ORLANDO, Fla. — Down two beginning offensive lineman and its main rusher, Oklahoma continued its Cheez-It Bowl preparations at close by Boone High School Monday, solely 3.2 miles from the turf the Sooners will meet No. 13 Florida State and its 14th-ranked protection on Thursday night at Camping World Stadium.
Those dueling realities — the bowl sport absences of Anton Harrison, Wanya Morris and Eric Gray and the Seminoles’ fierce protection — beckon a query no OU consultant fairly answered throughout Monday morning’s press convention classes: will a comparatively depleted Sooners offense stick with its patented tempo type in the 2022 finale or will it cater a unique method to an opponent properly geared up to pounce if OU struggles early?
“It’s different,” quarterback Dillon Gabriel acknowledged. “But I think it’s also a big opportunity for new guys and what they’re going to be able to showcase and what they do. We truly have a next-man-up mentality.”
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Gabriel will be central to any Sooner success in the Cheez-It Bowl (4:30 p.m., ESPN). But the query over OU’s offensive method to Florida State’s upper-crust protection in the end rests on the shoulders of Jeff Lebby.
The Sooners’ 38-year outdated offensive coordinator will shut his first season accountable for the OU offense Thursday in the metropolis the place he received his begin as a Power 5 coordinator and supercharged a UCF offense that scored 43.4 factors per sport in 2019.
Three years later, Lebby has steered a Sooners offense that’s featured moments of brilliance at instances this fall and situations of infectivity throughout others in his debut season.
Among Big 12 offenses, OU ranked first in dashing yards per sport (217.0), second in yards per contest (472.2) with Gabriel atop the convention with 265.5 yards passing per sport as of Monday afternoon. It’s additionally at center of the convention pack in scoring (32.9 factors per sport), second in complete punts (60), final in time of possession and No. 58 nationally on third-down conversions.
“I think we’ve progressed in a lot of ways,” Lebby stated Monday.
But the Lebby-led Sooners assault that dropped 48 factors the final time it took the discipline is now lacking a trio of crucial figures.
Within per week of the Nov. 26 common season finale defeat at Texas Tech, every of Harrison, Morris and Gray introduced their plans to skip the bowl sport and put together for the NFL Draft. All three will play in the Senior Bowl on Feb. 4, 2023.
That leaves the Sooners down two pillars from a dependable offensive line in 2022. It additionally leaves them with out Gray, who tallied extra dashing yards this fall — 1,364 — than all however seven OU rushers in program historical past.
On Thursday, that’ll have the Sooners leaning on less-proven replacements in opposition to a Tenth-win-seeking Florida State workforce that suffered its final loss on Oct. 15.
“I think the biggest thing is we got guys that are capable,” Lebby stated. “They haven’t played a bunch, but they’re capable. So we feel great about where we’re at. Got a ton of confidence in the guys that are gonna walk out there on the 29th.”
With Gray absent and redshirt junior Marcus Major’s standing in query — he wore sweats and a boot on his proper foot throughout follow Monday — possibilities to step in will certainly be there for freshmen operating backs Jovantae Barnes and Gavin Sawchuk in opposition to the Seminoles.
“It’s a great opportunity for Jovantae,” Lebby stated.
Up entrance, redshirt sophomore Tyler Guyton appears a probable candidate to fit into considered one of the deal with spots vacated by Morris and Harrison. Freshman Jacob Sexton and redshirt sophomore Aaryn Parks may separate themselves getting into the different deal with function.
Without a number of key cogs, Cheez-It possibilities await a handful of OU reserves. On Monday, junior vast receiver Marvin Mims mirrored on his first postseason with the Sooners in 2020.
“If you’re a younger guy who’s getting more opportunities, you gotta go out there and put it on film,” he stated.”
“As a young guy a couple of years ago, we have a bowl game, I get more reps and in a couple of weeks then you got new guys coming to take your spot. So those reps really do matter. And they actually show and especially in practice and stuff like that. And if you’re fortunate to be out there in the game, you have to make the most out of it.”
That was Mims’ message to these teammates getting into larger roles in the season finale.
As for how OU’s offense may really feel and function lacking a few of the main gamers that made the Sooners tick earlier this fall?
“You kind of just want to play out there on the field and have fun with the brothers,” Mims stated. “At some point, I mean, you’re rolling with who you’re rolling with.”
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