Oklahoma-SMU Observations: LIVE In-Game Blog

NORMAN — AllSooners offers real-time observations throughout today's Week 2 matchup against SMU. Newest posts are at the top. Just keep your browser open and refresh often.

8:20 pm.

In two games, Oklahoma's defense has allowed just one touchdown. Quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw four touchdown passes against SMU.

8:12 p.m.

SMU quarterback Rhett Lashlee makes a rare mistake and throws a pass right to Justin Harrington, who intercepts the ball and takes a knee. That will do it, the Sooners outlast the Mustangs 28-11 to improve to 2-0.

-- TW

7:54 p.m.

Back-to-back scoring drives for OU as Marcus Major scores on a 27-yard pass to cap a 3-play, 30-yard drive. Sooners extend lead to 28-11 with 6:40 left.

--TW

7:50 p.m.

Peyton Bowen and Kani Walker break up passes as SMU goes three-and-out and punts the ball back to OU.

-- TW

7:45 p.m.

Oklahoma answers SMU score with 21-yards TD pass from Gabriel to Jalil Farooq to again make it a two-score game at 21-11. It is the 100th TD pass of Gabriel's career..

-- TW

7:33 p.m.

Buckle up.

Peyton Bowen appeared to have a third down pass breakup in the end zone, but he was flagged for pass interference.

SMU capitalized, as Preston Stone Stone Eby to score.

The Mustangs went for two, and Key Lawrence never turned around to find the football. Wide receiver Jake Bailey located the football, converting and pulling the SMU within three.

OU up 14-11 with 12:09 left in the fourth quarter.

— RC

7: 24 p.m.

Good game by Tawee Walker. 17 carries for 100 yards starting the fourth quarter.

— JH

7:22 p.m.

Third-quarter stats:

— JH

7:21 p.m.

Third quarter is history, and OU leads it by 11.

— JH

7:10 p.m.

Jackson Arnold comes in on fourth-and-short and — dare I say it? — Belldozes his way to an 8-yard gain. We gotta come up with a name for this package.

Then on the next fourth down, he gets spotted short. Review may be coming up.

— JH

7:07 p.m.

SMU pops their first long run of the day, but fumble-maker Key Lawrence comes through again. He swatted it away from Knighton at the end of a 23-yard run, and Danny Stutsman recovers near the OU sideline.

Smart play by Woodi Washington to not try to recover it himself as he was speeding toward the boundary. Had he touched it, he’d have been out of bounds and SMU would have retained possession.

— JH

7:02 p.m.

Gotta say it: SMU pretty much dominated the line of scrimmage that whole drive. Stuffing Jackson Arnold short of a 3rd-and-3 pickup, then limited Tawee Walker to 1 yard on 4th-and-1 was impressive.

Weird dropped pass by Gavin Freeman that should have been another first down, and then Gavin Sawchuck’s first carry of the season gets stuffed again for 1 yard on third-and-7 (odd call).

SMU ball with 9:38 left in the third quarter, trailing 14-3.

— JH

7:00 p.m.

The to-be-named Jackson Arnold package picks up the short yardage first down and then Gavin Sawchuk made his debut.

Wasn’t used on first down, but first action he’s seen.

Gabriel made a nice play rolling out to find Gavin Freeman, but he dropped it. Gabriel has been fine today and hasn’t had much help.

Lebby opted to run with Sawchuk on third-and-7, didn’t get much. Crowd booing the play call as Venables opts to punt. Odd game for the Oklahoma offense.

— RC

6:33 p.m.

Halftime stats:

— JH

6:31 p.m.

Halftime. Sooners are in a fight.

— JH

6:27 p.m.

The two things that were most concerning last week have been prevalent again this week: yards per rush on offense, and lack of disruptive plays up front by the defense.

Preston Stone has thrown the football 26 times and has not been sacked and has only been pressured once (just now by Trace Ford.)

And while Tawee Walker is averaging 7.7 yards per carry, as a group the OU running backs are averaging just 5.7 (16 for 91 yards).

— JH

6:17 p.m.

Sooners get the stop this time as Jaren Kanak blows up Stone's throw to Maryland.

— JH

6:16 p.m.

Oklahoma’s defense had a fourth-and-1 opportunity and got pressure on Stone, but the Sooners didn’t cover Jaylan Knighton (a former OU commit) out of the backfield and Stone hit him for a 19-yard gain. Not ideal.

