Telling the story: OU 66, Tulsa 17
Every play matters in a college football game but some do a better job than others of explaining the outcome. Here are the five plays that told the story of Oklahoma’s 66-17 road win at Tulsa.
OU 66, Tulsa 17
Play No. 1: Welcome home, Gentry
Strangely enough, the game actually began with an OU turnover. Jalil Farooq had a great kickoff return that was wiped out by a fumble.
Gentry Williams, making his homecoming, made sure it didn’t matter. The former Tulsa Booker T. Washington star made a nice adjustment on a deep ball and earned the first of OU’s five interceptions against Tulsa’s two quarterbacks.
“He cares. It kills him not to be out there,” head coach Brent Venables said. “His willingness to work and his toughness through all of it. We’ve got great doctors, and they’re cautious, like they should be. But it kills him. It’s a big deal to him. You’d think it’d be a big deal to everybody, but it’s not always.”
Play No. 2: There goes Anthony again
OK, so now OU has the ball back. After a conservative approach in Week 2, not so much this time around. It began from the jump. Here’s Dillon Gabriel connecting with Andrel Anthony on a 55-yard bomb to begin the offensive onslaught.
“We thought we had good matchups on the perimeter and we felt good about the pass pro part of it,” offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby said. “So thought we could sit in there and pitch and catch and make plays.”
Gabriel found Jalil Farooq for a touchdown on the next play. Anthony, Farooq and Nic Anderson all had more than 100 yards receiving.
Gabriel finished with a ridiculous 421 yards passing and five touchdowns.
Play No. 3: Time to emerge, Adebawore
We’re jumping a long ways here. It’s now OU 52-17 late in the third quarter, but it’s time for defensive end P.J. Adebawore to make his mark.
TU’s Cardell Williams had been pretty slippery, but once Adebawore was able to get to him, it was over. The first sack of his career. Safe bet it won’t be his last.
“First sack is very good, great actually,” Adebawore said. “To be out there knowing that my coaches trust me enough to be out there, to be able to execute and make those big plays.”
Adebawore had 2.5 tackles for loss as well.
Play No. 4: Capping Anderson’s magical day
If you wanted one play to tell you what happened in this one, it’s the 50-yard touchdown pass from Jackson Arnold to Nic Anderson to make it OU 59-17.
This was a beauty.
“All my teammates, all my coaches, they all did it for me,” Anderson said. “They put their trust in me and they kept me in the loop when I was down. So I dedicate this to them.”
Arnold put it absolutely on the money. Catching Anderson in stride and letting him do the rest to cap off his three-touchdown performance.
Play No. 5: Ford says look what I found
And we close out with the initial play of the fourth quarter. It’s a quality individual effort by defensive end Trace Ford to earn his first pick as a Sooner and the fifth of the game for OU.
“It was great for Trace to read that screen out, what a huge play,” linebacker Danny Stutsman said. “It’s awesome for a guy like that coming from Oklahoma State to be with our team now. He’s fit right in. Great program guy, always gives his best and that’s just a reward for all the hard work he puts into it.”
Ford was so close to adding another pick-six in the game. Stutsman had one, and Ford was four yards away on his return from giving OU another.
Ford finished with four tackles as well.
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