Oklahoma football: First TD of Brent Venables era at OU took 77 seconds

There was a lot to like about Oklahoma football win number one of the OU Brent Venables era, and it wasn’t just the offensive productivity.

This was a Venables type of game. Physical, aggressive but smart, confident and complementary in all phases of the game. The result was a 45-13 Oklahoma victory and a sixth straight season-opening win for the Sooners.

“A really special day for a lot of reasons,” said Venables in his postgame press conference.

"“For the most part, I thought our guys played a really clean game. We did a lot of things for the first time. A lot of players experienced some things for the first time…“…It went by really fast the last nine months, and in many ways it seemed like dog days,” the OU head coach said about his head-coaching debut. “But everything has its time.”"

The game was not just special because of being Venables first game back at OU as a head coach, but also because of quarterback Dillon Gabriel playing his first game in a Sooner uniform after 25 previous career starts at Central Florida. Gabriel’s day, if unspectacular, was highly efficient. OU started out the game slinging the ball around the field but resorted later in the contest to a run-heavy attack.

Gabriel’s numbers included 15 of 23 passing for 233 yards, including a 42-yard strike early to Marvin Mims, and two touchdowns. The redshirt junior also scored the Sooners first touchdown of the game on a 12-yard run, capping a five-play, 75-yard drive in the opening 77 seconds of the game.

Asked afterwards about his first game at Oklahoma, Gabriel said:

"“I think I was so focused on preparation and on the game and doing my job. But after I looked back, man…that was just a day I’ll never forget.”"

Here are a dozen more compelling numbers that tell the story of the game:

.810 — Oklahoma’s win percentage (81-15-4) in home openers at Gaylor Family-Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, which opened in 1923.

2 — Brayden Willis’ two touchdown catches in the first quarter eclipsed his total for all of last season and was one shy of his career total.

6 — Oklahoma was flagged for six first-half penalties totaling 54 yards, but just once for 10 yards in the second half, and that came very late in the game.

10 — The OU defense recorded 10 quarterback hurries, which was the most by a Sooner defense since they first began recording that stat in 2019. The defense also totaled six sacks and 8.5 tackles for loss.

17 — The Sooners have won 17 consecutive season home openers.

23 — Oklahoma has won 78 games in a row when holding opponents under 23 points.

24 — Twenty-four players made their first appearance in an Oklahoma uniform in Saturday’s game.

27 — Dillon Gabriel has thrown at least one touchdown pass in all 27 career games he has played. He threw two TD passes against UTEP.

28 — The Oklahoma defense held UTEP to 28 rushing yards for the game on 33 carries. The Sooners held the Miners to -19 rushing yards in the opening half.

71.7 — OU averaged a touchdown every 71.7 seconds in the first quarter against UTEP.

141 — This was the 141st consecutive sellout of an originally scheduled Oklahoma home game. That is the second longest active streak in the nation.

492 — Total offensive yards by the Sooners (259 rushing, 233 passing) and no turnovers.