Oklahoma football: Takeaways from the win against Kent State

Oklahoma football hosted Kent State today, and they defeated them 33-3 in what was a sloppy win for the Sooners.

Oklahoma was favored by 33.5 points today and failed to cover that margin. To be frank it was a tale of two halves, as the Sooners struggled in the opening few possessions on offense but then exploded for a 24-point third quarter. The Sooners were then lenient on the Golden Flashes in the fourth quarter as they pulled the big boys early.

The good

The Oklahoma offense after the first four drives of the game. Oklahoma scored on five straight drives after the weird start, including four touchdowns. Oklahoma QB Dillon Gabriel was particularly sharp, and the player that kept getting loose was Marvin Mims. Mims had 7 catches for 163 yards and 2 TDs. Gabriel was 21/28 for 296 yards and 3 TDs.

Danny Stutsman and Reggie Grimes. Stutsman was everywhere, recording 12 tackles including 4 tackles for loss. Grimes had 1.5 sacks, so a second consecutive multiple sack game for the former five-star DE from Tennessee. The Oklahoma defense also recorded14 tackles for loss as a team, that’ll work!

The bad

The Sooners hit snooze one too many times on the alarm clock today. Oklahoma actually trailed 3-0 in the ball game until a last-second touchdown drive right before halftime.

The Sooners stalled on their first four drives, Gabriel missed a throw, the offensive line missed a few blocks and some receivers dropped some balls. It was a clunky, not-so-sharp start for the Sooners. The defense was also sleeping as the Golden Flashes converted six of their first ten third downs, including being 3/3 on third and nine or longer. That is just simply put, not to standard for Oklahoma.

Oklahoma was also an abysmal 3/12 on third down themselves. That is simply not good enough whenever you are a team chasing a Big 12 championship and a berth into the College Football Playoff. The Sooners will need to be much sharper if they have any plans of reaching their goals this season.

Oklahoma football Play of the Game

Drake Stoops. took a short dump of 18 yards for a touchdown, making a few sweet moves and going airborne to finish things off.

Players of the game

Offense: Marvin Mims

Mims was dominant, he was the best player on the field tonight without question. The only person who could stop Marvin tonight was Brent Venables when he told him it was time to be seated for the evening. 7 catches 163 yards 2 TD receiving. Marvin Mims is a rock star for the Sooners’ offense. Dillon Gabriel was fantastic today as well and would be the guy I’d consider just missed out on this.

Defense: Danny Stutsman

Danny was everywhere basically at once! I know my guy Papatop was a proud father watching that performance tonight. Stutsman had four tackles for loss as well as 12 total on the day. He has the look of a special talent, who will be playing on the other weekend day in short order.  Danny is the energizer bunny for this defense, and possibly the team. He seems to not have an off switch, which makes him a dream fit for playing in Brent Venable’s defense.

Conclusion

Oklahoma football is going to be really good this year but has some amount of work to do before everything comes together. The Sooners will take a trip to Lincoln, Nebraska next week where they will take on the Cornhuskers. OU is 1-7 in their last seven trips up there, but Scott Frost may be on his way out the door as they lost to Georgia Southern today.