We just have to take care of business,” Bowen said. “Job ain’t finished. There are still teams out there that can give us a little problem. We just have to keep playing. Can’t get complacent.”

That’s been the mindset for the team this season. Time and time again, we hear them talk about wanting to go 1-0 each week and not looking ahead to the future. Saturday was a huge win, but as Bowen said, “job ain’t finished.”

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.

15 highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners through Week 5 per Pro Football Focus

Five games into the season, who are the highest-graded Oklahoma Sooners according to Pro Football Focus?

Football is a team game, but it’s made up of individual performances that enhance the whole. This season, the Sooners are playing well on both sides of the ball and have a top-five scoring offense and defense.

But what’s happening in 2023 is a change of pace from years past.

Of the Sooners’ top 15 highest-graded players, according to Pro Football Focus, nine of them are on the defensive side of the ball. Oklahoma has an elite offense but looks like they have an elite defense to match for what feels like the first time in forever.

Minimum Offensive Snaps: 99

Minimum Defensive Snaps: 89

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.

Three Stars: Dillon Gabriel shines bright and leads the way as Sooners dispatch of Iowa State

Oklahoma dominated Iowa State. Take a look at our three-stars from the game.

Oklahoma is one win away from matching their entire win total from last year. If they win their next game, the dialogue about what this Oklahoma team can achieve this year may shift significantly.

Next up is a game against their rivals, Texas. But that game wouldn’t mean nearly as much if they laid an egg against Iowa State.

The Sooners won decisively, beating the Cyclones 50-20 in front of a packed-out Gaylord Family Oklahoma Memorial Stadium Saturday night.

The game never felt out of the Sooners’ control despite a couple of busts in coverage leading to two Iowa State touchdowns. Those two touchdowns allowed the Cyclones to cut the Sooners lead to one at 21-20. But with about nine minutes left in the second quarter, the Sooners took control of the game.

Oklahoma reeled off 29 unanswered points to put the game to bed.

The passing offense continues to hum, and while Gabriel didn’t complete 90 percent of his passes, he looked in command and played with an edge on Saturday night.

The defense pitched a second-half shutout and cleaned up some costly miscues that led to scores in the first half.

Here are this week’s 3 Stars from the win.

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Sooners offense shines, defense settles in as Oklahoma beats the Iowa State 50-20

Oklahoma Sooners put together another strong performance knocking off the Iowa State Cyclones, 50-20.

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].

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.

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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How much better is the Oklahoma Sooners defense?

It’s the question on everyone’s mind, is Oklahoma’s defense better or is it the competition they’ve been playing?

There’s no question, the Oklahoma Sooners defense has looked much improved to start off the 2023 season. But the question that remains is it because they are that much better or is it because of the competition they are playing?

The short answer is it’s a little bit of both. No, Oklahoma isn’t playing many world-beaters offensively. The [autotag]SMU Mustangs[/autotag] and the [autotag]Cincinnati Bearcats[/autotag] presented unique challenges but neither are going to be considered one of the best offenses in college football.

The fact of the matter is that hasn’t mattered in years past. Oklahoma has struggled defensively regardless of who they’ve played. Don’t believe me? Take a look at this stat Oklahoma Football’s Twitter account shared.

The fewest points allowed in 31 years. That’s three decades. Oklahoma has had some very good defenses, especially in the early 2000s, and this year’s team has been statistically better thus far.

We could go through stat after stat after stat to show why Oklahoma’s defense is that much better, but a lot of it has to do with the things not on the stat sheet.

It has more to do with how much their understanding of the defense has improved and the difference in the mental makeup of this team. It’s not second-guessing where you need to go, which can slow a defender down.

It’s playing with better technique and knowing where to look. This defense is playing fast, and it’s because they aren’t overthinking things. They aren’t questioning if the move they made is the right one or not.

Does that mean they are elite? No, they are far from a finished product.

They still lack talent in key areas. That also doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be games where the defense plays poorly. It most likely will happen this year and the offense will need to win that game.

When that happens, it also doesn’t mean things aren’t heading in the right direction. It just means there’s still work to be done.

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.