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Oklahoma-BYU Observations: LIVE In-Game Blog

John Hoover, Ryan Chapman and Randall Sweet offer their real-time observations from Provo as No. 14 Oklahoma takes on the BYU Cougars.

SI Editorial

Oklahoma-BYU Observations: LIVE In-Game Blog
Oklahoma-BYU Observations: LIVE In-Game Blog /
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PROVO, UT — AllSooners offers real-time observations throughout today's contest at LaVell Edwards Stadium as the No. 14-ranked Sooners meet the BYU Cougars for only the third time in school history in OU's final Big 12 road game. Newest posts are at the top. Just keep your browser open and refresh often.

(ALL TIMES MOUNTAIN)

1:06 p.m.

Hello, Gavin Sawchuk.

The redshirt freshman ran through a number of tackles for a 16-yard score to put the Sooners up 31-24 with 7:57 left in the game.

With the score, Oklahoma has now cashed in all three turnovers for touchdowns, a huge difference than the Sooners’ last two road trips that resulted in losses to Kansas and Oklahoma State.

— RC 

12:54 p.m.

Zach Schmit shanks a 28-yard field goal attempt and the Cougars fans believe they’re gonna get out of here with another win over Oklahoma. He’s now a dismal 12-for-18 on the season.

— RC 

12:47 p.m.

Here are the stats as things head into the fourth quarter in Provo:

Stats after the third quarter
Stats after the third quarter / OU Stats

— RC 

12:45 p.m.

Fourth quarter begins and it's still tied.

— JH

Brent Venables  / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

12:38 p.m.

The Cougars aren’t just converting fourth downs, they’re hammering OU’s defense on those all-or-nothing snaps.

In the first quarter, BYU scored on its first fourth down.

Now, Retzlaff hit Kody Epps for 26 yards on fourth-and-2.

A couple of plays later, Retzlaff carries the ball 10 yards to pay dirt to tie the game up once again, this time at 24-24 with 1:19 left in the third quarter.

Oklahoma’s defense is allowing 9.4 yards per carry in the third quarter after it appeared the Sooners found something by sending more numbers at Retzlaff. Billy Bowman’s pick six was massive.

— RC 

12:26 p.m.

Billy Bowman may have just changed Oklahoma’s fate today.

BYU, who gashed Oklahoma for a 25-yard run and a 22-yard run, looked sure to take a touchdown lead, and LaVell Edwards Stadium was ready to roar.

Until Bowman stepped in.

Jake Retzlaff looked for a touchdown to Kody Epps on a quick out, but Bowman picked the ball off in the end zone and outraced the Cougars 100 yards for the score.

Stunned silence here in Provo. Massive, massive play with 5:55 left in the third quarter to put OU up 24-17.

— RC 

12:17 p.m.

Back to the defense, it appears Venables’ halftime adjustment was to send more pressure.

Oklahoma hasn’t sacked the opposing quarterback since the trip to Lawrence.

Strong three-and-out to give the ball back to Arnold and Co.

— RC 

12:14 p.m.

Jackson Arnold spent the entirety of the timeout sitting next to Davis Beville on the sideline phone up to the press box.

He wasn’t asked to do a whole lot on his first drive, likely a product of the field position.

Arnold won’t have Gabriel on the sideline to help him work through things, as the Sooners starter is still in the locker room.

Drake Stoops and Jalil Farooq stepped over to the young quarterback after he got off the phone to offer some support.

Interesting second half ahead.

— RC 

12:03 p.m.

A massive update to start the second half...

— RC 

11:50 a.m.

Pretty shaky half from the Oklahoma defense.

Entering the week, BYU’s offense ranked 104th in scoring offense, 113th in first downs per game, 128th in third down percentage and 85th in passing yards per game.

In two quarters, Jake Retzlaff wasn’t often pressured, and he completed 10-of-17 passes for 147 yards and two touchdowns.

BYU converted a combined 6-of-10 attempts on third and fourth down, and averaged 6.1 yards per play.

Not good!

— RC 

11:46 a.m.

Buckle up for a tense second half.

Drake Stoops
Drake Stoops / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

11:44 a.m.

All knotted up at the break, halftime stats from Provo:

Halftime stats
Halftime stats / OU Stats

— RC 

11:20 a.m.

Throwing the football down the field was working so well, Jeff Lebby thought he’d call a sweep to Drake Stoops.

