With Dillon Gabriel Out, Oklahoma's Defense and Jackson Arnold Hold on to Beat BYU

The Sooners turned to their freshman QB after losing their starter to an undisclosed injury right before halftime, but it was 21 points off turnovers that made the difference for OU.

PROVO, UT — This time, Oklahoma’s backup quarterback prevailed.

The Sooners survived a physical football game with BYU on Saturday at LaVell Edward Stadium, picking up an important 31-24 win in part thanks to a big-play defense and a passable emergency understudy performance by freshman QB Jackson Arnold.

Starter Dillon Gabriel took a hard hit and sustained an undisclosed injury late in the first half, and Arnold came in to finish.

OU coach Brent Venables said last week that it was his intent to redshirt Arnold unless “disaster happens and you have to make a hard right-hand turn.”

Disaster happened, OU turned right, and this time, the Sooners won the game.

It was the third meeting between OU and BYU, and the Cougars were the only team the Sooners have played more than once without beating them. It was also the third time the Cougars benefited from Sooner personnel problems at the quarterback position.

• In the 1994 Copper Bowl in Tucson, BYU faced OU backup QB Terence Brown as Garrick McGee got meningitis. Brown completed just 1-of-3 passes during the regular season and went 13-of-30 for 163 yards against OU in a 31-6 BYU win.
• In the 2009 season opener at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, BYU faced OU backup Landry Jones beginning in the second half as reigning Heisman winner Sam Bradford was hurt right before halftime. Jones went 6-of-12 for 51 yards as OU stumbled to a 14-13 loss.
• And in 2023, BYU faced OU’s true freshman backup as Gabriel was hurt right before halftime.

Gabriel took a hard hit right before halftime on a running play up the middle, then stayed in for a third-down throw before Zach Schmit ended the drive with a short field goal.

Gabriel then stayed in the locker room after halftime as Arnold took his place.

Arnold, who hasn’t played since the Iowa State game on Sept. 30, looked rusty and started slow, but made a handful of plays late, including a third-and-8 slant pass to Jalil Farooq to pick up a first down with 1:49 to play and allowed the Sooners to run out the clock on a tense win.

Arnold finished 5-of-9 passing for 33 yards and also rushed eight times for 24 yards, but was more than happy to kneel on the football at the end.

Gabriel went down with a concussion last year at TCU, then missed the following game against Texas. The Sooners were blown out 55-24 and 49-0 without their starting QB.

Schmit had another short field goal early in the fourth quarter that could have given the Sooners a three-point lead thanks to an uptick in the OU running game and a nifty third-down conversion pass from Arnold to Farooq, but Schmit yanked his 28-yard attempt wide left to leave the score tied at 24-24.

Gabriel, last week’s national quarterback of the week for his eight-touchdown performance in a 59-20 win over West Virginia, was on fire in the first half, completing 13-of-21 passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns.

Meanwhile, Gavin Sawchuk recorded his third straight 100-yard rushing game, 107 on 14 carries.

While OU’s defense mostly struggled to get stops against what had been a struggling BYU offense.

But two big defensive plays turned the tide in the second half.

In the third quarter, as BYU was threatening a touchdown from the OU goal line, safety Billy Bowman snagged an interception from Jake Retzlaff and returned it 100 yards for a touchdown and a 24-17 lead.

It tied the longest play in OU history.

Then midway through the fourth quarter, as the Cougars were launching a drive from deep in their own territory, Danny Stutsman sacked Retzlaff and dislodged the football, and Jacob Lacey recovered at the BYU 25.

Gavin Sawchuk cashed that in three plays later with a tough, 16-yard touchdown run that put Oklahoma in front 31-24 with 7:57 to play.

OU also turned in a first-quarter BYU fumble into a touchdown after Rondell Bothroyd forced and recovered a loose ball from Retzlaff.

Gabriel put up the points from that turnover with a 27-yard touchdown pass to Jayden Gibson that gave the Sooners a 14-7 lead.

It was Gabriel’s 3-yard touchdown throw to Nic Anderson — almost immediately after a 55-yard bomb to Gibson down the right sideline — that put OU up 7-0 in the first quarter.

But that’s when OU’s defense began to struggle with the Cougars.

BYU’s offense has been one of the worst in college football all season, but the Cougars had little trouble moving the football against the Sooners.

BYU slowed things down offensively and had just five first-half possessions, but scored on three of them — touchdowns on two 10-play, 75-yard drives, and a field goal at the end of the half on an 11-play, 33-yard drive.

The Cougars — playing their third straight game with their backup, Retzlaff — converted 4-of-8 third downs against the OU defense in the first half and finished the game with a season-high 217 rushing yards.

The Sooners seemed to have a pronounced advantage on defense against a Cougars squad that came into Saturday ranked 104th nationally in points per game (21.9), 113th in first downs per game (16.9), 124th in rushing yards per game (180.6), 85th in passing yards per game (209.5) and 123rd (out of 130 teams) in total yards per game (300.0).