Oklahoma football: One big thing from Sooners’ Week 2 win
By Chip Rouse
O.K, the first half on Saturday night against Kent State was not pretty and highly uncharacteristic of an Oklahoma football offense. We all get that.
It certainly was not what Brent Venables or Sooner fans wanted to see. It’s been drummed into all of us, however, that bad things are bound to happen from time to time; it’s how you respond to them that matters.
The Sooners’ offense was definitely confused with some of the defensive scheme that Kent State was employing. It took a little longer to adjust to what the Golden Flashes were doing on defense, but once OU did, it completely changed the direction and outcome of the game.
Counting the Oklahoma touchdown drive in the closing minute right before halftime, the Sooners scored on five consecutive possessions to turn a 3-0 deficit into a 31-3 advantage.
Marvin Mims caught two touchdown passes, one for 36 yards and another for 58 yards during the Sooner scoring run, and Marcus Major completed a 16-yard touchdown run, but it was a touchdown catch by redshirt-senior wide receiver Drake Stoops, son of Bob Stoops, that may have been the biggest play of the game.
On a no-huddle play on second-down-and-eight from the Kent State 18-yard line, Sooner quarterback Dillion Gabriel took the snap in the shotgun and lifted a short toss caught by Stoops close to the line of scrimmage. Stoops followed his blocks, squiring through a couple of Kent State defenders, and took off headed for the right corner of the end zone.
Around the three-yard line, the son of OU’s winningest head coach, left his feet, lunging toward the right end-zone pylon. He became completely horizontal before managed to touch the pylon with the ball in his left hand before tumbling out of bounds. Touchdown Oklahoma!
What no one noticed until after the play was over, Stoops scored the touchdown missing a shoe.
"“It’s just unbelievable,” said OU offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby during his weekly press conference on Monday. “When Drake touches the ball, good things happen.”"
The touchdown catch was Stoops fifth of his career and first of the 2022 season.