I mean …

— JH

11:20 a.m.

Jeff Lebby strikes again.

He couldn’t help himself, handing the ball off to Drake Stoops headed to the perimeter instead of high school track star Gavin Sawchuk.

OU lost two yards, and the crowd loved it. No clue how those are still in the playbook.

Big third-and-9 coming up from the BYU 15-yard line on the other side of this timeout.

— RC 

11:12 a.m.

With Jake Retzlaff playing QB for most of the previous three games, BYU has scored a total of 26 points and has been blown out all three times — to teams against whom Oklahoma is 3-0.

Today, the Cougars already have 14 points and the total yardage is dead even at 180 apiece.

— JH

11:10 a.m.

No goal-line stand this time for the Oklahoma defense.

Out of the timeout, Jake Retzlaff hits tight end Isaac Rex for the 1-yard score.

The touchdown capped off a 10 play, 75-yard drive that sucked 5:17 off the clock.

All tied up at 14 with 7:49 until halftime in Provo.

— RC 

11:05 a.m.

For as critical as everyone has been at times of Oklahoma’s sideline operation, good work by the coaches right there.

BYU continues to sub, so Venables responds with the slow sub and it forced to Cougars to burn a timeout in second-and-goal.

OU adopted the slow sub after the bye week, and its already benefitted the Sooners a couple of times.

— RC 

11:00 a.m.

First, Oklahoma’s missed tackles are really starting to pile up.

Second, the Sooner defense doesn’t look like they prepared for the speed option today. Like, at all. In their careers. The defensive end is all alone on the edge and he’s not slow-playing the quarterback, getting sucked up inside, which is leaving the pitch man wide open.

Gonna need some serious halftime adjustments.

— JH

11:01 a.m.

Oklahoma refused to start fast today.

Struggling to play RPO’s and basic speed option looks defensively, and the secondary’s tackling has been spotty.

The atmosphere was pretty muted to start the game, but now the players on the BYU sideline and the fans at LaVell Edwards Stadium are going to be locked in through at least the third quarter.

Have to execute early to make life easy on the road.

— RC 

10:54 a.m.

Really nice drive from Gabriel and the Oklahoma offense to stabilize things.

Tawee Walker picked up a tough couple of yards on third down to start the quarter, and after a Gabriel scramble, the OU quarterback again rolled out but this time delivered a 27-yard strike to Jayden Gibson in the back of the end zone.

Gibson with 82 yards so far on two grabs, and the Sooners are back on top 14-7 with 13:06 left until halftime.

— RC

10:49 a.m.

First quarter is knotted up at 7. 

-- JH

Dillon Gabriel
Dillon Gabriel / Rob Gray-USA TODAY Sports

10:48 a.m.

First quarter stats from here in Provo:

First quarter stats
First quarter stats / OU Stats

— RC 

10:45 a.m.

First, a bad throw to Drake Stoops on third-and-7. Then, on a brilliant fake punt pass from Luke Elzinga to Ethan Downs (!), Nic Anderson gets caught blocking, which is offensive pass interference. Then, Jalil Farooq gets flagged for false start. Then, on Elzinga’s 55-yard punt, Parker Kingston runs it back 31 yards. Then, Jake Retzlaff fumbles the snap and Rondell Bothroyd recovers.

All in all, it’s about a 20-yard net gain for the Sooners.

Wild.

— JH

10:38 a.m.

That drive was 75 yards on 10 plays and took 4:59 off the clock. BYU is going slow, and the Sooners are subbing late on defense, which slows the whole process down even more. I think that is playing into BYU's hands, as they're the ones that want to shorten this game.

— JH

10:35 a.m.

Oklahoma is struggling mightily with BYU’s RPO offense. QB Jake Retzlaff is taking what he wants, and there was a lot to take on that drive. Retzlaff's fourth down throw to Chase Roberts was uncontested in front of Kani Walker, and he dragged Walker and Dasan McCullough into the end zone.

BYU has tied it 7-7, 3:05 left in the first quarter.

— JH

10:28 a.m.

Jaren Kanak starts the second drive for Kip Lewis, and Reggie Pearson is in for Robert Spears-Jennings.

— RC 

10:21 a.m.

After the false start by Cayden Green, Dillon Gabriel hits Jayden Gibson on a 55-yard deep ball. It’s the second time in three plays a Sooner receiver was wide open — RB Gavin Sawchuk was open two plays before.

