DILLION GABRIEL IS ONE TOUGH COOKIE
Feature photo: Oklahoma Sooners quarterback Dillon Gabriel (8) scrambles away from Cincinnati Bearcats defensive end Jowon Briggs (0) in the fourth quarter of the NCAA Big 12 football game between the Cincinnati Bearcats and the Oklahoma Sooners at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023. The Bearcats lost their first Big 12 football game, 20-6, to the Sooners before a sellout crowd
The Oklahoma Sooners score Saturday against Cincinnati in the Skyline Chili city was only 20-6. If you are a member of Sooner Nation, do not let that low number 0f 20 mislead you. If you do, take it to the outhouse, not the house. Future teams that have to play OU and scheme their defense to stop the Sooner offensive will not be mislead by the 20 points. OU’s offense was as impressive as the blowouts against weakish Arkansas State and Tulsa. It is not a final score that is indictive on how a team plays. A game that OU only won by 14 might not impress the sports world it can tell tale on what the Sooners can do to win future games. OU can win all the games they play. That includes Texas. OU, not a finished product, was impressive in two most important items Saturday. On the offensive end, the usage of the quarterback Dillion Gabriel in the run game was significantly effective. OU’s offensive line and set of receivers that blocked the hell out of of very stout Bearcat defense allowed Gabriel and the running backs to make plays. Sure, OU did not win every battle on every play, but they show that they can control a defense with not only a passing game, but a running game that features a quarterback that can make plays with his feet.
As of Sooner left tackle Walter Rouse, “DG, people might not think, but he’s got some legs under him. He’s a tough son of a gun, too. He got hit a couple times and was able to get a couple yards after the hit, especially on that touchdown run. It may not seem a lot, but in the game, he made it where it counted.”
As of offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby on Gabriel, “Good, except for the fumble. That was a frustrating part. That kind of summed up the day for us offensively, just finding ways to mess it up. Just playing cleaner, executing cleaner. But really proud of how tough our guys played. Really proud of how tough he played when it wasn’t perfect. We had some really strange things happened with the football that’s kind of unexplainable. But proud of him.”
Finally, head coach Brent Venables summed it up Saturday with his quarterback telling the media, ” I think it’s always good to have that,….It’s good at every level of football to have a guy that can do that. It’s what we call a plus-one run game. You know, it’s like, ‘Oh now what are you gonna do?’ And there’s stuff that you can do (defensively). But you have to have, schematically, things designed just the right way that depends on the scheme to account for it. And not an easy thing to do when you want to play — we got lots of playmakers that can really strain you, that sometimes those schemes that are designed to stop the quarterback from running aren’t near as good at stopping the passing game. You’re vulnerable there. So striking that balance is hard on the defense. But when a quarterback can do that, it drives you crazy.”
As the leader on offense for OU summed up Saturday’s performance, “A win is a win, so I don’t want to complain about that. I think there’s things we can get better at. But at the same time, finding ways to win in games where there might be a struggle or adversity, that’s important.”
OU has what all the best teams in college football must have. That is an exceptional quarterback that is trusted to get it done for the team to have a chance to win the game.
