Oklahoma football: No. 6 Sooners escape big upset scare, edging UCF 31-29

A win is a win, but the Oklahoma football team should be counting its blessings after barely escaping an upset bid by the University of Central Florida (UCF).

The Sooners came from behind for the second straight game and squeezed out a 31-29 victory in a homecoming game that was in doubt into the fourth quarter. The win preserved Oklahoma’s unbeaten record and seventh straight win of 2023. That is one more win than OU had all of last season in Brent Venables first year as head coach.

For the first time this season, the 6th-ranked Sooners entered the fourth quarter on the short end of the score, but quarterback Dillon Gabriel led the Sooners on two critical touchdown drives in the final frame and then survived a two-point conversion attempt with a little over a minute remaining to pull out the wind.

Oklahoma started out the game forcing punts on UCF’s first three possession. The Sooners took possession on all three punts near the mid-field stripe but managed just seven points on a 29-yard touchdown pass to WR Nic Anderson.

Sooner kicker Zach Schmit missed two field goals in the first quarter that cost OU six points and would have given the Sooners the lead at halftime. Oklahoma also hurt itself on UCF’s first touchdown. After stopping the Knights on three straight plays from the one-yard line and forcing a fourth down, OU’s Jaren Kanak was called for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for taunting that awarded UCF a new set of downs, and they scored the one-yard TD on the very next play.

After being held to just 15 yards of offense over the first 15 minutes, UCF finally got its high-powered offense on track in the second quarter, scoring 17 points fueled by 217 yards of offense.

The Sooners tied the game at 17 on a 29-yard field goal by Schmit as the first half ended.

Gabriel threw an interception on the Sooners opening possession of the second half that led to a 48-yard UCF field goal to break the tie and give UCF a 20-17 lead. It was just Gabriel’s third interception of the season. OU was forced to punt on its second possession in the third quarter, and UCF cashed in for another field goal, this one from 46 yards out to extend the lead to 23-17.

Gabriel led the OU offense on touchdown drives of 65 and 80 yards in the fourth quarter to open up a 31-23 margin, but UCF refused to quit. Knight quarterback John Rhys Plumlee led the Knights on a gutsy nine-play, 75-yard drive culminated on a 12-yard touchdown pass to Javon Baker on a 4th-and-10 play to draw within two. It was Baker’s second touchdown grab of the game.

OU snuffed out a UCF trick play on a two-point conversion attempt. and Austin Stogner recovered an onside kick attempt for the Sooners. OU went into victory formation after that and ran out the final 81 seconds on the game clock.

Oklahoma has struggled all-season in the running game and had just 57 yards rushing in the first half. Not being able to establish a run game until late in the game with the UCF defensive front likely run down as a result of a lack of depth. The Sooners finally got running backs Gavin Sawchuk and Marcus Major going in the fourth quarter.

OU finished with 189 yards rushing — 79 of that in the fourth quarter, outgaining UCF on the ground by 40 yards. The Knights came into the game as the third best rushing team in college football, averaging 246 yards per game. The OU defense shut down the Knights’ running game, although R.J. Harvey did gain 101 yards, holding them to 149 yards on the ground and just 3.6 yard per carry.

Gabriel, who began his college career at UCF, 25 of 38 passes for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Plumlee in his first full game back after suffering a knee injury early in the season threw for 248 yards and two touchdowns.

UCF suffered its fourth straight Big 12 loss in its first season in the conference. The Knights fell to 3-4 overall.

Oklahoma heads to Kansas next week and another 11 a.m. kickoff.