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Oklahoma-Missouri Preview: Three Keys to the Game

The Sooners need to do these three things to help ensure a crucial victory over the Tigers on Saturday in Columbia.

John E. Hoover

Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes
Oklahoma running back Jovantae Barnes / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images
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COLUMBIA, MO — The last time Oklahoma played Missouri, freshmen on both of this year’s teams were 5 years old.

So no, none of these players have any kind of historical stake in Saturday’s 6:45 p.m. matchup at Faurot Field. 

While Oklahoma head coach Brent Venables reminisced this week about playing competitive games against the Tigers, Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz said he was “aware” that his program used to be in the same conference as OU.

None of that matters, of course, when it comes to this game. Missouri’s edgy fans, particularly its student section, only need go back to 2021, when the SEC announced it was adding Oklahoma and Texas to the league roster. They’ve been lying in wait to let OU know how great their new league is, even if they haven’t done much in the last decade to further that greatness. Since losing back-to-back SEC title games in 2013 and 2014, the Tigers (6-2, 2-2) are 64-55 overall and just 33-45 in conference play.

To be sure, Oklahoma (5-4, 1-4) has its own problems — none of which are relevant to 2 1/2 decades of dominating the old Big 12. The Sooners need a win Saturday to get bowl eligible — and they’d better get it done, since Alabama and LSUS are coming up after next week’s open date.

Here are three keys for Oklahoma to beat Missouri on Saturday:

Pour on the Pressure

While the OU offense is getting killed for leading the nation in quarterback sacks allowed (4.2 per game), the OU defense probably should get a few more flowers for ranking No. 9 nationally with 3.2 sacks per game.

Yes, OU beat up on Maine last week, but only rang up three sacks against the Black Bears. The Sooners had just one at Ole Miss and one against Texas, but collected six against South Carolina, four at Auburn and three against Tennessee. 

Mizzou QB Brady Cook’s availability isn’t certain — he’s officially listed as questionable — but it’s been widely speculated that the hand injury he suffered two weeks ago against Alabama will keep him out again this week. If that’s the case, the Sooner pass rush needs to be at its best to beat Missouri.

The impressive thing is Oklahoma’s 29 sacks have been tallied by 17 different players. R Mason Thomas leads the way with six and defensive tackle Gracen Halton is second with four, but nobody else has more than three (Ethan Downs).

A week after getting his first OU sack, Miami-OH transfer Caiden Woullard got his first start in Crimson and Cream last week and played fine in place of Downs. If Downs (back spasms) is good to go this week, that will be a boost to the Sooner pass rush. Those two along with Thomas and Trace Ford need to generate some pressure off the edge.

Of course, last week’s three sacks came from unexpected places: linebacker Danny Stutsman got his first of the season, and tackles Davon Sears and David Stone each racked up their first of the season as well.

Look for Jacobe Johnson or Eli Bowen to come on a corner blitz in a big third-down situation, and look for Brent Venables and Zac Alley to dial up some action inside that frees an interior rusher, like Halton or Stone or Damonic Williams.  

Barnes Out 

With all apologies to OU voice Toby Rowland, the quickest, safest way to leave Columbia bowl eligible would have been to pump the pigskin to Jovantae Barnes.

OU’s best running back did tweak his ankle last week and on Thursday was officially listed as questionable. Sooners Illustrated's Josh Callaway reported Friday that Barnes did not make the trip, however. Sooners On SI sources also confirmed Barnes' absence this week.

Barnes' hard-running presence was going to be a big key to OU winning the game Saturday at Mizzou. OU's offensive line seemed to be finally coming together as one reliable unit, and Barnes was running with more confidence than the rest of the Sooners' RB corps.

Barnes ran 18 times for 203 yards and three touchdowns against Maine as the OU o-line actually seemed to know what it was doing.

Now it might fall to Gavin Sawchuck, who has been listed as questionable, or freshman Taylor Tatum, or freshman Xavier Robinson, or transfer Samuel Franklin, or even sophomore Kalib Hicks. If last week's progress in the run game was real and not a mirage, the Sooners could have a chance to run the football against the Tigers.

But Barnes will be missed. He now has a career-best 575 yards and five TDs on 122 carries this season. That’s a very serviceable 4.71 yards per carry and a respectable 64 yards per game. In the last five games since becoming the starter, he’s averaging 88 yards per game and 5.3 yards per carry.

Missouri’s run defense is certainly not great. The Tigers give up 135 yards per game, which ranks 54th in the nation and 12th in the SEC. Opponents are averaging 4.03 yards per carry, which ranks 64th nationally and next-to-last in the SEC.

Mizzou has only allowed one 100-yard rusher this season.

Corner the Market

One thing Missouri does extremely well — especially with starting quarterback Brady Cook — is throw the ball.

When healthy, junior WR Luther Burden (team-leading 40 catches, 450 yards, four TDs) is one of the most dynamic players in college football. Sooner fans know all too well what senior Theo Wease (37 catches, team-high 482 yards) is capable of. Senior Mookie Cooper has just 12 catches but averages 19.6 yards per catch. Sophomore Joshua Manning averages almost 15 yards on 10 catches.

It might have flown under the radar last week against Maine, but with true freshman Eli Bowen making his fourth career start at one corner, sophomore Jacobe Johnson was making his first career start at the other.

Even if Cook can’t go, Mizzou will try to test that youth and inexperience with its big, strong, fast, experienced wide receiver corps. Drew Pyne has completed 63 percent of his throws this season as Cook’s backup. His TD-INT ratio isn’t good (0 to 3), but he’ll be more comfortable this week with a week on open date to get better and a week to study and prep for the OU defense.

Oklahoma’s corners — that includes former starters Dez Malone and Kani Walker when they get in, because they will — need to have no busts, no coverage breakdowns, no technique errors and no mental errors.

That’s impossible, of course. Mistakes happen to everyone. 

But minimizing any major gaffes this week is paramount. If someone slips in man-to-man, or if someone reads the wrong coverage, or if someone bites on a play-action fake, it becomes crucial that the Sooners’ safeties are in the right place to help.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.