Game Primer: OU at Cincinnati

Saturday, September 23

Cincinnati, Ohio

11 a.m. CT

University of Oklahoma

Cincinnati

September 21, 2023 | Football

Watch Listen Live Stats Digital Game Program

By: OU Athletics Communications

#16/14 Oklahoma

Cincinnati

Saturday, Sept. 23 / 11 a.m. CT / Nippert Stadium

FOX / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

OPENING KICK

• No. 16/14 Oklahoma (3-0) opens Big 12 Conference play when it travels to face new league member Cincinnati (2-1) on Saturday at 11 a.m. CT at Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati, Ohio. The game will be televised by FOX with Gus Johnson, Joel Klatt and Jenny Taft announcing.

• OU has won eight of its last 10 Big 12 openers and 12 of its last 15.

• Saturday's game will mark the third meeting between Oklahoma and Cincinnati. The Sooners won the previous two matchups, 52-26 at home in 2008 and 31-29 on the road in 2010.

• Saturday's contest will also represent Cincinnati's first Big 12 Conference game in program history. UC joined the league July 1 with BYU, Houston and UCF. OU will host UCF on Oct. 21 and travel to face BYU on Nov. 18. It is not scheduled to play Houston.

• The 2023 season marks OU's last as a member of the Big 12. The Sooners move to the Southeastern Conference on July 1, 2024.

• Oklahoma has won 14 Big 12 championships in the league's first 27 years. No other program has won more than three.

• The Sooners are a league-best 169-58 (.744) in regular season Big 12 play since the conference began in 1996. The current Big 12 program with the next best winning percentage is Texas, almost 100 points behind (149-78; .656).

• OU is 74-10 (.881) in September games since the start of the 1999 season, which was Bob Stoops' first as head coach.

• Oklahoma ranks in the top five nationally in both scoring offense (No. 3 at 55.7 ppg) and scoring defense (No. 5 at 9.3 ppg). OU's +46.3 average scoring margin leads the country.

• The Sooners have yet to trail this season, and the only times they've been tied were at 0-0. They scored 1:19 into the game against Arkansas State, 4:21 into the SMU contest and 2:29 into Saturday's game at Tulsa, meaning they have led for 171:51 out of 180 minutes on the year.

• The 2023 season marks the 129th in OU football history. The Sooners lead the country with their 50 all-time conference championships, 27 11-plus-win seasons, 33 AP top-five finishes, seven Heisman Trophy winners (tied) and five No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks (tied), rank second with their 430 all-time weeks ranked in the top five of the AP poll, third with seven AP national championships and with their 101 weeks as the AP's No. 1 team, and fourth with their 56 bowl appearances and 414 NFL Draft picks.

• Saturday's contest will mark the 1,329th in OU history. The Sooners rank fifth in college football annals with their .726 all-time winning percentage (937-338-53 record). They trail Ohio State (.733), Alabama (.732), Michigan (.731), and Notre Dame (.730). Since the end of World War II (1946 season to present), OU leads all programs with 693 wins (34 more than Alabama, the program with the next most) and owns a .767 winning percentage.

• Cincinnati, which is in its first year under head coach Scott Satterfield, is 2-1 after a 66-13 home win over Eastern Kentucky, a 27-21 road victory over Pitt and a 31-24 home overtime loss to Miami (Ohio) on Saturday. The Bearcats had two 100-yard rushers vs. Miami, ran 42 more plays and outgained the RedHawks 538 yards to 358, but threw two interceptions and had a 35-yard, game-winning field goal attempt blocked in the final seconds of regulation.

KEY STORYLINES

• Saturday's game will feature one of the best road performers in the country over the last nine seasons in Oklahoma and a program with one of the best home records since the start of the 2019 campaign in Cincinnati. Going back to the 2014 season, the Sooners are 31-7 (.816) in true road contests, good for the fifth-best winning percentage in the country over the span. The Bearcats, meanwhile, are 26-2 at home since the beginning of the 2019 season. The .929 home winning percentage is tied for fifth best over the past four-plus years. Cincinnati's only two home losses over the period have come in its last three games at Nippert Stadium - 27-24 to Tulane in last year's regular season finale and 31-24 in overtime to Miami (Ohio) on Saturday.

