Oklahoma-Oklahoma State: Three Keys to the Game

Feed Eric Gray and let him run ... Don't make heroes of the OSU offense ... Get wild, and get the football to Jalil Farooq.

Gray’s Anatomy

It’ll be tempting for offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby and quarterback Dillon Gabriel to want to throw the football. The Cowboys rank 128th in the nation in pass defense and 71st in pass efficiency defense.

Central Michigan (424 yards, four TDs), Baylor (345 and two), Texas Tech (379 and two), TCU (286 and two), Texas (319 and two), Kansas State (296 and four) and Iowa State (274 and one) all kicked the OSU secondary around for big yards and touchdowns. Surely Gabriel can get his.

But the Cowboys are also 89th in the nation against the run, giving up 163.1 yards per game. (OSU ranks 121st in total defense, 452.9 yards per game, and 101st in scoring defense, 30.0 points per game).

Running the football doesn’t expose OSU’s greatest weakness, but it is OU’s greatest strength.

Eric Gray / Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Eric Gray has 1,113 rushing yards this season. He’s logged seven 100-yard games, including a career-high 211 and two TDs last week at West Virginia, and he’s been over 50 in the other three.

While Gray’s best attribute has been his powerful legs, he’s also utilized supple hands, catching 28 passes for 189 yards. Simply put, he has emerged as the Sooners’ best player, and he did it by beefing up his strength, balance and explosiveness in his first offseason with strength coach Jerry Schmidt.

OU leads the Big 12 at 221.4 rushing yards per game, and although the Sooners haven’t majored in the big play (they’re averaging just 5.0 yards per carry, which ranks fifth in the league), they’ve been remarkably consistent, with at least 130 yards in all 10 games, and more than 200 in six games.

Gray is averaging 6.75 yards per carry, which ranks eighth in the nation, and his per-game average of 111.3 ranks 14th.

It’s going to be cold Saturday night (temperatures in the 30s), and it’s most likely going to be windy — possibly very windy (10-15 mph with gusts to 25). Gabriel’s passes haven’t fared well in adverse weather conditions this year.

Meanwhile, Gray posted his career-high last week at WVU: 25 carries. The week before, he was at 23. Each of the two games before that, he reached 20.

Eric Gray running, not Dillon Gabriel throwing, will be Oklahoma’s key ingredient to beating OSU on Saturday.

Don’t Make Heroes

Oklahoma State has good, dynamic players on offense. But the Cowboys don’t have any superheroes.

Among both the running backs and receivers this season, OSU has produced just five 100-yard performances (by comparison, OU has 12).

DaShaun White :: BRYAN TERRY / THE OKLAHOMAN-USA TODAY NETWORK

Three of those came from wideout Bryson Green, who had just two catches for 13 yard last week against Iowa State. Brayden Johnson had 133 yards against Central Michigan but has been injured and didn’t catch a ball last week. Running back Dominic Richardson’s only big game was 131 yards on 27 carries against Arizona State.

If the OU defense doesn’t create an unlikely Bedlam hero somewhere, then keeping quarterback Spencer Sanders from carrying his team with a huge game becomes much more manageable.

But if Green or John Paul Richardson or Brennan Presley — or, worst-case scenario, Richardson — are able to get free for big chunks or long scores, then the Sooner defense will be up against it all day.

OU needs success on first and second down and then, against all odds, maybe the Sooners can get off the field on third and fourth down for a change.

If that happens, the Sooners win and will finally clinch a bowl berth.

Get Wild and Find Farooq

Bet the house that Oklahoma State will have multiple eyes on Marvin Mims. The Sooners’ leader in receptions and receiving yards each of the last three years remains the team’s biggest big-play threat.

He had 98 yards last week at WVU and dropped a 46-yard touchdown. Mims has three 100-yard games this season, plus others of 81, 66 and 87. He’s ready to pop one on any given play.

Jalil Farooq / Bryon Houlgrave-USA TODAY Sports

But it would serve Dillon Gabriel well to find Jalil Farooq early and often, and in a variety of ways.

Farooq is the Sooners’ most versatile offensive weapon, able to go deep like he did against Iowa State (the Big 12’s best defense, remember) or simply move the chains like he did against Texas (five rushes for 60 yards) or Baylor or West Virginia (he combined for seven catches for 83 yards in those games, many on jet sweep-type plays into the edges of the opponents’ defense).

Farooq runs hard, fast and tough. He hits full speed quickly, breaks tackles and finishes runs. Rather than forcing the football into coverage to Mims, exploiting an often overpursuing OSU defense with misdirection plays to Farooq would be a wise gambit.

And if that’s not enough, Lebby can always put Farooq, Eric Gray and tight end Brayden Willis in the backfield for some wildcat-type snaps. It’s been hard for just about every defense to handle, and might really exploit cracks in what is clearly a vulnerable OSU defense.