Dillon Gabriel wants to see Oklahoma’s offense establish rhythm.
It’s what the Sooners lacked in the first half of Saturday’s 20-6 win over Cincinnati, where they totaled less than two yards per carry until the third quarter. Gabriel himself didn’t help the cause by missing an open Jalil Farooq on what would’ve been a 51-yard touchdown in the first quarter or by fumbling inside the redzone later in the same drive.
“(There’s) a bunch to learn,” Gabriel said of OU’s first half struggles. “To summarize it, moving the chains and then finding the rhythm and creating that for ourselves when things may not be going our way at first.”
That adversity is what tarnished the Sooners’ ability to find any sort of flow on offense. Gabriel sees ways to improve, ultimately vying for rhythm to become the focal point in an identity-less offense.
“Being able to stay present, find ways to create completions and create positives,” Gabriel said. “It doesn't help when you get a negative on that second play. And then just shooting ourselves in the foot on a couple of things at different times in different moments. A lot of it is self-inflicted and things we got to fix internally.”
The Sooners, often criticized for their lackluster third-down offense in 2022, did themselves no favors on early downs. OU’s average third down distance was 9.1 yards in the first half. On their first drive of the second quarter, the Sooners faced third and 19, 8 and 11, converting on all but the latter in a drive ultimately resulting in a field goal.
They never faced a third down and only put themselves in two second and short yardage situations in their lone first-half touchdown drive. No negative plays. No incompletions. No overwhelming third downs. The key to success in OU’s offense.
“Creating good juice,” Gabriel said. “Creating completions or finding ways to get positives, whether it’s running the football or throwing, then naturally as you create completions you get into a rhythm and things start to unveil themselves.”
Gabriel hopes to carry over the rhythm established on OU’s 66-yard touchdown drive and the glimpses of it seen in the second half to the Sooners’ (4-0, 1-0 Big 12) matchup against Iowa State (2-2, 1-0) at 6 p.m. Saturday in Norman on FS1.
To him, the game plan is simple.
“Creating easy completions and moving the chains,” Gabriel said. “I don’t want to sound like a broken record, but finding ways to get in a rhythm.”