• OU redshirt senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel is off to a pristine start this season, ranking in the top 10 nationally in several categories. The Mililani, Hawaii, product leads the country in pass completion percentage (.825; for perspective the OU single-season record is .709 by Baker Mayfield in 2016) and ranks second in passing efficiency rating (220.4; the OU record is 199.2 by Kyler Murray in 2018) and points responsible for per game (24.0), fourth in passing touchdowns (11) and sixth in yards per pass attempt (11.3). Gabriel also ranks 11th in passing offense (301.7 ypg) and 17th in total offense (313.3 ypg) despite only playing in nine of OU's 12 quarters this season.

• Gabriel has been aided by the protection of OU's offensive line through three games, as the Sooners are tied for second nationally by allowing just 0.3 sacks per contest (the lone opponent sack was by SMU). Cincinnati has racked up 10 sacks (3.3 per outing) to rank 16th nationally.

• After ranking 49th in the country last year in third-down conversion percentage (.405) and 87th in third-down conversion percentage defense (.409), OU is off to a stellar start in both categories in 2023. The Sooners have converted 25 of their 37 third downs through three games, good for the nation's best percentage (.676). And OU allowed Arkansas State, SMU and Tulsa to convert just 14 of their 46 combined third-down tries. The .304 opponent conversion figure has the Sooners ranked 21st out of 130 teams.

• OU added nine defensive scholarship transfers in the offseason and has been impressive on that side of the ball through three games. The Sooners rank fifth in scoring defense (9.3 ppg), 10th in tackles for loss (8.7 per game), 15th in rushing defense (78.7 ypg), 19th in yards per play allowed (4.3), 23rd in passing efficiency defense (107.6) and 32nd in total defense (287.7 ypg). Last year, OU ranked 98th in scoring defense (30.0 ppg), fourth in tackles for loss (8.0 per game), 105th in rushing defense (187.5 ypg), 82nd in yards per play allowed (5.8), 58th in passing efficiency defense (128.2) and 121st in total defense (461.0 ypg).

• The Sooners have allowed just five scores (three touchdowns and two field goals for 28 total points) on 37 possessions through three contests. They didn't permit a touchdown until the fourth quarter by SMU in the second game. The last time OU went at least seven quarters without allowing a touchdown to open a season was in 1999. OU's 28 points allowed are its second fewest over the first three games of the season since the start of the 2010 campaign (gave up 27 in 2013).

• OU ranks fourth nationally with its +2.0 turnover margin per game. The Sooners have registered eight takeaways to rank sixth in the country and have committed two turnovers (both on Saturday at Tulsa; one on the opening kickoff return and a second-quarter interception). They also blocked a punt against SMU.

PREVIOUSLY VS. THE BEARCATS

• The Sooners have won both previous meetings in their series with Cincinnati, posting a 52-26 home victory as the nation's No. 4-ranked team on Sept. 6, 2008, and a 31-29 road triumph as the AP's No. 8 squad on Sept. 25, 2010, both under head coach Bob Stoops. The Bearcats were unranked in both contests. In the first meeting, OU quarterback Sam Bradford threw for a then-career-high 395 yards and five touchdowns and wide receiver Ryan Broyles (OU-freshman-record 141 yards and a touchdown in his collegiate debut) and tight end Jermaine Gresham (93 yards and two TDs) caught seven passes each. Current OU running backs coach DeMarco Murray carried 15 times for 88 yards (5.9 average) and an 11-yard TD. The Sooners, who outgained UC 592 yards to 326, led 28-20 midway through the third quarter before scoring the next 24 points. Bradford, who threw two interceptions in the game, went on to win the Heisman Trophy that season and OU played in the BCS National Championship Game (lost 24-14 to Florida). The Sooners finished 12-2 that year while Cincinnati went 11-3, won the Big East Conference and earned a No. 17 final AP ranking under head coach Brian Kelly.

