The Oklahoma Sooners beat the Florida Gators 23-7 in Gainesville on Saturday night, improving their record to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in SEC play.
The 16-point victory came after an embarrassing home loss to South Carolina the week before, one that resulted in a change at offensive coordinator and any hopes of a CFP or conference title game berth officially going down the drain. However, the win put OU just one more victory away from bowl eligibility, and it was a strong bounce-back performance in a hostile environment. The Sooners ended Florida's streak of winning 48 consecutive games at home against teams visiting Gainesville for the first time, an impressive feat.
Offensively, the Sooners got more players involved in the passing game than they
have all season, spreading the ball around to a number of different targets. Here are the Pro Football Focus (PFF) snap counts and grades for each OU player who saw the field on offense Saturday night.
Offense
- QB John Mateer: 77 snaps (87.4 grade)
- RB Lloyd Avant: 30 snaps (63.4 grade)
- RB Tory Blaylock: 28 snaps (51.8 grade)
- RB Jonathan Hatton Jr.: 18 snaps (58.5 grade)
- RB Xavier Robinson: 2 snaps (60.1 grade)
- WR Isaiah Sategna III: 74 snaps (62.0 grade)
- WR Parker Livingstone: 53 snaps (57.4 grade)
- WR Manny Choice: 33 snaps (54.8 grade)
- WR Jacob Jordan: 19 snaps (85.7 grade)
- WR Elijah Thomas: 10 snaps (56.5 grade)
- WR Ivan Carreon: 6 snaps (51.4 grade)
- TE Rocky Beers: 51 snaps (82.0 grade)
- TE Hayden Hansen: 44 snaps (61.2 grade)
- TE Jack Van Dorselaer: 14 snaps (63.9 grade)
- LT Michael Fasusi: 77 snaps (77.6 grade)
- LG Noah Best: 77 snaps (64.1 grade)
- C Jake Maikkula: 77 snaps (63.4 grade)
- RG Heath Ozaeta: 77 snaps (61.1 grade)
- RT E'Marion Harris: 77 snaps (59.2 grade)
- OL Peyton Joseph: 2 snaps (59.3 grade)
Mateer and the starting offensive line combination of Fasusi, Best, Maikkula, Ozaeta, and Harris played all 77 snaps for the Sooners, and OU even used six offensive linemen on two short-yardage conversions, lining Peyton Joseph up in an h-back position. Avant and Blaylock continued to pace the running back room in opportunities.
The pass-catchers saw a lot more variety, even with OU running a lot of two tight end sets with Beers and Hansen both on the field together. Sategna was still the front-runner, but he wasn't the only WR to get the ball thrown his way this week. That diversity led to Livingstone being the only other wideout to play more than half the snaps on Saturday night.
Defensively, the Sooners showed a lot more looks against the Gators than they did against most teams, and it resulted in a strong performance to get right after the South Carolina debacle. Here are the PFF snap counts and grades for each OU player who saw the field on defense on Saturday night.
Defense
- DT David Stone: 39 snaps (54.9 grade)
- DT Jayden Jackson: 30 snaps (61.6 grade)
- DT Trent Wilson: 9 snaps (52.6 grade)
- DT Bishop Thomas: 8 snaps (59.1 grade)
- DT Danny Saili: 5 snaps (85.2 grade)
- DE Taylor Wein: 33 snaps (66.5 grade)
- DE Danny Okoye: 24 snaps (83.6 grade)
- DE Jake Kreul: 24 snaps (65.4 grade)
- DE Adepoju Adebawore: 21 snaps (62.6 grade)
- DE Kenny Ozowalu: 2 snaps (59.7 grade)
- LB Kip Lewis: 49 snaps (67.0 grade)
- LB Owen Heinecke: 49 snaps (65.0 grade)
- Cheetah Reggie Powers III: 45 snaps (68.0 grade)
- Cheetah Jeremiah Newcombe: 4 snaps (62.0 grade)
- CB Courtland Guillory: 49 snaps (69.0 grade)
- CB Eli Bowen: 40 snaps (67.4 grade)
- CB Trystan Haynes: 9 snaps (65.4 grade)
- S Michael Boganowski: 39 snaps (66.7 grade)
- S Peyton Bowen: 33 snaps (74.5 grade)
- S Omarion Robinson: 16 snaps (67.0 grade)
- S Niko Jandreau: 10 snaps (64.3 grade)
- S Markel Ford: 1 snap (60.0 grade)
OU snapped the ball 28 more times than Florida, a result of a gameplan predicated on going slow and shortening the game. A massive 20-play touchdown drive that lasted over 12 minutes will also limit your opponent's possessions. As a result, inside linebackers Lewis and Heinecke were able to play every snap against the Gators, and both were excellent. Oklahoma also got to stick with its starting tackle duo of Stone and Jackson for the majority of the game, though they toggled between four and three-man defensive fronts against Florida.
Okoye got his first start as a Sooner on Saturday night, and he and Kreul both saw an uptick in snaps over Adebawore, as that duo finished behind only Wein in the DE room in snaps. The Cheetah position was mainly manned by Powers for all but four snaps, and the cornerback spot got a full game from Guillory and the welcome return of Eli Bowen in his first game back from injury.
At safety, Peyton Bowen wasn't 100 percent to face the Gators, but he still gave it a go and played well. Boganowski and Robinson ensured that there was no lapse without their leader on the field as much as he usually is, and Sooner Nation got a glimpse of the future at safety, with Jandreau also seeing some action on Saturday night.
Oklahoma played efficient, complementary football on Saturday night, something head coach Brent Venables becomes a lot more common in Norman in the future. The next opportunity to build on that performance comes against the Ole Miss Rebels on Saturday afternoon back at home. That game will kick off at 3:15 p.m. CT.
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This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: PFF grades and snap counts from OU's win over Florida