Silver lining: Robert Spears-Jennings delivered a massive thump to drive Knighton into the grass. Spears-Jennings just hits different — literally. Now SMU faces another fourth-down decision.

— JH

6:08 p.m.

Welcome to Oklahoma, Blake Smith.

The backup tight end is the beneficiary of a play-action look to Major, and he essentially walks into the end zone for a 2-yard touchdown pass.

Caps off a 13-play drive that marched 94 yards down the field in 4:53.

Sooners up 14-3 on SMU with 8:33 left before halftime.

— RC

6:05 p.m.

And you can now mark Jalil Farooq off your bingo card. A short throw across the middle puts him on the board with his first catch of the season, a 12-yard pickup. This after a 30-yard run by Walker.

— JH

6:03 p.m.

Troy Everett appears to have replaced Savion Byrd at guard for the Sooners, and the running game has come to life. Byrd struggled in the first quarter and allowed a sack.

-- TW

6:00 p.m.

After a quick kick from QB Preston Stone pins Oklahoma at its 6-yard line, the Sooner offense finally has life. Tawee Walker has run it three times for 18 yards, including a 6-yard push on which he dragged the entire SMU team, and Dillon Gabriel had a nice third down throw to Andrel Anthony and then also ran for a 5-yard pickup.

SMU is flustered enough defensively to need a timeout.

— JH

6:00 p.m.

And finally Barnes enters the game. I guess Jeff Lebby also follows along with the live blog.

— RC

5:59 p.m.

Gavin Sawchuk was banged up in camp, sounded like he was carrying a hamstring injury, so understand why he’s not seen the field so far.

Jovantae Barnes’ absence is puzzling. Tawee Walker has had a couple of nice carries, but Marcus Major has been completely ineffective today.

Barnes and Sawchuk weren’t anywhere close to the offensive huddle before this drive started. Clearly didn’t expect to be included at the start of this possession.

— RC

5:52 p.m.

This game has no real flow right now. Offensive possessions for both teams have been hit or miss, and looks like a couple of cramps slowing down both defenses on this hot day in Norman.

Momentum up for grabs.

— RC

5:47 p.m.

First-quarter stats:

— JH

5:46 p.m.

First quarter. It's a close one.

— JH

5:45 p.m.

Let’s give credit to SMU. The Mustangs are playing hard, they’re hustling bodies to the football, they’re confusing the OU offensive line and Dillon Gabriel (that botched RPO was particularly bad) and they’re not backing down. OU leads 7-3 as the first quarter comes to a close.

— JH

5:44 p.m.

The offense continues to look all out of sorts.

Dillon Gabriel was motioning that LV Bunkley-Shelton needed to be in a different spot on that third down throw. Wide receivers coach Emmett Jones wasn’t happy with Bunkley-Shelton either.

Really only looked good as a unit on the second drive of the game. Plenty to clean up.

— RC

5:40 p.m.

Oklahoma gets off the field on third-and-13.

First chance to see what the pass rush package could look like, and OU deployed R Mason Thomas, Jonah Laulu and Trace Ford. Took a defensive lineman off the field to toss Peyton Bowen on the field. The true freshman has worn a few different hats already today. Those three up front are likely OU’s three best pass rushers right now on the defensive line.

— RC

5:35 p.m.

Gentry Williams is back in the contest and we’re seeing R Mason Thomas’ first action on the third defensive possession of the game.

Thomas almost got to Stone on the very first play, and drew a holding flag.

— RC

5:34 p.m.

The offensive line has not been good to start this one.

Walter Rouse got beat and had to tackle somebody to grab the holding call.

Dillon Gabriel didn’t have the time on that third down, and Savion Byrd looked like he missed an assignment with one Mustang coming in on a delayed blitz.

Really poor outside of the first drive in pass protection, which was the strength of the unit last week.

— RC

5:31 p.m.

Oklahoma’s last offensive possession started poorly (a holding penalty on LT Walter Rouse) and ended worse (a sack of Dillon Gabriel up the middle).

Mustangs came to play.

— JH

5:24 p.m.

Sooners get a third down stop as Billy Bowman knocks down Stone’s throw into the end zone for Dixon. Field goal cuts it to 7-3 OU, 8:43 on the clock.

Oklahoma defense gonna need to fix some things after that drive.

— JH

5:23 p.m.