The big catch pays off as Gabriel hits Nic Anderson on a 3-yard touchdown pass on third and goal. It’s Anderson’s ninth TD this year, tying Marvin Mims’ OU freshman record (Mims was a true freshman).

Sooners lead it 7-0 after a 7-play, 85-yard drive.

— JH

10:20 a.m.

That’s two false start infractions on the Sooners’ two young offensive linemen in two drives. It’s loud here, for sure, but I could have sworn they prepare for that kind of thing in practice.

— JH

10:16 a.m.

BYU backup quarterback Jake Retzlaff started this one for the Cougars, not Kedon Slovis.

Entering today, Retzlaff had completed 49.3 percent of his passes for one touchdown while throwing two picks.

Oklahoma should be able to sell out to stop the run and feel pretty good about it on defense.

— RC 

10:12 a.m.

Looks like Andrew Raym is gonna have trouble today with BYU noseguard Atunaisa Mahe. Was headed backwards a couple times on that opening drive, which was saved from being a nondescript three-and-out by a Drake Stoops third down catch. Not a great start for OU.

— JH

10:13 a.m.

Oklahoma’s starters on defense:

Bothroyd - Lacey - Coe - Downs

McCullough - Stutsman - Lewis

Walker - Bowman - Spears-Jennings - Washington

— RC 

10:09 a.m.

Oklahoma’s starters on offense:

Rouse - Green - Raym - Mettauer - Sexton

Anderson - Stoops - Farooq - Stogner

Gabriel - Sawchuk

— RC 

10:06 a.m.

For only the second time this year, the Sooners have lost the coin toss.

The Cougars defer. Dillon Gabriel rolling up first.

— RC

10:03 a.m.

And as I typed that last update… It’s starting to sprinkle again as the captains come out for the coin toss.

— RC 

9:59 a.m.

Some rapid fire from the pregame happenings here in Provo.

Cool: Marie Osmond singing today’s anthem.

Cool: The BYU band rocks (though Cincinnati still wins my personal power rankings from this year).

Cool: The pregame drizzle has moved out a bit. We’re enjoying a brisk morning but things should be dry for kickoff.

Not cool: The lack of Cougar fans in the stadium this close to kickoff. Oklahoma won’t exactly be battling a raucous environment unless BYU finds a few thousand fans outside.

— RC 

9:48 a.m.

BYU's home uniforms vs. Oklahoma's road uniforms...

We are being treated to one of the most aesthetically pleasing matchups on a football field this morning. No complaints.

— RC 

9:43 a.m.

Tyler Guyton is here and suited up, but I didn’t see him taking snaps with the first offensive line. Guessing he won’t play — especially since Jacob Sexton was named co-captain for this game.

— JH

9:30 a.m.

Here’s the full list of players who are dressed out in warmups from #TeamOUBeat.

— RC 

9:27 a.m.

Tight end Blake Smith is not with the tight ends this morning. The tight end group consists of Austin Stogner (reportedly coming off the flu), walk-on Josh Fanuiel and true freshman Kade McIntyre.

— JH

9:25 a.m.

Dasan McCullough and Gentry Williams are also dressed and stretching in the north end zone.

Both players dressed out a week ago, but were held out of the contest against West Virginia.

— RC 

9:23 a.m.

Right tackle Tyler Guyton is back and dressed out with the Sooners as they warm up here in Provo.

— RC 

9:03 a.m.

This place is unbelievable. It's a shame for OU fans that the Sooners are only playing here once. The team got off the bus about 90 minutes ago and they were clearly impressed with the aesthetics of LaVell Edwards Stadium.

9:01 a.m.

The flight to Salt Lake City on Thursday was full of Sooner fans. We saw dozens of them everywhere we went the last two days (Thursday dinner, Friday breakfast, sightseeing in Provo Canyon and Sundance, and certainly at the hotel this morning. Even our pilot out of Houston was an OU fan (I don’t think he stayed).

Sooner Nation is well represented.

Kickoff in one hour.

— JH

9:00 a.m.

Really impressive showing from the Sooners fans that traveled out to Provo. Ahead of the year, the excitement to visit BYU was evident, and Oklahoma fans delivered a wave of crimson in the program's first trip to Provo. 

— RC 

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