Tag: Zach Schmit

Fake field goal among the ‘best of the week’ in USA TODAY Sports report card

Oklahoma’s fake field goal for a touchdown among the “best of the week” in USA TODAY Sports week nine report card. From @john9williams.

Oklahoma’s special teams have been a weapon in the traditional sense this season.

Michael Turk is averaging 45.7 yards per punt, and opposing teams are averaging just 1.6 yards per return. Zach Schmit has been perfect on extra-point tries and is eight of nine on field goal attempts.

Beyond that, the Sooners kicking operation with Turk as holder and Schmit as the placekicker have twice executed beautiful fake field goals. Against Texas, they picked up a first down when Turk threw a pass from his knee to Schmit. Against Iowa State, along with the protection, Turk and Schmit executed the fake to perfection to give the Sooners their first touchdown of the game.

Their performance earned mention in USA TODAY Sports’ report card from week nine.

 

“Our kicking game, again, was a real weapon for us,” Brent Venables said after the win. “Zach Schmit has been just an assassin as I’ve said before. The guy doesn’t flinch, and to me, he could be an MVP candidate here after eight games. Michael Turk had his first career touchdown pass and the two 60- and 61-yard punts in the fourth quarter were just enormous.”

Going into this week’s matchup with the Bears, the Sooners’ special teams aces will certainly be called upon to have an impact. With a couple of well-executed fake field goals, one has to wonder if Oklahoma will have any more tricks up their sleeve.

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Stock Report: Sooners defense on the rise after three interception day vs. Iowa State

The Oklahoma Sooners’ defense and special teams is trending in the right direction after their win over Iowa State. From @thatmanbryant

Oklahoma won just its second true road game of the year. They went to Iowa State and won 27-13 behind a solid day from their defense and some timely plays from their offense and special teams. After being dismantled by TCU on the road a few weeks ago, Oklahoma needed to erase the stench of that road defeat from their minds and they did that.

Outside of Eric Gray’s 20 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown, Oklahoma didn’t have a 100-yard receiver, and Dillon Gabriel failed to throw for more than 200 yards but the offense made plays when they had to. They didn’t have to do much in this one as the defense carried the day. The Sooners stymied Iowa State’s ground game for just 66 yards.

The win sets Oklahoma’s record at 5-3, putting them just one win away from securing bowl eligibility. As the Sooners now turn their focus to Baylor, here’s our weekly stock report, where we see who’s trending up and who’s trending down.

Best pictures from Oklahoma’s 27-13 win over Iowa State

Relive the Sooners’ 27-13 win over Iowa State with some fantastic photos from the game.

The Oklahoma Sooners took care of business to move to 5-3 and 2-3 in the Big 12 with their 27-13 win over the Iowa State Cyclones in Ames, Iowa. It wasn’t necessarily a dominating performance in any one phase, but all three phases made contributions on the way to the 14-point win.

[autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag] had his fifth 100-yard rushing day of the season, and the defense recorded three interceptions, a sack, a tackle for loss, and a fourth down stop at the end of the game to secure the win.

[autotag]Jalil Farooq[/autotag] led the way in the passing game with four receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown, but it was the special teams unit that made the biggest contributions.

[autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag] was 2 for 2 on field goals and hit both extra points, but it was his touchdown that helped the Oklahoma Sooners the most, putting them up 13-3 in the first half.

The Sooners’ defense shut down the Iowa State Cyclones’ running game, holding [autotag]Jirehl Brock[/autotag] to 11 carries for 22 yards and just two yards per carry after coming into the game averaging five yards per carry for the season.

Quarterback [autotag]Hunter Dekkers[/autotag] was forced to throw it 57 times and although he put up a lot of yards, he wasn’t able to get the Cyclones in the end zone.

It was an important performance for a Sooners team looking to build momentum for the remainder of 2022 to carry into next year. Let’s take a look at some of the best photos from the Sooners win.

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5 takeaways from the Oklahoma Sooners 27-13 win over the Iowa State Cyclones

Oklahoma produced in all three phases on Saturday vs. Iowa State in their 27-13 win. Here are 5 takeaways from the pivotal road victory. from @thatmanbryant

Oklahoma may have found its defensive swagger once again. After the bye week, Oklahoma made the trip to Ames, Iowa to take on Matt Campbell’s Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones entered the game 10th nationally in yards per rush allowed and were sixth in the nation in points allowed per game at 15.5. They also feature Will McDonald, one of Iowa State’s all-time best at rushing the passer.