• In the rematch two years later in Cincinnati, OU sophomore quarterback Landry Jones completed 36 of 51 passes for 370 yards and a pair of touchdowns, and the Sooners overcame a late Bearcats rally for the two-point win. OU was outgained 461 yards to 452 but registered four takeaways on the night (one interception and three fumble recoveries) while committing just one turnover. Broyles caught 10 passes for a team-high 100 yards and a TD, and Murray carried 28 times for a team-high 67 yards and a score. The Sooners finished the season 12-2, won the Big 12 and beat Connecticut 48-20 in the Fiesta Bowl. UC finished the year 4-8 under first-year head coach Butch Jones.

HAVE CONFIDENCE, WILL TRAVEL

• Oklahoma has won 31 of its last 38 true road games (.816) going back to 2014, with five of the seven losses one-score outcomes.

• The 2019 defeat at K-State snapped OU's 22-game true road winning streak (it hadn't lost since Oct 4, 2014, at TCU), which was the second longest such streak nationally since at least the end of World War II. During the 22-game streak, OU outscored foes 1,076-626 (49-28 average) and outgained them by 3,621 yards (583-419 average).

• The Sooners have outgained their opponent in 30 of their last 38 true road games.

• OU has scored at least 30 points in 39 of its last 43 true road games (school-record 35-game streak was stopped in 2021 at Baylor). The next highest team total over its last 43 true road contests is 32 (Ohio State).

GABRIEL A TD MACHINE

• Redshirt senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has started 40 of his 41 career games between UCF (2019-21) and OU (2022-23), including each of his last 40, ranks second nationally since the start of the 2019 with his 106 touchdown passes despite missing 11 games during the span due to injury (current Notre Dame and former Wake Forest QB Sam Hartman has passed for 107 TDs in two more games).

• Among current players, Gabriel ranks first nationally since the start of 2019 with his 12,105 passing yards. Hartman is second (12,044 in 43 games) and Oregon's Bo Nix is third (11,737 in 50 games).

• Gabriel needs 25 TD passes to move into the top five in FBS career history. He is tied for 17th on the all-time chart.

• If Gabriel continues to average 2.5 TD passes per contest like he did in his first 38 games entering this season (he is averaging 3.7 this season), he would finish with 127 career TDs in a 13-game 2023 campaign, which he would accomplish in a 51-game career. The 127 passing touchdowns would rank seventh in FBS history. Landry Jones is the OU record-holder for career passing TDs with 123 in 52 games (Baker Mayfield passed for 131 career TDs, but 12 of those were as a Texas Tech Red Raider).

• Through three games this season, Gabriel has accounted for 12 touchdowns and one turnover. He ranks first nationally with his .825 completion percentage and second with his 220.4 pass efficiency rating, going 66 for 80 for 905 yards (301.7 average) and 11 scores. He has also rushed 10 times for 35 yards and a TD.

MORE ON THE OFFENSE

• The Sooners rank in the top 10 nationally in a multitude of categories through three games, including No. 1 in completion percentage (.832) and third-down conversion percentage (.676), and No. 2 in passing efficiency rating (221.2; Air Force ranks first but has only attempted 10 passes) and sacks allowed per game (0.3). OU also ranks third in scoring (55.7 ppg), fourth in first downs per game (28.3), seventh in passing offense (358.0 ypg) and eighth in total offense (534.0 ypg).

• OU is the only team in the country to score at least 66 points twice this season.

• The Sooners are tied for second nationally with their 3.3 pass plays per game of at least 30 yards.

• Quarterback Dillon Gabriel leads the Big 12 in passing offense (301.7 ypg), total touchdowns (12), passing TDs (11), completion percentage (.825; next best is 67.9), passing efficiency rating (220.4; next best is 161.3), points responsible for per game (24.0) and yards per pass attempt (11.3).

