Oklahoma-Missouri Review: PFF Grades, Redshirt Report and More

Looking back at the game and diving into Pro Football Focus' grades and snap-count totals reveals even more about the Sooners' loss to Missouri.

Oklahoma Sooners wide receiver Jalil Farooq (3) warms up before a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, Okla., Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023. / BRYAN TERRY/THE OKLAHOMAN / USA TODAY NETWORK

The Sooners lost a wild one Saturday night. 

Of the 53 total points in the contest, 28 were scored in the final 3:18 as Missouri used a scoop-and-score with 22 seconds left to beat Oklahoma 30-23 in Columbia. The loss put OU back at .500 at 5-5 and made bowl eligibility all that more difficult needing one win with Alabama and LSU left on the schedule. 

“Heartbreaking loss,” OU coach Brent Venables said postgame. “Feel so bad for our players. They have done everything we have asked them to do. Fought their butts off to put us in position to win the game tonight.”

Here’s a look at some OU numbers – Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts – coming off the Sooners’ crushing loss to Missouri. 

Pro Football Focus

The score doesn’t reflect it, but the game was a defensive stalemate until the very end, and then it just became a defensive showcase as both teams returned a fumble for a touchdown during the final two minutes. 

Pro Football Focus’ final numbers somehow represented the game even better than the score. OU’s offense was graded at 49.2, the lowest since the loss to South Carolina, and the defense received a solid 72.1 despite its opponent putting 30 points on the board. Overall, the Sooners got a 60.5, which, had Sooner Magic prevailed in the end, would have been OU’s lowest grade during a win this season. Even a stop wouldn’t have bolstered it enough to surpass the 69.8 against Tulane. 

Individually, freshman running back Xavier Robinson seemed to pop during the game and earned the highest offensive grade for OU at 74.2, according to PFF. Defensively, of players who at least played more than five snaps, it was defensive lineman Damonic Williams. Defensive back Billy Bowman Jr., who made OU’s late scoop-and-score happen, got a 70.2. 

Jackson Arnold and his starting offensive line played the entire game with 62 snaps apiece. Arnold had the lowest grade on the team at 35.7 thanks to two lost fumbles and 26.0 QBR. 

Saturday’s unit up front included, from left to right, Logan Howland, Heath Ozaeta, Troy Everett, Febechi Nwaiwu and Spencer Brown. Of the five, Brown got the highest grade at 70.3, the second-best grade on the entire offense. 

In his first action back from injury since Week 4, Deion Burks led the receivers in snap count with 55. The rest of the position included Brenen Thompson (54), JJ Hester (42), Jalil Farooq (27), Zion Ragins (3), Jacob Jordan (1) and Ivan Carreon (1). Other pass catchers at tight end were Bauer Sharp (51) and Jake Roberts (12). 

At running back, without an injured Jovantae Barnes, freshman Taylor Tatum led the backfield with 29 snaps, according to PFF. Xavier Robinson and Sam Franklin relieved Tatum with 26 and nine snaps apiece, respectively. 

Defensively, Bowman and linebacker Danny Stutsman both logged a team-high 74 snaps. 

Even outside of Bowman, OU’s secondary tallied a lot of snaps in Eli Bowen (70), Robert Spears-Jennings (51), Jacobe Johnson (38), Peyton Bowen (29), Woodi Washington (27), Dezjhon Malone (25) and Kani Walker (15). 

Other linebackers included Kip Lewis (44), Dasan McCullough (36), Trace Ford (26), Samuel Omosigho (22), Kobie McKinzie (16) and Lewis Carter (4). 

Up front on the defensive line, OU had R Mason Thomas (53), Ethan Downs (50), Gracen Halton (39), Williams (37), Jayden Jackson (32), Caiden Woullard (23), Da’Jon Terry (21) and David Stone (8). 

Redshirt Tracker

Although logging only one snap, according to PFF, walk-on freshman receiver Jacob Jordan burned his redshirt after making his fifth appearance of the season. He saw the field a lot less with Burks and Farooq back. Farooq, who played only two snaps this season before Saturday because of a broken foot, said postgame that he is considering redshirting and returning next season. It would be Farooq’s fifth year in college football. 

No other freshmen nearing a fifth game saw the field against Missouri.