Game Primer: OU vs. SMU

Saturday, September 9

Norman

5 p.m.

University of Oklahoma

SMU

Tickets

September 07, 2023 | Football

Tickets Watch Listen Live Stats

By: OU Athletics Communications

#18/17 Oklahoma

SMU

Saturday, Sept. 9 / 5 p.m. CT / Owen Field

ESPN+ / Radio / Live Stats / Game Notes

OPENING KICK

• Meeting for the first time since 1995, No. 18/17 Oklahoma (1-0) hosts SMU (1-0) on Saturday at 5 p.m. CT at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium in Norman. The game will be televised by SoonerVision on ESPN+ with Shawn Kenney, Ryan Leaf and Tori Petry announcing.

• Saturday's matchup is part of a two-game home-and-home series that was announced Sept. 14, 2022, after the Southeastern Conference directed Georgia and Tennessee to postpone scheduled games versus Oklahoma because the transition of the Sooners into the SEC would not allow for the involved institutions to fulfill their respective contractual non-conference home-and-home appearance obligations (OU will join the SEC on July 1, 2024). Oklahoma was originally scheduled to host Georgia this week. It will instead host SMU and will travel to face the Mustangs in Dallas on Sept. 11, 2027.

• 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 1,327th in OU history. The Sooners rank fifth in college football annals with their .725 all-time winning percentage (935-338-53 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 691 wins (33 more than Alabama, the program with the next most) and owns a .766 winning percentage.

• Including an 82-yard punt return by sophomore Gavin Freeman, Oklahoma scored on each of its first 11 possessions (10 touchdowns) in a 73-0 home win over Arkansas State on Saturday. It was OU's largest victory margin in a season opener in 106 years (won 99-0 at Central Oklahoma in 1917) and the 73 points represent the second most nationally so far this season.

• OU's .909 completion percentage (30 of 33) against Arkansas State set a school record (minimum 15 attempts). Redshirt senior Dillon Gabriel was 19 for 22 for 308 yards and two touchdowns in one half of action while freshman Jackson Arnold, whose birthday was Saturday, was 11 for 11 for 114 yards and one TD in his collegiate debut. Gabriel and Arnold each also ran for a TD.

• SMU, which is in its second year under head coach Rhett Lashlee, is coming off a 38-14 home win over Louisiana Tech on Saturday. The Mustangs held a 457-269 advantage in total yards and held the Bulldogs to 28 rushing yards on 24 attempts (1.2 average). SMU finished 7-6 last season and lost 24-23 to BYU in the New Mexico Bowl. It won four of its last five regular season contests and finished tied for fourth place in the American Athletic Conference at 5-3.

FOR THE FANS

• Approximately two hours and 15 minutes before each home game (2:45 p.m. this Saturday), OU players and coaches will arrive at Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium via team buses and walk to their stadium entrance while being cheered by fans. This year's "Walk of Champions" path has changed (view map here). OU's buses will drop off players and coaches east of the Lindsey Street and Asp Avenue intersection, just southwest of the stadium. The Sooners will walk east on Lindsey before turning north (left) on Jenkins Avenue and enter the stadium at Gate 13. The team will be led by the Sooner Schooner and OU Spirit, and the Pride of Oklahoma will perform during the procession.

• At 2 p.m., OU will hold its inaugural Parade Champions, which will honor the Sooners' team and individual national and conference champions from the 2022-23 school year, including the national champion women's gymnastics and softball squads. The free event, which will feature OU Spirit, the Sooner Schooner and the Pride of Oklahoma Drumline, will originate from Baked Bear on Campus Corner and proceed south on Asp Avenue to Oklahoma Memorial Union. Other sports participating are women's basketball, women's tennis and men's golf, all Big 12 winners.

• Once again, "Party at the Palace, Presented by Allstate" will be held on the lawn immediately north of Gaylord Family - Oklahoma Memorial Stadium, this week running from 12:30 to 4:30. Sooner fans of all ages can access Party at the Palace and take part in the festivities, which this week includes an autograph session with OU's reigning two-time NCAA-champion women's gymnastics team from 2:30-3:30 between Gates 6 and 7 of the stadium. Other highlights include sponsor giveaways, music, food vendors and more. Food trucks from Bondi Bowls, Midway Deli, Supermercados Morelos, HteaO and Kona Ice will be on hand and Devon Energy's innovative STEM program "SportsLabs" will once again take place on the lawn immediately north of Heisman Park on the east side of Jenkins Ave. Additionally, the Sooner Radio Network (flagship 107.7 The Franchise) originates the start of its pregame show live from Party at the Palace beginning two hours prior to kickoff.

• In mid-August, OU announced changes to its tailgating policies, including the addition of a public tailgating location designated along the south side of Lindsey Street between Asp and Jenkins Avenues. In this location, tailgating may only take place on the grassy area between the Lindsey Street curb and the north side of the sidewalk. Other campus areas designated for private and public tailgating will remain the same as the 2022 season. A map indicating designated tailgating areas and game day road closures, as well as the university's tailgating policies, can be found here.

