After struggling all season to keep the offense on the field and sustain points-producing drives, Oklahoma mounted two monster drives that sucked the life out of the 90,000 strong at Florida's Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and helped fuel the Sooners' commanding 23-7 road win at one of the most difficult places to play in the country.
The Sooners scored on three of their first four possessions in the game, and quarterback John Mateer directed two long touchdown drives of 84 and 89 yards in leading a recharged Oklahoma offense. OU dominated the game on both sides of the line of scrimmage, out gaining a good Florida offensive team 351-203. It was the fewest yards of total offense Oklahoma has yielded to an SEC opponent this season.
The architect of the Sooners' rejuvenated offensive performance was newly appointed interim offensive coordinator Jason Witten. It was not a particularly flashy or explosive offensive effort -- the Sooners had just one play longer than 20 yards -- but rather more of a gritty, grind-it-out performance with the right play calls being made and well executed at the right time.
Oklahoma was coming off a sloppy and embarrassing 42-25 homecoming loss to South Carolina, a performance that ultimately cost offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle his job. The Sooner team that took the field Saturday night against the 24th-ranked Florida Gators looked and played like a completely different team, dominating on defense, executing error-free, and making the plays when it had to on offense.
This was a huge Oklahoma win in more than one way. Florida had not lost in 48 consecutive games to a team making its first visit to Gainesville and The Swamp.
The Sooners improve to 5-4 overall, needing one more win to become eligible for their 28th consecutive postseason bowl appearance, and 3-3 in SEC play. Florida dropped from CFP contention at 5-4 and 3-5 in SEC play on the season.
No rest for the victors. Oklahoma must now get ready to face what is certain to be an angry Ole Miss team that was embarrassed at home by Georgia over the weekend at home.
Here's the good and bad from OU's win, but there wasn't anything ugly about the trip to Florida.
The Good: Complementary football
The question of whether an in-season change at offensive coordinator could revive an Oklahoma offense that has become one of the worst in college football over the past couple of seasons was emphatically answered Saturday night on the road at Florida. Future Pro Football Hall of Famer Jason Witten took over the play-calling duties for the Sooners for the first time at the collegiate level, and the OU offense responded positively to the change.
Oklahoma scored on its first two drives with Witten as offensive coordinator. That marked the first time since the Sooners joined the SEC in 2024 that OU scored on its first two drives in a conference game. Overall, Oklahoma earned points on five of its 10 offensive possessions, including two long drives that bled precious time off the clock and kept the Florida offense on the sidelines. The 351 yards of offense (207 passing and 144 rushing) were the Sooners' third-best offensive output of the season.
The Sooners scored a touchdown on an 84-yard drive in the second quarter that covered 15 plays and took 7:11 of game time. The second long touchdown drive, 89 yards in 20 plays, began in the final three minutes of the third quarter and extended another 10:04 into the fourth quarter, putting the Sooners up 20-7 with 4:56 remaining in the game. The latter scoring drive was the team's longest in terms of number of plays since 1972.
"I wanted somebody that saw how good we could be," head coach Brent Venables said of Witten's performance in his postgame comments. "I thought our guys looked like a really refined unit offensively."
About the game-clinching 20-play touchdown drive, the Sooner head coach said: "A thing of beauty... Fabulous in every way. That's winning football."
The field general in Oklahoma's offensive turnaround and dominant win over Florida was the same Mateer who has been the object of major criticism this season. Making his first collegiate start with someone other than Arbuckle calling plays, Mateer appeared more comfortable in the pocket and delivered one of his best performances of the season, throwing for 207 yards and gaining a season-best 56 on the ground as part of the Sooner run game.
The Oklahoma defense responded to a season-worst performance a week ago, giving up 42 points and 521 yards of offense to South Carolina, with a shutdown performance in the upset of Florida. The Gators were held to a season-low 203 yards of offense and 133 passing. Those were also season-best numbers for the defense against SEC opponents this season.
The Bad: Penalties
While there is little to point to in the Oklahoma win at Florida that would be considered bad, the performance was far from perfect. It was an error-free game in terms of turnovers or giveaways, but the Sooners did draw seven penalty flags, resulting in a loss of 70 yards.
Oklahoma was able to overcome the penalty yardage in the Florida game, but this is something that needs to be cleaned up over the remaining three games to avoid losses.
What does all this mean moving forward?
Game 1 with Witten calling plays is in the books, and the results were very positive, with the offense showing more spark and effectiveness in advancing the ball, keeping the chains moving, and, importantly, putting points on the scoreboard. But it is just one game, and the Sooners have shown flashes of offensive success in other games this season, only to be followed by a flat, lifeless offensive performance the next week. It does appear, however, that Witten knows the right buttons to push to gain the players' trust and get the Oklahoma offense back on track and headed in a more positive direction.
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