• OU has started a different running back in each of its three games (junior Tawee Walker vs. Arkansas State, redshirt senior Marcus Major vs. SMU and sophomore Jovantae Barnes at Tulsa). Walker leads OU with his 161 rushing yards, 5.6 yards per carry and two rushing touchdowns, but did not carry the ball Saturday against the Golden Hurricane. Barnes has 122 rushing yards (4.4 average) and one touchdown, while Major has 70 rushing yards (4.1 average) and one TD. Sophomore Gavin Sawchuk, who like Barnes rushed for over 100 yards in last year's Cheez-It Bowl vs. Florida State, has battled injury and got his most extensive action of the season Saturday at Tulsa (nine carries for 25 yards and a TD).

• The Sooners' wide receiver corps has accounted for 11 of the team's 13 receiving touchdowns, and four receivers have more than 100 receiving yards each. Junior Andrel Anthony transferred from Michigan in the offseason and has a team-high-tying 14 catches for a team-high 254 yards (84.7 per game) and one touchdown. He is averaging 18.1 yards per reception. Redshirt freshman Nic Anderson has caught five passes for 188 yards and a team-high-tying three scores (all against Tulsa). Anderson is averaging 37.6 yards per grab and 62.7 yards per game (did not play vs. SMU). Junior Jalil Farooq has eight receptions for 159 yards (19.9 average) and two TDs, and sixth-year slot receiver Drake Stoops is tied with Anthony with 14 catches. He has tallied 126 yards and three TDs.

• Freshman quarterback Jackson Arnold was the 2022 Gatorade National Football Player of the Year at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, enrolled at OU in January and won the backup job. All Arnold has done in three games is complete 13 of 15 passes (86.7%) for 169 yards and two touchdowns, and run 10 times for 50 yards and one TD. He was 11 for 11 for 114 yards and a TD in his debut against Arkansas State and threw a 50-yard bomb to redshirt freshman Nic Anderson for a TD at Tulsa on Saturday.

MORE ON THE DEFENSE

• With 19 returning defensive letterwinners (26 total returning defensive players) and 32 total newcomers (nine transfers, 22 freshmen and one junior college transfer), the Sooners have a deeper group of players on that side of the ball in 2023.

• Out of 130 teams, Oklahoma ranks third in the country with its six interceptions, fifth in scoring defense (9.3 ppg), 10th in tackles for loss (8.7 per game), 11th in yards per rush allowed (2.3), 19th in yards per play allowed (4.3), 21st in third-down conversion percentage defense (.304), 23rd in pass efficiency defense rating (107.6) and 32nd in total defense (287.7 ypg).

• OU is tied for 13th nationally by allowing just three plays of 30-plus yards this season and only one play of 40-plus yards.

• One year after leading the Big 12 in tackles, junior linebacker Danny Stutsman is at it again by averaging a league-high 10.0 stops per game (next most is 8.3). He has led OU in tackles in each game and against SMU in week two was named Walter Camp National FBS Defensive Player of the Week after logging 17 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, a QB hurry and a fumble recovery. He also ranks third in the league with his 4.5 TFLs.

• OU signed nine defensive scholarship transfers in the offseason, six of them defensive linemen. They are redshirt seniors Rondell Bothroyd (Wake Forest), Trace Ford (Oklahoma State), Jacob Lacey (Notre Dame), Phil Paea (Utah State), Davon Sears (Texas State) and Da'Jon Terry (Tennessee). The sextet combined for 185 games played, 58 starts, 62 tackles for loss and 33.5 sacks. Bothroyd has started all three games this season, while Lacey has started two (SMU and Tulsa) and Ford and Terry one each (Arkansas State).

• Safety Reggie Pearson, who has started all three games this year and has tallied 10 tackles, is in his sixth season of college football after spending his first three years at Wisconsin and the last two at Texas Tech.

• Defensive back Peyton Bowen, who was a five-star player last year at Guyer High School in Denton, Texas, had made an early impact this year with his nine tackles, three pass breakups (one on fourth-down late vs. SMU) and blocked punt vs. SMU. He made his first career start Saturday at Tulsa, getting the nod at OU's "Cheetah" position.

