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Oklahoma-BYU: Three Keys to the Game

AllSooners John Hoover, Ryan Chapman and Randall Sweet preview Oklahoma's game at BYU.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma-BYU: Three Keys to the Game
Oklahoma-BYU: Three Keys to the Game

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Oklahoma Sooners

PROVO, UT — Road games have not been particularly kind to No. 14-ranked Oklahoma this season.

Whether it’s bad weather, hostile crowds or self-inflicted mistakes, the Sooners have played some bad football away from Owen Field in 2023.

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Saturday at BYU could be OU’s sternest test yet. Lavell Edwards Stadium will be frothing with anticipation as the proud Cougars host arguably the highest-profile conference game in school history. Some 65,000 BYU fans, famously friendly, will be in no mood to yield. The Sooners will need to be sharp.

Here are three keys to an Oklahoma victory:

Run, Gavin, run

Could sophomore Gavin Sawchuk be in for his third consecutive 100-yard game on the ground?

Could he even set a new career high for the third week in a row?

Against the 114th-ranked run defense in college football, he could.

Sawchuk is the Sooners’ hot hand right now, and his athletic talent has begun to emerge. Last week against WVU, he ripped off at least a 30-yard run for the third time in four weeks. Sawchuck finished with 135 yards rushing and averaged 6.1 yards per carry.

Just a few short weeks ago — against Texas, at Kansas, in fact — Tawee Walker was the Sooners’ best runner. But while Walker runs low and breaks tackles, he lacks Sawchuk’s burst. And he doesn’t seem to have bounced back yet from an ankle sprain at KU. He had just one carry for minus-2 yards last week against the Mountaineers.

So with two games left in the season, it seems DeMarco Murray finally has his RB1.

If the weather turns nasty on Saturday, or if Dillon Gabriel and the OU passing game are uneven, the Sooners would be wise to turn things over to Sawchuk.

Slow Slovis

Oklahoma hasn’t had a quarterback sack in either of its last three weeks. Even a dominating 59-20 win over West Virginia last week didn’t produce one. Nobody can remember the last time OU went that long without a sack, but it’s been decades.

With quarterback Kedon Slovis back from injury and eager to prove something after an inconsistent 5-5 start, now would be an ideal time for the Sooner pass rush to show its teeth.

Slovis began his career at USC, then transferred to Pitt. With two games left in his college career, he likely wants to leave his mark. Beating Oklahoma would certainly accomplish that.

Ethan Downs, Rondell Bothroyd, Trace Ford and P.J. Adebawore need to pin their ears back and get after Slovis early, or he could gain confidence and get the BYU offense rolling.

If OU still can’t generate conventional pressure up front, Brent Venables may have to dial up something exotic. Maybe Dasan McCullough comes back with a vengeance and gets to rush the passer, or perhaps Gentry Williams returns and gets sent on some blitzes. Or maybe Venables comes right up the gut with something from Reggie Pearson or Billy Bowman or Peyton Bowen.

Either way, making Slovis uncomfortable — unlike what they did with KU’s Jason Bean or OSU’s Alan Bowman — could become paramount.

Respect the corps

It’s good that Dillon Gabriel’s trust in Drake Stoops has evolved from third-down security blanket to every-down playmaker.

But while Stoops has emerged as WR1 and Gabriel’s go-to guy, this offense has been predicated on spreading the ball around to all the playmakers.

That means Nic Anderson might need more than the four touches he got last week — which he turned into 119 receiving yards.

It also means Jayden Gibson might need more than the two touches he got against WVU — which he converted into 69 yards, including a 35-yard touchdown.

It also means Jalil Farooq might need more than the two touches he got in the previous game, which he used for 30 yards.

Those three respectively averaged 29.8, 19.0 and 15.0 yards per catch against West Virginia, and they’ve been reliable playmakers downfield all season.

Feeding Stoops has become the heart and soul of the OU passing game. But, weather permitting, Gabriel continuing to pump the football downfield to his playmakers will likely overwhelm a BYU defense that ranks 124th in the nation in defending the pass.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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