Oklahoma-UCF Review: NCAA Stats, PFF Grades, Redshirt Report and More
Oklahoma was a 19 1/2-point favorite to handle Central Florida on Saturday, but Sooners coach Brent Venables acknowledged his team was “fortunate” to come out with a 31-29 win.
Fortunate is a good descriptive.
The Sooners were stagnant on offense, gave up big plays on defense and missed two easy field goals, yet put together a gritty fourth quarter to avoid a catastrophic Big 12 Conference defeat.
Now Oklahoma (7-0) turns its attention to Saturday’s game at Kansas (5-2). OU opens this week’s contest a 10-point favorite.
Here’s a look at some OU numbers — NCAA statistics and Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts — coming off the Sooners’ tense victory over the Knights:
NCAA Statistics
UCF’s John Rhys Plumlee didn’t throw any interceptions, so the Sooner defense dipped to No. 2 in the nation in defensive picks with 12.
With just five total giveaways by the offense this year (including Dillon Gabriel’s third INT of the year against UCF), OU also ranks No. 2 nationally in turnover margin at +1.43 per game. The Sooners rank No. 8 nationally in fewest passes picked off (three).
Meanwhile, after collecting 13 tackles for loss against UCF, the Sooners now lead the nation with 9.3 TFLs per game.
OU ranks No. 7 in passing offense (328.6 yards per game), No. 51 in rushing offense (168.3), No. 7 in total offense (496.9), No. 6 in pass efficiency rating (175.6) and No. 4 in scoring offense (43.1 points per game).
The Sooners rank No. 87th in passing yards allowed (240.4), 33rd in rushing defense (118.7), 53rd in total defense (359.1), 23rd in pass efficiency defense rating (117.39) and 13th in scoring defense (16.1 points per game).
Oklahoma continues to succeed on third down, as OU ranks No. 11 nationally on offense (50.5 percent) and sixth nationally on defense (28.6 percent).
The Sooners ranked in the 90s most of the first half of the season in penalties, but have reduced those and now rank 69th in penalties and 67th in penalty yards.
Venables’ defense has also thrived in the red zone, ranking 15th in the nation (71.4 percent), while the offense ranks 51st (86.5 percent).
The Sooner defense continues to climb in the rankings in quarterback sacks, too, as OU now ranks 45th nationally at 2.43 per game.
Individually, Peyton Bowen still leads major college football with two blocked punts, and Gavin Freeman ranks second in the nation with one punt return touchdown and is No. 12 in the country in punt return average at 12.5 yards.
Gabriel ranks No. 9 in passing yards (304.4), No. 6 in passing TDs (18), No. 7 in passer efficiency rating (172.4), No. 9 in completion percentage (.712), No. 5 in total offense (337.3 yards per game) and No. 4 in total points responsible for (20.6).
Drake Stoops ranks 55th in catches per game (5.1), while Andrel Anthony is 80th (4.5), and Nic Anderson ranks No. 7 nationally with eight TD catches. Anderson is also second in the nation in yards per catch (24.19), while Jalil Farooq ranks 22nd.
Zach Schmit six at 15th in the nation in scoring (9.1 points per game).
Danny Stutsman is No. 6 in the nation in tackles for loss (1.6 per game) and Gentry Williams is 14th nationally with three interceptions.
Pro Football Focus
Quarterback Dillon Gabriel and four of his five starting offensive linemen — left tackle Walter Rouse, left guard Cayden Green, center Andrew Raym and right tackle Tyler Guyton — played all 89 offensive snaps for the Sooners on Saturday, according to Pro Football Focus data.
At right guard, starter Caleb Shaffer played 44 snaps while Savion Byrd played 45.
Wide receiver Jalil Farooq (86) was next, while Nic Anderson got a career-high 78 snaps in his first career start replacing Andrel Anthony. Drake Stoops played 77 snaps, and tight end Austin Stogner played 69.
A total of 18 players got time on offense: Gavin Sawchuk got a career-high 42 in his first career start, Marcus Major played 37, Jayden Gibson 23, Gavin Freeman 19, LV Bunkley-Shelton 8, Blake Smith 3 and Jaquaize Pettaway 2.
On defense, 27 players received playing time, led by linebacker Danny Stutsman, who was credited with a team-high 73 defensive snaps even though UCF officially ran just 71 offensive plays.
Linebacker Jaren Kanak played 71 snaps, while safety Billy Bowman got 68 and cornerback Woodi Washington played 67.
Cornerback Gentry Williams (55), defensive end Rondell Bothroyd (54), safety Key Lawrence (48), cornerback Kendel Dolby (41), defensive end Ethan Downs (41), defensive tackle Jacob Lacey (39), linebacker Dasan McCullough (34), defensive tackle Isaiah Coe (34), defensive tackle Da’Jon Terry (30) all got extensive playing time.
Defensive end Trace Ford (25), safety Reggie Pearson (25), defensive tackle Jonah Laulu (23), defensive tackle Jordan Kelley (20), defensive end R Mason Thomas (19) and cornerback Kani Walker (18) played double-digit snaps, while P.J. Adebawore (7), safety Robert Spears-Jennings (7), corner Makari Vickers, defensive end Marcus Stripling, safety Peyton Bowen (5), linebacker Kobie McKinzie (4) and defensive tackle Gracen Halton (1) all got minimal action.
As evidenced by the offense’s myriad struggles, nobody posted a championship PFF grade.
Other than Pettaway’s 76.4 grade on his two plays, the highest grade posted by an OU offensive player was Gabriel’s 74.8, which included a 71.4 on passing plays and a 68.7 on run plays.
Major’s 70.8 was the Sooners’ only other offensive grade better than 70.
Freeman and Byrd (67.6), Stoops (63.6), Anderson (63.2), Rouse (63.2), Sawchuk (61.8) and Green (61.1) were the only players with a grade over 61.
Dasan McCullough posted the highest grade on defense, an 80.7 that includes an 81.7 on run plays, an 82.7 on tackling and a 70.3 in pass coverage.
Coe (75.4) was next, followed by Downs (72.4), Terry (72.4) and Lacey (70.7) with grades over 70.
Stutsman posted the highest tackling grade at 84.6, followed by McCullough (82.7), Bothroyd (76.6), Bowen (76.0) and Spears-Jennings (75.1).
After missing just seven tackles against Iowa State, the OU defense has accounted for 18 and 16 missed tackles in its last two games. The previous season-high was 15 against Cincinnati and 13 against Tulsa. The Sooners missed single-digit tackles against Arkansas State, SMU and Iowa State.
Redshirt report
Vickers, who also got six snaps on special teams, played in his fifth game and has thus passed the four-game redshirt limit.
Bowen and Adebawore are the only other freshmen who played on defense against UCF, which was their seventh game of the season.
Linebacker Sammy Omosigho played six special teams snaps and cornerback Jacobe Johnson played 11, so Saturday was also their seventh game of the season.
On offense, Green played in his sixth game and is the only freshman on offense to exceed four games. Pettaway, who got five snaps on special teams, played in his third game.
Quarterback Jackson Arnold didn’t play against UCF but has played in four games so far.
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