Schmit, Zach at Tulsa

SUPER SPECIAL TEAMS

• Redshirt junior Zach Schmit, in his second year as OU's placekicker, has made all 21 of his PAT attempts and both of his field goal tries (21 and 20 yards) this season. He is 78 for 78 on career PAT attempts, which is tied for the fifth-longest streak of made PATs in school history (tied with Tim Lashar [1983-86]).

• The Sooners lost 2021 and '22 first-team All-Big 12 punter Michael Turk, who set OU records for punting average in a game (59.7 yards on three punts in 2021 against TCU), season (51.2 yards in 2021) and a career (48.4). Redshirt seniors Josh Plaster and Luke Elzinga have split punting responsibilities this season with Plaster taking the field in longer situations and Elzinga serving as the team's short-field specialist. Plaster is averaging 42.8 yards on his five punts (long of 50, three fair catches, two inside the 20-yard line) while Elzinga is averaging 37.5 yards on his two punts (long of 42, both fair caught inside the 20).

• OU's kickoff and punt return games have been strong through three games. The Sooners rank sixth nationally with their 33.5-yard kickoff return average (all four by Jalil Farooq) and 16th with their 17.5-yard punt return average (Gavin Freeman is averaging 21.0 yards on his five returns). Farooq returned a kick 62 yards vs. Tulsa and Freeman returned a punt 82 yards for a touchdown vs. Arkansas State.

• The Sooners rank third nationally by holding opponents to -2.5 yards per punt return (two for -5 yards) and rank 35th in the country by limiting foes to 16.0 yards per kickoff return.

NOTING THE NEWBIES

• After adding 47 new players to the program last season, Oklahoma welcomed 65 newcomers for 2023, Brent Venables' second season as head coach. Forty of those 65 newcomers are scholarship players. That means 52% of OU's 2023 roster is comprised of first-year Sooners. Ninety-nine of OU's 125 players (79%) are first- or second-year Sooners, with 64 of them on scholarship. Only 26 of 116 players on OU's 2021 end-of-year roster are on the 2023 roster.

• OU hit the transfer portal with frequency in the offseason, adding 21 players for 2023 who transferred from four-year schools. Among the 16 scholarship transfers, nine are on defense and seven on offense. The 21 total transfers played in 447 collective games at their previous schools and made 214 starts.

• Forty first-year Sooners have seen the field this season, including 22 true freshmen.

FIRST-TIME STARTERS

• Forty-five players have made their first appearance in an Oklahoma uniform this season, and 12 players (nine defensive, three offensive) have made their first OU starts this year (10 against Arkansas State and one each against SMU and Tulsa). The first-time OU starters were freshman DB Peyton Bowen (at Tulsa), redshirt senior DL Jacob Lacey (vs. SMU), redshirt senior OL Walter Rouse, junior WR Andrel Anthony, junior RB Tawee Walker, redshirt senior DE Rondell Bothroyd, redshirt senior DL Da'Jon Terry, redshirt senior DE Trace Ford, redshirt senior DB Justin Harrington, redshirt senior DB Reggie Pearson, sophomore LB Jaren Kanak and sophomore DB Gentry Williams.

OU'S BIG 12 DOMINATION

• OU's 14 Big 12 titles are 11 more than the program with the next most. Baylor, Kansas State and Texas have each won three Big 12 championships and are followed by Nebraska (two) and Colorado, Oklahoma State, TCU and Texas A&M (one each). Colorado and Nebraska left the Big 12 after the 2010 season and Texas A&M departed after the 2011 campaign.

• Oklahoma's win over Iowa State in the 2020 Big 12 Championship resulted in the Sooners' sixth straight Big 12 title and 14th since 2000 (no other program has won more than two during the span). For perspective, the two Power Five programs with the next most conference titles this millennium are Ohio State (11 in Big Ten) and Oregon (eight in Pac-10/Pac-12).

• Since 2010, OU has won eight Big 12 titles and is followed by Baylor (three), Kansas State (two), Oklahoma State and TCU (one each).

