Dillon Gabriel might not have the arm strength or accuracy of Oklahoma’s recent Heisman-winning quarterbacks Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray.
But according to offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, his play doesn’t need to be flawless — or even close to his predecessors' — to achieve success.
“That’s the reality of this game,” Lebby said Monday after Oklahoma’s 41-34 loss to Kansas State in Norman last Saturday. “You step into that arena, you’re gonna want some things back. I thought he played his butt off, he played incredibly tough, he led, he did a lot of things really, really, well, but he’s going to want some of those (throws) back.
“ … Like I said after the game, I want some of those calls back. Again, that’s the nature of stepping in that arena. … We want him to play perfect, but that’s not the reality of the position with everything that we ask him to do.”
The redshirt junior quarterback led Oklahoma’s offense to 550 yards against the Wildcats despite the loss. However, the UCF transfer missed a few third-down throws — including a potential chain-moving toss to Marvin Mims early in the fourth quarter — and a presumed walk-in touchdown to Drake Stoops that would’ve tied the game at 14 late in the first quarter.
Although Gabriel finished 26-of-39 for 330 yards with four touchdown passes against the Wildcats, there’s still room for improvement as the Sooners head into a matchup with TCU at 11 a.m. on Saturday in Fort Worth.
“Just a lot to clean up on my end,” Gabriel said Tuesday. “But most importantly, just as an offensive unit just being better, because the margin of error is very slim when you play good teams, so you gotta take advantage of every opportunity that presents itself or any bust that happens on their end. Just continue to stay dialed in on that side of things and then making the necessary changes and making improvements.”
Gabriel referred to himself as a “bad loser”after the loss. Oklahoma fell 12 spots to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll after its third loss to Kansas State since 2019, and Gabriel can’t hang his head if OU hopes to avoid turning one loss into two.
“I think naturally a loss isn't something you want to happen or something you plan for,” Gabriel said, “but it's adversity and things you've got to adjust and work to live on the right side of and find a way to win. Just in my experience, never love losing and never got used to it, but got to move forward cause you know, you've got a game the next week and got to focus on that.”
Despite Oklahoma’s offensive firepower — the Sooners rank seventh nationally in average yards per game — its slow starts are well documented. The Sooners have yet to score on their first drive since their season opener against UTEP, and have only two combined opening-drive first downs in the past three games.
Gabriel said fixing first possessions is about maintaining pace as a unit, and not letting one setback snowball into multiple.
“It’s all mentality, it’s all approach,” Gabriel said of overcoming slow starts. “I think a big thing is just moving the chains that first series and make sure the drive continues to last. I think when you move the chains you create rhythm, you create momentum to carry on and let big plays continue to happen.”
Teammates Jalil Farooq and Andrew Raym noticed a more intense version of Gabriel’s leadership in preparation for the Horned Frogs. Although Gabriel denied any changes to his demeanor, he’s still concentrated on fixing some of his past mistakes for Oklahoma’s first conference road game Saturday.
“I think Dillon’s coming back even stronger,” Farooq said. (He’s) being more vocal now and just making sure we all stay together and preaching we’re brothers through everything we just went through and the loss and everything. We’re still here for each other.”
