Sooners On SI Florida Wrap

Brian Chapman here, Sooners on SI, wrapping up an iconic night in the Swamp. The Oklahoma Sooners notch yet another win in one of the iconic SEC venues. They've gone to Knoxville, done it as members of the SEC, of course. They've gone to Tuscaloosa, and now they've notched a win in the Swamp. 23-7, it was, and everything was about Jason Witten and the Oklahoma offense today. Obviously, Brent Littles made the move Monday to remove Fire offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle, the future NFL Hall of Famer, the 17-year vet Jason Witten steps in for Oklahoma, and I don't know if it could have gone much better for the very, very famous Dallas Cowboy in his interim OC debut. Oklahoma comes out and scores on three of their first four possessions all in the first half, a field goal on the opening drive, then a really, really nice touchdown drive spurred by a... Fourth and one conversion on the OU-46. Oklahoma's been able to march down the field and get former Florida Gator Hayden Hansen into the end zone with the Sooners up 10-0. And then things got a little wonky there for a little bit. Jaden Baugh, a 15-yard touchdown run here in this end zone, tightens things up, but Oklahoma gets the ball back. About 2.36 left until halftime. Two timeouts in the two-minute timeout. They're able to move, and though they didn't get a touchdown, able to put a Tate Sandell field goal up as he was excellent. in the swamp. The big thing, though, was the third quarter. Things got a little touch and go, some procedural penalties, some misfires from John Mateer, but it was the Oklahoma defense that was able to come in and have a massive, massive bounce-back performance after a disastrous showing against South Carolina a week ago. Jaden Baugh, one of the most talented rushers in all of college football, held to 34 yards on eight carries, that 15-yard touchdown run, like I mentioned, the only of Baugh's carries. That went for more than six yards. He had a couple of six yarders. He had two rushes that were for negative one yards, one that was basically for no gain and one yarder. But the moral of the story was Oklahoma's defense able to tackle, able to rally to the football, able to bottle up Jaden Baugh and Tramel Jones Jr. Tramel Jones Jr. who actually had a little bit more success, it felt like, with his speed before you subtract out the sack yardage. And then, of course, the big, big moment. It didn't end up being a complimentary football moment, but in the other end zone, Cortland Guillory on a fourth down where it looked like maybe Tramel Jones had worked back, evaded the pressure, and found an open receiver in the end zone. It was Cortland Guillory who was able to work back. Brent Venable said he was in perfect position, stayed home, read it, knew what was coming behind him, able to make a diving grab. That was a moment where Florida could have withstood, withstood, withstood, been down 13-7, gone up. Instead. Suddenly, Oklahoma has the football, not able to move, like I said, but the defense gets another stop, and that set up the showpiece of the night. Jason Witten and John Mateer engineer a 20-play, 12-minute, 45-second drive that spans 89 yards. It was the longest drive by plays in 54 years, 54 years for the Sooners, and it ends, of course, in a touchdown, a third-down throw that John Mateer throws it toward Isaiah Satenia in the end zone. It looked like a pick the whole way. It looked like the kind of moment that in weeks past would have been a pick six, and it would have been where the house came crumbling down. Instead, through the hands of the Florida defender, Isaiah Satenia able to catch the touchdown, and basically the swamp started to clear out. It was an unbelievable response for Oklahoma. Jason Witten, after the game, he had talked about Brent Venables, I mean, had talked about the readiness and the eagerness that Jason Witten had. And Jason Witten, I asked him, hey, kind of in that interview process, this is obviously not the scenario you thought that you were going to be thrown into, but the ambition, wanting to be ready and be able to go out and be an offensive coordinator, a guy that has head coach ambitions. And Jason Witten talked about, hey. He had an incredible career, so he got started late in his coaching career. I think that everyone will be A-OK with Jason Witten starting late in his coaching career. He was hanging up 17 years in the National Football League, able to come home, coach his kids. He talked about once his oldest graduated that it was a spot that he might have wanted to make that move. And he believes that he was able to come in and provide some structure, provide some experience for his Oklahoma offense. And it certainly played out that way. On Saturday here at the Swamp, he talked about a long meeting Thursday night Jason Witten had with John Mateer. He's kind of going over the game plan, resetting after what was a very, very difficult week, obviously, for John Mateer. That's something that Jason Witten said, like, look, man, these are humans. He's been with Ben Arbuckle for four years. Obviously, that's going to be an emotional moment for John Mateer. But Mateer talked about after the game that