Oklahoma beat the Cyclones 27-13 behind a fairly complementary performance in all three phases.

[autotag]Eric Gray[/autotag] contributed 101 yards on the ground and a touchdown. The defense tallied three interceptions of Iowa State QB Hunter Dekkers. Lastly, [autotag]Zach Schmit[/autotag] and [autotag]Michael Turk[/autotag] provided the impact on special teams to put the Sooners over the top. Schmit scored on a fake field goal pass and nailed two field goal attempts, while Michael Turk chipped in two 60-yard punts to flip the field in the fourth quarter, including one that pinned the Cyclones at the one on the drive following a score that made it 20-13.

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The game was sloppy at times, and there are some things to take issue with. However, a conference win on the road considering the season Oklahoma has had, is nothing to scoff at. With such a complementary and tough win, we want to share our five takeaways from the Oklahoma win before Oklahoma starts to prepare for a home game against Baylor.

Report Card: Oklahoma grades poorly in loss to Kansas State

A poor showing by Oklahoma’s defense doomed the Sooners against Kansas State in our report card from week four.

Any dreams of an undefeated season have officially come to an end as Oklahoma suffered its first loss of the season Saturday night against the Kansas State Wildcats. This has become a recurring theme over the last four years between these two.

Somehow Kansas State just finds a way to beat Oklahoma. Saturday’s loss against the Wildcats followed the same script as the previous losses. Deuce Vaughn was a thorn in Oklahoma’s side, accompanied by a breakout performance from an athletic quarterback. This time, instead of Skylar Thompson, it was Nebraska transfer, Adrian Martinez. He looked like the second-coming of former Heisman winner Cam Newton against Oklahoma. He diced them up through the air and ran for days against this Sooners’ defense.

Ultimately, Oklahoma lost the game 41-34. The story may have ended differently if they could’ve come up with two more plays on both sides of the ball. They couldn’t get out of their way. With that said, we have our final grades for the game and shared them below.

Stock Up, Stock Down: Receivers show up in a big and Jaren Kanak makes a splash

Taking a look at who’s trending up and who’s trending down following OU’s 49-14 win against Nebraska.

Oklahoma went up to Lincoln, Nebraska and things got out of hand. After forcing Oklahoma to punt to start the game, Nebraska came out swinging with a solid hook that connected on their first offensive drive of the game. From there, a crimson avalanche hit Nebraska, and the Cornhuskers never recovered.

Oklahoma went on to win 49-14, and aside from a garbage-time touchdown, Oklahoma may have held Nebraska to just seven points.

From great performances from the receivers to the defensive line routinely bullying the Nebraska offensive line, it was clear there was a distinct difference in the talent on each of these rosters.

Oklahoma cleared the nonconference part of its schedule and ended it by passing its biggest test with flying colors. With the smoke clearing on the game, we look at whose stock is trending up and whose is trending down as the Sooners get ready for their Big 12 opener at home against Kansas State.

3 stars from Oklahoma’s 45-13 win vs. UTEP

Dillon Gabriel, Reggie Grimes, and Eric Gray separated themselves as stars on Saturday in OU’s 45-13 win against UTEP.

It feels good to be able to spend time analyzing actual game action against other opponents. It felt as if we’d never make it, but we did, and it’s glorious.

Oklahoma laced up the cleats and strapped on the pads on Saturday to take on the UTEP Miners. The Miners, led by Dana Dimel, came into the game 0-1 after losing in week zero to North Texas.

On the other side, a historic day unfolded for Brent Venables.

He returned to Oklahoma and coached in his first game since leaving Norman to be Clemson’s defensive coordinator over a decade ago. This time was different. He became the 18th Oklahoma head coach to win his head coaching debut as the Sooners took down UTEP 45-13.

Offensively, Oklahoma entered the season replacing their starting quarterbacks, running back, starting left guard, a Swiss army knife in Jeremiah Hall, and a couple of notable pass catchers who transferred or went to the NFL. Defensively, they lost six starters. Five went to the NFL, and the other, safety Pat Fields, transferred to Stanford.

Saturday was step one in establishing new stars for the Oklahoma program and seeing guys in new positions taking steps forward in the right direction. Some names stood out in particular as we select our three stars for the first time this season.