Red River Rivalry: Sooners all the way back after Dillon Gabriel turns loss into victory
At the end of one of an all-time instant classic in the final Big 12 contest of college football’s greatest rivalry …
Almost three full quarters removed from a first quarter for the ages, including a Sooner interception from Gentry Williams; a fake punt that netted 20 Longhorn yards; a fourth-down pass from Texas running back Savion Red to Gunnar Helm that netted 25; a second Sooner interception from Kendal Dolby set up by Billy Bowman’s goal-line breakup; a blocked punt from Texas’ Kitan Crawford that turned into a Malik Muhammad touchdown; and that was just the first 6 minutes …
In front of SEC commissioner Greg Sankey, on site inside the Cotton Bowl, surrounded by the Texas State Fair, who had to think he was watching two of the best three teams in his conference next season and maybe the best two …
Oklahoma quarterback Dillon Gabriel took the reins of an epic he was on the hook for losing and turned it into an epic he’ll instead be remembered for winning.
It felt like everything happened on Dallas’ most famed gridiron Saturday morning and afternoon. Yet, most of all, in a 34-30 Sooner victory, that happened.
“We do it every Wednesday,” Gabriel told ABC field reporter Holly Rowe after engineering the Sooners’ game winning five-play, 62-second drive culminating in a 3-yard toss to Nic Anderson, who only seems to catch touchdowns.
“That’s what OU football’s all about. That’s why I came here.”
That must be the day the Sooners practice their two-minute offense, only two minutes weren’t available to Gabriel, getting the ball back with 1:17 remaining after four straight dud drives had yielded no points.
As it happened, what he’d already really done well was run the ball.
Gabriel opened the scoring with a nifty 9-yard scamper that required guile and vision after just 1:39 had elapsed.
The only one of that dud drive quartet that went anywhere included Gabriel runs of 12 and 44 yards, the last of which may have been the only one in his college football life he’d taken off up the middle and soon eyed a gridiron that included not one of the other 21 players on the field.
Alas, all it led to was Sooner kicker Zach Schmit’s wide-right miss from 45 yards.
The game didn’t figure to be laid at Gabriel’s feet. Thanks to two huge possessions on each end of the half, the Sooners appeared to have victory nearly in hand.
Because Brent Venables, putting the “head” in head coaching, deftly called defensive timeouts as Texas drove toward a game-tying field goal 1:53 before the break, Gabriel had the chance to drive the Sooners back into the lead.
He would have with a touchdown had Tawee Walker come up with a knee-high toss in the left flat. Instead, OU settled for a 26-yard three-pointer from Schmit.
Because the Sooners won the toss and the ball to begin the third quarter, Gabriel was immediately terrific again, completing five straight passes in a 75-yard march that, after a 1-yard run from Walker, put OU on top by 10.
Then came the duds.
A third-down throw to Andrel Anthony that wouldn’t have been enough even had he caught it ended OU’s next drive.
A near midfield fourth-and-1 toss too far behind Drake Stoops ended the next one.
Next came Schmit’s miss.
Then a can’t-ever-have-it three-and-out, the last snap a third-down incompletion intended for Austin Stogner.
All of that failure meant Texas, on the back end of a 47-yard field goal from Bert Auburn, found itself on top 30-27 with 1:17 remaining, OU taking back over 75 yards from paydirt.
Coming up short would have been all right.
The masses might rumble but the barbarians would not charge the gate.
Gabriel had never played in this game before.
He’d already run for 110 yards on 13 carries. He’d committed no turnovers. He’d been good enough to put the Sooners on top by 10 in the first place. He’d still have a shot at Big 12 title redemption 20 miles and eight Saturdays away at Jerry’s World.
Of course, that narrative would have been no fun and included no golden cowboy hat on the Cotton Bowl turf.
This happened instead:
Gabriel hit Stoops for 11.
Gabriel hit Jalil Farooq for 17.
Gabriel hit Stoops for 28.
Gabriel ran for 3.
Gabriel hit Anderson, surrounded by Longhorn line traffic so dense it’s a wonder he spotted him at all, for 3 and a score and victory.
Only 15 seconds remained.
Gabriel completed 23 of 38 passes for 285 yards, the last flick to Anderson the only one for points.
His accuracy came only in spurts, but nobody will remember it that way.
They’ll remember what he did, when he did it, how he did it, all when he had no choice but to do it.
If it’s his last OU-Texas game, and maybe now we should ask if it has to be, it will be remembered as the Dillon Gabriel game.
“I love my teammates,” Gabriel said. “I love my team.”
If there was ever a question, Sooner Nation now loves him.
Oh, yeah, OU’s back.
Gabriel got it there.
Definitely a game for the ages. There has been many with exciting finishes, key plays, etc.. this one had it all from start to finish. Really happy for DG, interested to see if this takes him to a new level in the next six or more games.