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Oklahoma-BYU: One Big Thing

Keep an eye on Sooners offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby as OU hits the road again and the weather could turn nasty.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma-BYU: One Big Thing
Oklahoma-BYU: One Big Thing

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Oklahoma Sooners

PROVO, UT — Which Jeff Lebby will Oklahoma fans get on Saturday at Lavell Edwards Stadium?

Will they get the Lebby that sensed Dillon Gabriel was struggling early in blustery Lawrence and reined him in a bit too much and ultimately got too conservative and lost to Kansas for the first time in a generation?

Or will they get the Lebby that didn’t allow Gabriel to run it one productive time in Stillwater and suffered the consequences inna mistake-filled loss to Oklahoma State?

Or will they get the Lebby that let Gabriel take the top off the West Virginia defense last week in Norman and allowed him to run for 50 yards and three touchdowns and also throw for 423 yards and five TDs and win a couple of national and conference awards?

Keep in mind, it’s supposed to be cold and wet in the Salt Lake City area on Saturday — temperatures in the 40s with a 90 percent chance of precipitation in Provo.

From UCF to OU, Gabriel has a dark history of not performing well in bad weather.

If things get sloppy and if Gabriel can’t take care of the football, does Lebby pull in the playbook again? It would seem like a safe gambit, but the bottom line is Oklahoma’s offensive strength is throwing the football.

Lebby might have to find some balance between a conservative run game and letting Gabriel sling it deep against a BYU defense that has been porous against both the run and 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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