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Oklahoma football: Billy Bowman awarded Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week honor

By Chip Rouse

Nov 4, 2023; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. (2) intercepts a pass beside Oklahoma State Cowboys wide receiver Rashod Owens (10) during a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Terry-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 4, 2023; Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma Sooners defensive back Billy Bowman Jr. (2) intercepts a pass beside Oklahoma State Cowboys wide receiver Rashod Owens (10) during a Bedlam college football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys (OSU) and the University of Oklahoma Sooners (OU) at Boone Pickens Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Bryan Terry-USA TODAY Sports /
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With just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter on Saturday, Oklahoma football defensive back Billy Bowman stunningly changed the course of the Sooners’ game with BYU.

Bowman cut in front of the intended BYU receiver in the end zone and raced 100 yards the other way to take seven points off the board for the Cougars and register seven for the Sooners instead, a 14-point swing that broke a 17-all tie and gave Oklahoma the lead, 24-17.

That one sensational play likely changed the outcome of the game and was enough to earn Bowman Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week. The junior defensive back’s interception was his fifth of the season, which is tied for second nationally. The 100-yard interception return was the third in Sooner football history.

Bowman also had nine tackles in the game and one tackle for loss.

The native of Denton, Texas, has 192 interception return yards this season, with 100 of those coming in the BYU game. That number leads all FBS teams this season (the next best is 167 interception return yards) and is the second most in program history behind Ricky Dixon’s 232 interception return yards on nine picks in 1987.

This is the first Big 12 weekly award won by Bowman and the eighth Big 12 honor awarded to an Oklahoma player in the 2023 season. It is the second Defensive Player of the Week honor this season by a Sooner player. Danny Stutsman was named Defensive Player of the Week in the conference after the SMU game in Week 2. Other Sooners to be so honored this season were Dillon Gabriel (three times Offensive Player of the Week), Nic Anderson (twice Newcomer of the Week) and Gavin Freeman (Co-Special Teams Player of the Week.

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