• For a full list of OU game day policies, procedures and additional fan information, click here.

KEY STORYLINES

• Saturday's game will feature a pair of potent offenses. Oklahoma ranked 13th in total offense in 2022 (474.0 ypg) while SMU ranked 14th (472.8). SMU ranked 12th in the country last year in scoring offense (37.2 ppg) while OU ranked 32nd (32.8). In Saturday's season openers, the Sooners racked up 642 yards and the Mustangs finished with 457, and the teams combined for 111 points (73 by OU).

• After ranking 49th nationally last season in third-down conversion percentage (.405) and 87th in third-down conversion percentage defense (.409), OU got off to a much better start in both categories in its win over Arkansas State on Saturday. The Sooners converted 11 of their 14 third downs against the Red Wolves, good for the nation's top percentage (.846) in week one. And OU allowed ASU to convert just 2 of its 12 third-down tries. The .167 opponent conversion figure has the Sooners ranked 13th in the country.

• Similarly, OU was markedly better in red-zone conversions in the opener against Arkansas State than last season. A year ago, the Sooners ranked 66th nationally with their .840 red-zone conversion percentage. On Saturday, they converted all nine of their red-zone trips into points (eight touchdowns and one field goal). Among the teams with a 100% third-down conversion rate so far this season, OU's nine red-zone trips are the second most nationally.

• 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.

OU-SMU SERIES HISTORY

• Oklahoma owns a 5-1-1 series lead against SMU and has won the last four meetings.

• The teams haven't met since Sept. 16, 1995, when Howard Schnellenberger's 14th-ranked Sooners posted a 24-10 home victory over Tom Rossley's Mustangs.

• OU also posted home wins in 1985 (35-10) as the No. 4-ranked team and 1971 (30-0) as the No. 10-ranked team and played to a 7-7 tie at home in the 1939 season opener.

• The Sooners are 2-0 at SMU, winning 28-11 in 1970 as the nation's No. 20 ranked squad and 9-0 in 1925, the series' first meeting.

• The Mustangs' lone win came in the 1968 Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl, 28-27, in the Astrodome in Houston. OU led 20-6 entering the fourth quarter, but SMU's Chuck Hixson, passing for 281 yards, led a comeback that produced a 28-20 lead. OU, without injured QB Bob Warmack, narrowed the margin to one on a pass from Mickey Ripley to Johnny Barr, but missed a two-point conversion that would have put it ahead. The Sooners had one last chance after recovering an onside kick, but a field goal attempt from inside the SMU 30-yard line went wide left as time expired. OU was coached by Chuck Fairbanks and SMU by Hayden Fry.

PLENTY OF FIRSTS

• Forty-four players made their first appearance in an Oklahoma uniform Saturday, and 10 players (seven defensive, three offensive) made their first OU starts. The first-time OU starters were 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 and sophomore LB Jaren Kanak.

• Thirty-nine first-year Sooners saw the field against Arkansas State. They were Anthony, Bothroyd, Ford, Pearson, Rouse, Terry, redshirt senior P Luke Elzinga, redshirt senior DL Jacob Lacey, redshirt senior LB Konnor Near, redshirt senior DL Phil Paea, redshirt senior DL Davon Sears, redshirt senior OL Caleb Shaffer, redshirt junior TE Blake Smith, junior DB Kendel Dolby, redshirt sophomore OL Troy Everett, redshirt sophomore TE Hampton Fay, redshirt sophomore TE Josh Fanuiel, sophomore LB Dasan McCullough, freshman DL Adepoju Adebawore, freshman QB Jackson Arnold, freshman OL Joshua Bates, freshman DB Peyton Bowen, freshman LB Lewis Carter, freshman LB Reed DeQuasie, freshman OL Cayden Green, freshman LB Taylor Heim, freshman RB Kalib Hicks, freshman OL Logan Howland, freshman DB Jacobe Johnson, freshman DB Daeh McCullough, freshman TE Kade McIntyre, freshman WR Eli Merck, freshman LB Samuel Omosigho, freshman OL Heath Ozaeta, freshman WR Jaquaize Pettaway, freshman DL Ashton Sanders, freshman RB Daylan Smothers, freshman DL Markus Strong and freshman DL Taylor Wein.

BIG DAY FOR FROSH PETTAWAY

• OU freshman receiver Jaquaize Pettaway set or tied several school records in his collegiate debut in a 73-0 win over Arkansas State on Saturday. The Houston product caught a game-high nine passes for 56 yards. The nine receptions tied the OU single-game freshman record (CeeDee Lamb caught nine passes for 147 yards vs. Texas Tech in 2017) and set the OU record for most in a career debut, breaking the previous mark of seven by Ryan Broyles vs. Cincinnati in 2008.