Wonder if this means we aren’t going to see Dasan McCullough today.

He’s dressed out, but Peyton Bowen is the option as Harrington had to come out of the game when his helmet popped off.

— RC

5:21 p.m.

While this play is under review, Brent Venables is taking the chance to coach up cornerback Kani Walker and cheetah Justin Harrington.

Walker never looked back to find the football on SMU’s 29-yard conversion this past third-and-6.

Not sure what Venables saw with Harrington.

The review will allow OU’s defense to get on the same page as it looked a bit disoriented while SMU cranked up the tempo.

Result of the review: no foul for targeting.

— RC

5:20 p.m.

SMU goes tempo and Preston Stone is dialed in. Scrambles and hits Brinson for 29 yards over Kani Walker, then slips a ball over the middle to Bailey in front of Billy Bowman for 30 yards. Next throw was almost intercepted over the middle by Bowman, but the Ponies are threatening from the OU 12-yard line.

— JH

5:15 p.m.

A lot to digest in a short amount of time there.

Oklahoma lucky on defense that Preston Stone couldn’t connect on the deep shot downfield, Billy Bowman was beat.

Good teams take advantage of fortune, though.

A 5-star recruit chips in on special teams, and Peyton Bowen blocks the punt to set OU up with great field position.

Tawee Walker’s 9-yard rush on the second play of the drive looked much more confident than anything Marcus Major did on the first drive. And Dillon Gabriel connects with Andrel Anthony up the seam.

All told, Sooners up.

— RC

5:12 p.m.

The blocked punt results in easy points for Oklahoma: Dillon Gabriel finds Andrel Anthony wide open over the middle, and the result is a 29-yard touchdown pass. Sooners lead it 7-0, 10:39 left in the quarter.

— JH

5:10 p.m.

Really good reaction by Kani Walker as Preston Stone tried to test him early for a third-and-8, but Walker broke up the short throw and then high-fived his coach.

On fourth down, Peyton Bowen blocks the punt, and Jackson Arnold gets one snap at quarterback for a QB keeper.

It’s a Denton Guyer possession here, folks.

— JH

5:07 p.m.

Gentry Williams misses the initial tackle on second down, but started a helmet-to-helmet collision, and now he's down on the turf in front of the OU sideline. Kani Walker in for him at left corner.

— JH

5:07 p.m.

Oklahoma defensive starters:

Bothroyd - Lacey - Laulu - Downs

Harrington - Kanak - Stutsman

Williams - Bowman - Pearson - Washington

Ethan Downs started the game lined up across from SMU’s wide receiver in front of the Mustang sideline. Do with that information what you will.

— RC

5:06 p.m.

After an initial third-down conversion, Oklahoma must punt. It’s Josh Plaster. Really solid defense there by SMU, especially the third-down pass rush. OU cover team was ready to hit somebody — and did exactly that.

— JH

5:04 p.m.

Nice work there by Dillon Gabriel (and Jeff Lebby) going right back to Andrel Anthony after the dropped pass on second down.

— JH

5:03 p.m.

Oklahoma’s offensive starters:

Rouse - Byrd - Raym - Mettauer - Guyton

Anthony - Stoops - Stogner - Farooq

Gabriel - Major

— RC

5:00 p.m.

Nice job striping the stadium, folks. OU wins the toss and will receive.

— JH

4:54 p.m.

Running back Marcus Major was the starter that ran in Oklahoma’s pregame video. Not official, but of note.

— RC

4:33 p.m.

Marcus Major, Tawee Walker and Jovantae Barnes all took first team “snaps” with Dillon Gabriel as the Sooners go through pregame.

Oklahoma not tipping its hand on who is going to lead the backfield quit yet — at least during warm ups.

— RC

4:20 p.m.

A pretty clean depth chart today for Oklahoma on the health front. Every player in the two-deep is dressed today. Gavin Sawchuk and R Mason Thomas dressed out. Dasan McCullough and Drake Stoops as well. As expected, but don’t always see that.

— RC

4:04 p.m.

The Sooners' wideout crew gets a couple of boosts today. Drake Stoops is suited up and going through special teams warmups. Also, Texas transfer Brenen Thompson is suited up and looks healthy this week as he catches kicks.

4:00 p.m.

It's one hour to game time. We'll have pregame participation report, injury updates and lots more before kickoff at 5:07. Click on the "Football" tab above to keep up with our coverage all week.

— JH