Why Running a New Offense Last Week Was Fun – But No One at Oklahoma Wants to Do it Again

NORMAN — Nobody at Oklahoma wants to have to resort to running the wildcat formation again.

It’s a gimmick, a high school offense that desperate college teams use once in a while to surprise the opposition. It’s best in short-yardage situations, or as a change of pace, something that adds a blocker the defense isn’t expecting.

But last week in Dallas, it was the Sooners’ only hope of staying in the game against Texas.

And yet, the players who got to take the direct snap, or get the football from whichever Sooner did, said they enjoyed the gimmick.

When it's 49-0, fun in the wildcat was the only fun to be had at the Cotton Bowl.

“It was definitely a surreal moment,” said tight end Brayden Willis, who was a high school quarterback in Arlington, TX, and even threw a touchdown pass at Nebraska, but hadn’t taken a direct snap at OU before last week.

“I talked about it on my podcast,” Willis said, “I was out there at one point in time, we were to the Texas side and it was rocking and it was loud, and I was like, ‘Wow. I’m really playing wildcat quarterback right now.’ It was a surreal feeling, especially in that game that meant so much to me. It was different, but it was definitely enjoyable.”

With Dillon Gabriel out with a concussion and backup Davis Beville struggling to move the football, Willis ended up leading the wildcat replacements with 12 direct snaps.

Running back Eric Gray took six direct snaps, running back Marcus Major took three, and wide receiver Jalil Farooq took two. On his two carries and a few sweeps, Farooq ended up leading the Sooners with 60 yards rushing. Gray had 59.

With Beville taking snaps as the traditional quarterback, Oklahoma’s offense mustered just 45 yards on 32 plays — a paltry average of 1.4 yards per play — and managed just two first downs.

But out of the wildcat, with direct snaps to Willis, Gray, Major and Farooq, and lots of cross-action off those plays, such as end-arounds, reverses, double-passes and more, the offense moved the football.

On 23 wildcat snaps, OU managed 136 total offense — 5.9 yards per play — and picked up seven of the Sooners’ 11 total first downs on the day.

And they did all that in just one week of preparation. Texas had a hard time adjusting to it, and it ultimately wasn't sustainable. But head coach Brent Venables was impressed.

“I thought our guys, players, the coaches, whatever they did to teach them systematically, how they taught it to get the understanding, the aggressiveness, the physicality that comes with that, the precision that you got to have, there's a lot of timing factors as well,” Venables said. “I thought they did a great job. And but again I think it comes from a group of guys that trust and believe and then they put the work in.”

Venables said had the team been a little more patient, had they converted a first-quarter fourth-and-1 or not gotten too cute and thrown an ugly interception after a big second-quarter gain, maybe they go into halftime down 21-10 or 21-14.

“You punch it in there, you continue to move the ball methodically right down the field and not turn the ball over and maybe be a little more patient there, you never know how that's gonna work,” Venables said. “ … Then you've got a real fighting chance going into halftime.”

Gabriel is expected to return today against Kansas, and if he does, offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said, the offense will return to a more traditional look.

But if Gabriel can’t go this morning, or if he suffers a setback, Oklahoma has a package it might be able to rely on. Two of the six drives that featured some element of wildcat offense produced 48 yards (on six plays) and 50 yards (on six plays).

“It was pretty cool to kind of switch the game plan up a little bit and see our ability to do that and do it effectively at times,” said wide receiver Drake Stoops, who didn’t get any direct snaps but did take an end-around, a touch pass and even looked to be throwing one off a double-pass throw from Willis. “I definitely think that’s something that could complement our offense as a whole going forward.”

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