Oklahoma Hangs in But Can't Finish in Cheez-It Bowl Loss to Florida State
ORLANDO — Classic memories of Oklahoma and Florida State’s rich bowl heritage in the state of Florida were in no jeopardy of being forgotten.
Not in the Cheez-It Bowl. Not by these two teams.
Still, the contest that unfolded Thursday at Camping World Stadium was compelling and competitive, with two teams fighting for inches and respect and ultimately playing an entertaining college football game, won 35-32 by Florida State in the final minute.
OU and FSU combined for nine losses this year. The Sooners came in 6-6, the Seminole 9-3. Two teams that have met in the Orange Bowl and even once played for the national championship have gone through turbulent coaching changes — Mike Norvell is in his third year in Tallahassee, Brent Venables is in his first in Norman — and some hard times along the way.
Ultimately, 61,520 fans — a vast majority wearing the garnet and gold of Florida State — were treated to another OU-FSU classic.
Oklahoma finishes the season with a 6-7 record and continued a season on the wrong side of history. It’s the first time the Sooners have finished with a losing record since 1998, the final year of the John Blake era.
Bob Stoops took over in 1999 and, with Venables’ help, turned Oklahoma into a winner for the next 2 1/2 decades.
Now the Venables rebuild in the wake of the Lincoln Riley era continues.
Thursday showed again exactly what Sooner Nation has seen too much of this season — an Oklahoma team that came painfully close (now five one-possession losses) but couldn’t finish.
Needing just one more defensive stop, the undermanned Sooners — stricken this game by opt-outs, transfer portal departures and injuries — gave up scores on four of its last five drives.
The game-winner was a 32-yard field goal by Ryan Fitzgerald with 55 seconds to play.
Jovantae Barnes (108) and Gavin Sawchuk (100) both surpassed 100 yards rushing and scored a touchdown. Dillon Gabriel was 14-of-24 for 243 yards passing and accounted for two touchdowns. FSU quarterback Jordan Travis completed 27-of-48 passes for 418 yards two TDs.
The game was mostly back and forth and seemed to turn for good midway through the fourth quarter.
With the scoreboard knotted at 25 and the Sooners driving for a potential go-ahead score, Sawchuk — in just his second game of the season and his first extensive playing time — made his first mistake in an otherwise special night.
Sawchuck lost the football while diving through contact, and the Seminoles recovered.
FSU drove 68 yards in six plays, and Travis threw to Markeston Douglas for a 17-yard touchdown to put the ‘Noles up 32-25 with 7:22 to play.
OU’s next drive, however, was the perfect response.
The Sooners went 75 yards on nine plays and took more than 3 1/2 minutes off the clock.
Gabriel hit Jalil Farooq for 5 yards, Sawchuck ran for 4, and Barnes converted the third down with a 2-yard run. Gabriel then broke contain and swept downfield on a 23-yard gain. Two plays later, Gabriel found Farooq up the right sideline for 28 yards. Barnes then took it in untouched on a misdirection counter run 12 yards to tie it at 32-32 with 3:37 to play.
FSU wideout Johnny Wilson, though, was too much down the stretch.
Wilson, who finished with 202 yards on eight receptions, finished things off in style with a 58-yard gain — a one-handed catch — over Justin Broiles to put the Seminoles in position for the winning score.
Trailing 18-17 early in the fourth quarter, Oklahoma put together a forceful touchdown drive to take a 25-18 lead.
The Sooners sandwiched a 31-yard throw from Gabriel to Marvin Mims in between six rushing plays — for 51 yards — that concluded with Sawchuk’s first career touchdown, a 15-yard run.
FSU responded immediately, however, going 75 yards in six plays, capped by a 38-yard touchdown run by Treshaun Ward around right end on which he was barely touched. Ward’s second TD of the night tied it at 25 with 11:05 to play and set up the memorable finish.
OU came in as a 9.5-point underdog, and the first half did not go according to plan as the Sooners led 17-11 at the break — and could have been up by more.
Barnes and Sawchuk, both true freshmen, combined for 21 carries and 124 rushing yards at halftime as they plied through an offensive line that included four new starters in Jacob Sexton and Tyler Guyton at tackle, Robert Congel at center and Savion Byrd at guard — then got thinner on the third play of the game when Sexton was injured and was replaced by Aaryn Parks.
The shuffling up front created problems for Gabriel in pass protection, but Gabriel showed toughness and even a little spice in the first half as he took hit after hit and often got up jawing with the opposition.
FSU struck first with a field goal on the opening drive, but Gabriel’s 22-yard touchdown throw to Farooq midway through the first quarter gave the Sooners a 7-3 lead.
Gabriel’s 8-yard touchdown run, on which he jumped over and through tackles to reach the end zone, pushed Oklahoma’s lead to 14-3.
Oklahoma still led 14-3 and had a shot at going up 21-3 late in the second quarter when Sawchuk busted free for a 22-yard touchdown run. But the play was called back by a holding penalty, and after two more runs were stuffed at the line, Zach Schmit missed a 45-yard field goal.
The Seminoles responded immediately with a six-play, 72-yard, touchdown drive that cut it to 14-11.
Schmit’s 41-yard field goal with 15 seconds left gave the Sooners a 17-11 lead at the break.