• Since 2000, OU has won more Big 12 championships (14) than it has lost home games (13).

• Oklahoma is 57-14 (.803) in regular season Big 12 play since the start of the 2015 season. Oklahoma State ranks second during that period (46-26; .639), TCU third (42-30; .583), Texas fourth (38-33; .535) and Kansas State fifth (37-35; .514).

• Oklahoma is the only program to win at least three straight Big 12 titles, and it has done so twice (2006-08 and 2015-20). Baylor (2013-14) is the only other program to win two Big 12 championships in a row.

• At 11-1, the Sooners are the only program with a winning record in Big 12 Championship games. Texas (3-3), Kansas State (2-2) and Baylor (1-1) have the next best marks.

• Every OU freshman class from 1999-2020 has won at least one Big 12 title and all but the 2011 and 2020-22 freshman classes have won at least two. The 2015, 2016 and 2017 freshman classes each won four Big 12 titles.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL'S BEST

• During the modern era of college football (since the end of World War II), the Sooners are the nation's No. 1 team with more wins (693) than any other program (next most is 659 by Alabama).

• Oklahoma has finished in the top 5 of the AP poll a nation-leading 33 times (Ohio State is second with 30).

• OU leads all FBS programs with 50 all-time conference championships. The rest of the top five includes Nebraska (46), Michigan (44), Ohio State (39) and USC (37). The Sooners' 14 league titles since 2000 are the most among Power Five programs (Ohio State ranks second with 11).

• No program has more all-time 11-win seasons than Oklahoma's 27. And since the start of the 2000 season, OU and Ohio State have produced a nation-leading 18 campaigns of at least 10 wins.

• Since former head coach Bob Stoops arrived in Norman in 1999, OU leads the country with its 12,403 points scored, which is 609 more than second-place Boise State (11,794) and 958 more than third-place Oregon (11,445).

• OU's 80 consensus All-Americans since 1950 are the most nationally (Alabama ranks second with 75 and Ohio State third with 72). Since 2000, the Sooners have produced 30 consensus All-Americans, second only to Alabama.

• OU is the only program that has produced at least four NFL Draft picks each of the last 16 years.

EXTRA POINTS

• The Sooners are 16-7 all-time as the No. 16-ranked team in the AP poll (6-2 on the road). Oklahoma's last game played as the 16th-ranked team was the 2021 Alamo Bowl (47-32 victory over No. 14 Oregon), and its last road contest was in 2016 (66-59 win at Texas Tech; the Mayfield-Mahomes game).

• While Saturday's game will mark OU's second against the Bearcats in Cincinnati, it will be the first at Nippert Stadium, which opened in 1915. The Sooners' 2010 contest at UC was played at Paul Brown Stadium — now Paycor Stadium — home of the Cincinnati Bengals.

• OU's 23 total touchdown are eight more than the Big 12 teams with the next most (Kansas State, TCU, UCF).

• OU had 15 scoring drives of 10-plus plays in 2022 but already has eight through three games this season. Related, the Sooners ranked 126th out of 130 teams last year in time of possession (26:23 per game) but so far this season rank 63rd by averaging a 30:30 TOP figure.

• Since the start of the 2014 season, Oklahoma leads the nation with its 5.5 yards per rush and ranks fifth nationally (second in Power Five) with its 307 rushing TDs.

• OU has won 85 of its last 86 games when holding opponents to 23 or fewer points. The one exception was a 23-20 loss at West Virginia last season.

• Since the start of the 2012 season, OU is 86-7 when scoring at least 35 points and 75-4 when scoring at least 40. The Sooners are 184-0 all-time when scoring at least 50 points.

• Four of OU's 2022 losses came by three points and another by seven. Its wins averaged 22.5 points.

• The Sooners rank fourth with their four College Football Playoff appearances (2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019). Until last season, they were the only Big 12 program to qualify for the CFP.

• Oklahoma is tied for the national lead with five No. 1 overall NFL Draft picks. OU has produced three No. 1 overall picks in the last 13 years alone. No other school has produced more than one during that period.