• Pettaway also tied the single-game OU record for receptions in a second half (eight) and set the school standard for third-quarter receptions (seven). The previous OU freshman record for catches in any quarter was four (by several players).

HOME IS WHERE THE "W" IS

• Oklahoma is 135-13 (.912) at Gaylord Family – Oklahoma Memorial Stadium since the start of the 1999 season, giving the Sooners more Big 12 championships during the period (14) than home defeats. It is the best home winning percentage in the country over the last 24-plus seasons (Boise State [.907] and Ohio State [.892] are next). OU has outscored its opponents by an average of 43-18 in those games.

• The Sooners have posted 147 straight sellouts of originally scheduled home games dating back to the start of the 1999 season (Bob Stoops' first as head coach). Only Nebraska (FBS-record 389) has a longer current streak.

• OU has recorded 41 unbeaten seasons at home, including 15 in the last 24 years.

SOONERS PICKED THIRD IN BIG 12

• For just the fourth time in the last 13 years, Oklahoma was not the preseason media choice to win the Big 12 Conference football title in 2023. OU, which has won six of the last eight Big 12 championships, was picked to finish third in the 2023 Big 12 Preseason Poll that was released on July 6. The 2023 season will mark the Sooners' last in the Big 12, as they are slated to join the Southeastern Conference in July 2024.

• OU, which has posted a 61-14 (.813) record against Big 12 opponents over the last eight years (includes a 4-0 record in Big 12 Championship games), received four first-place votes in the poll and 758 total points. Texas, which last won the conference title in 2009, was picked to win the league with 41 first-place votes and 886 total points, while Kansas State, last year's Big 12 champion, was picked to finish second with 14 first-place votes and 858 points. Texas Tech (four first-place votes, 729 points) and TCU (three first-place votes, 727 points) were picked to finish fourth and fifth.

GABRIEL A TD MACHINE

• Redshirt senior quarterback Dillon Gabriel, who has started 38 of his 39 career games between UCF (2019-21) and OU (2022-23), including each of his last 38, ranks second nationally since the start of the 2019 with his 97 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 100 TDs in two more games).

• Among current players, Gabriel leads the nation since the start of 2019 with his 11,508 passing yards. Hartman is second (11,428 in 41 games) and Oregon's Bo Nix is third (11,131 in 48 games).

• If Gabriel continues to average 2.5 TD passes per contest like he did in his first 38 games entering this season, he would finish with 127 career TDs in a 13-game 2023 season, which he would accomplish in a 51-game career. That 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).

DEFENSIVE SHOT IN THE ARM

• Oklahoma 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 started 31 of his 48 games at Wake Forest and logged 30.5 TFLs and 16.5 sacks. Ford battled through injuries to start 15 of his 32 games and register 11.5 TFLs and 8.5 sacks.

• Linebackers Dasan McCullough (Indiana) and Konnor Near (Ferris State) earned recognition for their play in 2022, and safety Reggie Pearson (Texas Tech) brings a wealth of starting experience to the OU program. McCullough was named a freshman All-American as a true frosh last year from ESPN, The Athletic (second team) and College Football News (second team). Playing in all 12 games and making four starts, he registered 49 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, 4.0 sacks and three pass breakups. Near was a first-team All-Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association pick at Ferris State, registering 66 tackles, 10.5 TFLs, and 3.0 sacks and helping the Bulldogs to their second straight Division II national title. FSU went 28-1 the last two seasons. Pearson is in his sixth season of college football after spending his first three years at Wisconsin and the last two at Texas Tech. He started 20 of 23 games the last two years for the Red Raiders, racking up 109 tackles, three interceptions and seven pass breakups. He also started 13 of 14 games for Wisconsin in 2019 and logged 60 tackles, 3.5 TFLs, two forced fumbles and four PBUs.

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 (691) than any other program (next most is 658 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 12,309 points scored, which is 573 more than second-place Boise State (11,736) and 957 more than third-place Oregon (11,352).

• 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

• Second-year SMU defensive line coach Calvin Thibodeaux was a defensive lineman for the Sooners from 2002-06 and earned All-Big 12 honors in 2005 when he registered 17.0 tackles for loss and 10.0 sacks (sixth most in school history). He later served six seasons as an OU assistant coach, presiding over the defensive line in 2016 and from 2019-21, and over defensive ends from 2017-18. The Sooners won Big 12 titles from 2016-20 with Thibodeaux on staff. SMU athletics director Rick Hart spent seven years in the OU Athletics Department in various administrative capacities, ending as senior associate AD in 2006.

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

• OU had 15 scoring drives of 10-plus plays in 2022. It had five Saturday against Arkansas State.

• 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 305 rushing TDs.

• OU has won 83 of its last 84 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 85-7 when scoring at least 35 points and 74-4 when scoring at least 40. The Sooners are 183-0 all-time when scoring at least 50 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.