Three Quick Takeaways from Oklahoma's Victory Over TCU
NORMAN — Caleb Williams has arrived.
The No. 4-ranked Oklahoma Sooners looked as explosive as they have all season on offense Saturday night, lighting up the scoreboard en route to a 52-31 victory over the TCU Horned Frogs at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.
Unfortunately for the Sooners, while it appeared they fixed one major issue, another leak sprung on the back end of the defense. Oklahoma needed their offense to score in bunches as the high-powered TCU attack wrecked havoc on the OU defense all night long.
Superman Takes Flight
Oklahoma head coach Lincoln Riley lifted the shroud surrounding this week’s quarterback controversy about 15 minutes before kickoff when it was announced in the press box that the true freshman would indeed supplant Spencer Rattler at quarterback.
Just as he did last week in the Cotton Bowl, Williams gave Riley no reason to turn elsewhere.
Williams dazzled in his debut as a starter, completing 18-of-23 passes for 295 yards and four touchdowns.
He wasn’t done though, adding another 66 yards on the ground and tacking on a rushing touchdown to cap off his five-touchdown night.
Following up his performance against Texas, ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit went as far as to place Williams directly into the Heisman Trophy mix on the broadcast.
And while that may be putting the cart before the horse, it’s undeniable that the Oklahoma offense was as explosive as it has been all season long with Williams at the helm against the Horned Frogs.
Back to Square One
When Alex Grinch arrived at Oklahoma, he took over a defense which ranked No. 129 nationally in pass defense.
Coming into Saturday’s contest against the Horned Frogs, the Sooner secondary again found themselves in the hundreds, ranked 108th against the pass.
TCU quarterback Max Duggan exploited the weakness, completing 20-of-30 passes for 336 yards and four touchdowns.
The Sooners are in a tough spot. With no bye week in sight, the injuries are piling up on the back end of the defense.
Safety Delarrin Turner-Yell, corner Woodi Washington and nickel Jeremiah Criddell didn’t play on Saturday, as the trio patrolled the sidelines in street clothes.
Matters were made even worse when another starting corner, D.J. Graham, was ruled out of the game with what the OU radio broadcast classified was concussion protocol.
As a result of the piling injuries and the continued struggles, true freshman Billy Bowman got the start at corner, moving Justin Broiles over to nickel.
The Oklahoma secondary is going backwards, and they still have to survive another two games before the off week where they can hopefully heal up. Thankfully, even a leaky secondary should be able to dispose of Kansas and Texas Tech with ease.
Silent, but Deadly
For the third straight week, Kennedy Brooks carried the load in the OU running game.
Receiving the vast majority of carries, Brooks led the Sooners with 135 rushing yards on 14 attempts, averaging 9.6 yards per carry and finishing with one touchdown.
Though he may have gotten overshadowed by Williams’ heroics, Brooks was steady — especially in the second half.
While Williams was the main reason the Oklahoma offense had put up gaudy numbers, it was Brooks who closed out the game for the Sooners.
Getting the ball back in the fourth quarter up 45-31, Riley leaned on Brooks. The OU head coach called Brooks’ number eight straight times to chew the clock and ice the game on Oklahoma’s final scoring drive.
The Sooners may have turned the page on offense, but Brooks figures to be a major factor in the running game headed into the home stretch of the season.
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