Missing QB Dillon Gabriel, Oklahoma's Jeff Lebby Couldn't Outthink Texas

DALLAS — The Oklahoma offense took drastic measures to try and move the ball against Texas.

Brent Venables’ Sooners were without starting quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who left last week’s contest against the TCU Horned Frogs with a concussion.

Pittsburgh transfer Davis Beville was in line to make his first start for OU in the Cotton Bowl, but offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby resorted to the wildcat package early and often in an attempt to move the ball.

Beville was inaccurate from the start, failing to get a quick pass to wide receiver Drake Stoops in the flat on the first drive of the game, and the Sooners hit the Longhorns with a barrage of direct snaps that had limited impact.

Tight end Brayden Willis, wide receiver Jalil Farooq and running backs Eric Gray and Marcus Major all took turns taking the snaps from center Andrew Raym during the 49-0 blowout loss, a strategy that Gray said Oklahoma started to implement last Sunday and Monday.

OU did catch Texas off guard with the package on the second drive of the game, moving the ball all the way into the red zone with the help of a fake field goal. But the drive stalled out after the Sooners couldn’t convert on either a third-and-2 or a fourth-and-2.

After the game, Lebby thought turning to the wildcat would help make things easier for Beville.

“Felt like it would just take a little bit of pressure off the QB, hopefully put us into some good situations,” Lebby said. “And I think that’s what’s most frustrating, is it put us into some really good situations that we didn’t take advantage of there in the first half on those first five drives.“

Once the Sooners tipped their hand, Texas loaded the box to stop the run.

Beville’s arm scared nobody on the Longhorn sideline, as he finished 6-for-12 passing with 38 yards and an interception.

There was no call placed to General Booty to save the game though, as true freshman Nick Evers was the only other quarterback to play on Saturday for the Sooners in the loss.

The decision to stick with Beville was dictated by what the coaching staff saw from the other quarterbacks during the week, Venables said.

"We gave the backups reps all week," he said. "We base it on what you saw over the course of the whole week and, certainly, what we've seen since the start of fall camp. We felt like Davis gave us the best opportunity to win and be successful."

Oklahoma worked quickly to add as many wrinkles as they could, hoping to surprise the Texas defense in the face of quarterback uncertainty.

“We definitely wanted to just make sure we had something to back up,” Gray said after the game. “We wanted to make sure we had something to fall on, something that would get the defense off the edge. They don’t know who’s getting the ball, they don’t know where the ball is going. Just something to keep their defense on their heels.”

Headed into the locker room, the Sooners had put up 139 yards of total offense.

But out of the half, Texas adjusted and Oklahoma had no answers.

Lebby’s offense mustered just 24 yards of offense in the second half, and failed to put any points on the board against Texas for the first time since 1965.

Farooq thought the team did a good job handling all the moving parts in practice this week and that they just didn’t do enough to make the difference on Saturday.

“There was a lot going on. Just a lot of preparation, a lot of staying focused,” Farooq said. “Dealing with a lot of different injuries so we had to come up with a lot of schemes to move the ball.

“… I feel like we just left a lot on the field… We gotta execute a lot better.”

For now, Oklahoma’s days of a quarterback room overflowing with talent are in the past.

OU’s depth at the position has steadily declined as players the caliber of Tanner Mordecai and Chandler Morris hit the portal in years past looking for a path to playing time.

The two portal additions, Beville and Booty, weren’t even trusted to run the offense in a potentially season-defining game for Venables’ team.

Oklahoma’s lack of depth behind Gabriel made the Sooner offense one-dimensional before the game even kicked off, and OU was unable to stay ahead of the chains to even give itself a chance to move the football.

“To me, it was still about what was happening on first and second down that put us in those fourth-down situations,” Lebby said. “We gotta make plays on fourth down and I gotta put us in better situations. But it’s first and second down at times to where you don’t have to be in those situations.

“… So, frustrated about that, embarrassed that it ended the way it did, and time to get back to work.”

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