he felt it was his duty on Monday when the move happened to, he said, just... Wipe it, be as professional as possible, and show that outwardly to the team at practice. That's kind of what Brent Venables talked about Tuesday in his press conference, that everyone handled it professionally, had some juice, things like that. And it certainly panned out that way here today. John Mateer, maybe his most decisive rushing night on the ground was either this or Mississippi State. And John Mateer said basically what was the difference? He was just able to make guys miss, and he was able to avoid the turnover. That's the key thing. You look up, and it might be... 200-ish passing yards, I think it was 203, 204, something like that for John Mateer. It's not the sexiest storyline in the world, but it just moved. And you think about Jacob Jordan popping up, a guy that we knew made plays a couple years ago. Jacob Jordan, I guess he just, not that he loves this, but he loves showing up in spots after a change on offense as he has another big day. You think about his third down conversion over on that sideline, right as the third quarter's ending. Little did we know that Oklahoma was going to go string together five more third down conversions on that drive to make sure that they punch into the end zone. And Jason Witten said, hey, there's some stuff that, you know, as much as football changes, the stuff that won 50 years ago wins today. I don't think he kind of had in mind that 54 years of football ago at Oklahoma, you'd have a 20 play drive, but it kind of panned out that way. And Jason just talked about this moment that he had. Walking in and seeing the equipment truck for Oklahoma and seeing the seven national championships, 50 conference titles, and that he kind of just knew, like, that's what the expectation is. He knows that he can deliver to that expectation. Certainly, he did on Saturday in the swamp because it was the perfect complement to an Oklahoma defense that was suffocating after a week where they had missed 20-plus tackles, really, really struggled against the Norris Cellars, Matt Fuller, and that South Carolina offense. And now, suddenly, Oklahoma's got some life and got some juice. Here in November, notched a huge win tonight. Now they head back to Norman, the penultimate home game this year against an Ole Miss team that's going to come in limping after a beatdown at the hands of Georgia. Got an A&M team on the other side that has been kind of in the same boat as Oklahoma, struggling all year long. And then obviously they'll close out with a road trip to Missouri. The three teams left on their schedule all lost today. Now Oklahoma sitting at 5-4. Certainly feels like they might be able to build something. And could tonight be the night that... The true case, Brent Venable said everything was on the table on Tuesday if Jason Witten could potentially be the full-time OC after this. Maybe tonight was step one for Jason Witten and this Oklahoma offense. Certainly, as it looked much more organized, just calm. There were procedural penalties and things in the third quarter. They were able to work their way out of that. It's stuff that we very rarely see, much less this season, but in the two years under Ben Arbuckle and even... To Seth Luttrell, before that, I mean, just the fact that it was running all over SEC Network, but Oklahoma goes out tonight, scores on their first two drives. That's the first time since they joined the SEC. The first time since they joined the SEC that the Sooners were able to do that. Took them 22 tries, field goal and a touchdown. Made that thing happen, and it kind of felt like the perfect compliment for exactly what Brent Venables wants out of his offense, to be able to go on a big, long drive, suck the life, drain the swamp, as Oklahoma did. And then make sure that they can get out of here with a big-time win. It's a huge, huge, huge night for the Sooners. Big night for Jason Witten. Big response for John Mateers. Oklahoma comes away with a 23-7 victory. Be sure you're headed to the website, OklahomaSoonersOnSI.com. OklahomaSoonersOnSI.com. My takeaways, who's winners and losers. a bird stock report and plenty of stories to come. Talk about Jason Witten, Hayden Hanson, Cortland Gilliard, that interception. John Mateer, the week that he had. All that's coming to the website for free, as always. Oklahoma Sooners on SI.com. If you're watching this video, you probably have all made your way to the YouTube channel, but if not, John Hoover Media. Search that. If you want to watch Brent Venables, have his postgame press conference, it's up there. Jason Witten, his postgame press conference, it's up there, as well as John Mateer. As always, John Hoover Media on YouTube. That'll do it here, at least for the wrap. I got to scurry back up to the press box, hammer out all that content that you so desire on the website, OklahomaSoonersOnSI.com. Big shout-out to the whole Sooners on SI crew for holding it down. Back in the 405 and the 918. But this is Ryan Chapman signing off from the swamp in Gainesville. A victorious night, a one to remember for Oklahoma as they will head back to Norman with some momentum in their sails. We'll talk to you.