Behind Dillon Gabriel, Gavin Sawchuk, Oklahoma Overwhelms TCU in Big 12 Finale
NORMAN — And now, we wait.
Oklahoma did its part on a sun-splashed Friday morning at Owen Field, hammering TCU 69-45 in the Sooners’ final Big 12 game.
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel threw for 400 yards and accounted for four touchdowns, and running back Gavin Sawchuk rushed for 130 and scored three times as OU won in a laugher that also included a few tense moments.
OU amassed 607 total yards, a fitting finale for the Sooners as OU has owned the Big 12 for the better part of the last three decades.
But if Brent Venables’ squad wants to bring home yet another conference championship, they’ll need some help in other Big 12 games that begin on Friday night and continue Saturday morning.
First, though, OU needed a victory over the Horned Frogs — and they got a big one.
OU finishes the regular season at 10-2 overall and 7-2 in Big 12 play. TCU ends at 5-7 and 3-6. It’s OU’s 42nd 10-win season (second-most in college football history) and the Sooners’ 175th Big 12 victory (Texas is next with 156).
Final stats
OU Stats
The Frogs took the Big 12 to another level last year by winning the league’s first College Football Playoff game. But this isn’t the same TCU team that was blown out by Georgia in the national title game last year. Nor was it the TCU team that knocked Gabriel out of their meeting in Fort Worth last year and went on to win 55-24.
This TCU squad came in looking for a win that would make them bowl eligible. Instead, Sonny Dykes’ Frogs now begins the offseason process.
This time, Gabriel — questionable all week after sustaining a head injury in last week’s victory at BYU — showed what kind of difference he can make as he passed for 278 yards and accounted for three touchdowns in the first half alone.
Gabriel and offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby constantly exposed TCU’s man-to-man defense with a lethal deep ball: a 50-yard bomb to Nic Anderson, a 59-yard bomb to Nic Anderson and a 53-yard bomb to Brenen Thompson — his first collegiate touchdown.
Drake Stoops also delivered a chef's kiss to his colorful career with a career-best 12 catches for 125 yards and a touchdown.
The Sooners closed the first half with three touchdown runs — 12 yards and 7 yards by Sawchuk and 9 yards by Tawee Walker — and had 375 yards total offense by halftime with a 42-16 lead.
The only hiccups for Oklahoma early were a fumbled punt return by Gavin Freeman that produced TCU’s first touchdown (that made it 7-6), then a 75-yard touchdown drive by the Frogs (that made it 14-13), then a 15-play, 80-yard drive at the end of the half that resulted in a field goal (it was all but over by then).
OU opened the third quarter with a field goal drive, but TCU answered with another touchdown, underscored by Emani Bailey’s 32-yard run untouched right through the middle of the Oklahoma defense.
Gabriel underthrew Thompson on the next play, however, his first interception since the Oklahoma State game.
TCU’s Josh Hoover then directed another touchdown drive, capped off by his 3-yard throw and 2-point conversion pass to Jared Wiley, cutting the Sooners’ lead to 45-31.
Gabriel did it with his feet on the Sooners’ next possession, keeping an option play on fourth-and-1 — from the Sooners’ own 29-yard line, a bold decision by Brent Venables that paid off with Gabriel’s 40-yard run. Gabriel then threw to Drake Stoops twice, the latter on a 9-yard catch and stretch across the goal line for a 52-31 lead.
TCU answered again with a quick touchdown drive. Hoover’s screen pass to Bailey went 12 yards and cut it back to a two-score game at 52-38 with 39 seconds left in the third quarter.
But OU responded with a 41-yard field goal from Zach Schmit that extended the Sooners’ lead to 55-38 with 10:14 to play.
Sawchuk added a short touchdown run with 6:30 to play to give the Sooners a 62-38 lead, and Billy Bowman returned an interception 45 yards for a touchdown on the next play, his sixth interception of the season and his third touchdown runback —and his second game in a row with a pick six, giving the OU defense a late measure of redemption, even though TCU finished with 520 total yards.
OU was already the only team in the nation this year to reach at least 59 points in a game three times, and took that one step further.
Meanwhile, Gabriel continued his climb up the NCAA’s career quarterback charts. In the first half alone, he passed former Sooner Landry Jones for eighth place all-time with his 124th touchdown pass, and he went from 10th in NCAA history — past Luke Falk (14,486) and former Sooner Baker Mayfield (14,607) and Kellen Moore (14,667) — to seventh on the career passing yards list. Gabriel now has 14,865 yards, and trails BYU's Ty Detmer (15,031) for sixth.
Still, all the gameday fireworks seemed a somewhat secondary storyline to the Sooners playing their last Big 12 contest, which morphed in the final minutes as Sooner Nation began chanting "S-E-C! S-E-C!"
Friday marked OU’s final Big 12 football game after 28 years of membership in what was originally an amalgamation of the eight-team Big Eight and four teams from the Southwest Conference.
The Sooners under Bob Stoops made the Big 12 their own, with 14 conference championships in 28 years. No other school won more than three during that time.
Oklahoma announced in July 2021 that they’ll be moving in 2025 to the Southeastern Conference, along with Texas. But in February, that move was accelerated to the 2024 season, hastening the Sooners’ exit from the Big 12 to this year.
OU won Big 12 titles in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.
The Sooners might have to settle for winning just half of the Big 12’s trophies, as they still need help to qualify for this year’s championship game next Saturday in Arlington. OU can still back-door its way into the title game if either Texas or Oklahoma State lose this weekend. Texas hosts Texas Tech on Friday night, while OSU hosts BYU on Saturday. Both are heavily favored.
Before kickoff, Oklahoma bade farewell to 26 seniors: Rondell Bothroyd, LV Bunkley-Shelton, Isaiah Coe, Trace Ford, Tyler Guyton, Jacob Lacey, Jonah Laulu, Key Lawrence, Marcus Major, McKade Mettauer, Konnor Near, Philip Paea, Reggie Pearson, Andrew Raym, Walter Rouse, Caleb Shaffer, Austin Stogner, Marcus Stripling, Shane Whitter, Da’Jon Terry, Reggie Grimes, Jordan Kelley, Pierce Hudgens, Woodi Washington, Dillon Gabriel and Drake Stoops.
