Upsetting Texas was validation for Dillon Gabriel, Brent Venables and the Oklahoma Sooners

Oklahoma won an instant classic in the Red River Rivalry, upsetting No. 3 Texas 34-30 with a touchdown inside the final 20 seconds on a clutch pass from quarterback Dillon Gabriel. 

The Sooners got some sweet revenge after last season’s 49-0 rout against the Longhorns, with Gabriel, who missed the game, starring as the MVP on Saturday, toasting Texas with his arm and legs. The former UCF transfer had 285 yards passing and a touchdown, along with a career-high 113 rushing yards and a score. 

OKLAHOMA WITH A HUGE STOP ON 4TH & GOAL TO KEEP A 27-20 LEAD pic.twitter.com/YDipJPq6V6

— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 7, 2023

Gabriel had 95 rushing yards total through OU’s first five games, and never had a game in his career with more than 70 yards, yet with both designed runs and QB scrambles, he provided the ground game the Sooners needed Saturday. 

Down three with no timeouts and just under 1:20 remaining, Gabriel marched OU 75 yards against Texas’ drop-8 defense for the winning score. He operated the two-minute offense with ease and efficiency, telling ESPN’s Holly Rowe postgame, “We do it every Wednesday.”

“This is why I came here. To play in this game.”

He certainly delivered in his one and only opportunity. 

Despite preseason expectations or pregame narratives, the Sooners were the better and more physical team on Saturday. Both DLs impressed, but OU harassed Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers throughout the afternoon. 

The Longhorns had four turnovers through their first five games, only to see Ewers get picked off twice and lose a fumble on a monster hit by 5-star freshman safety Peyton Bowen.

Brent Vendables’ defense was historically bad in 2022, but 365 days later, it was the nastier unit in Red River. They held Texas to just three points on three red zone possessions — including stoning the Longhorns four times at the 1-yard line in a one-score game. 

Sooner Magic ✨#OUDNA | 📺 ABC pic.twitter.com/g46vRAJngI

— Oklahoma Football (@OU_Football) October 7, 2023

They finished with five sacks and 10 tackles for loss. If not for porous special teams play (blocked punt for a touchdown, allowed a fake punt, missed field goal and multiple penalties), the Sooners might’ve run away from the Longhorns.

There will be plenty of postgame talk about what this means for the whole “Texas is back” narrative or why Steve Sarkisian still coaches himself into a pretzel sometimes. Ewers’ Heisman Trophy hopes went up in smoke, and Texas was undone by poor tackling and OU’s tempo. 

But the main takeaways should focus on OU, Gabriel and Venables. 

These two teams are going to play again in two months. That says a lot more about where Oklahoma is right now than Texas. 

The Sooners were 6-7 a year ago, floundering in Year 1 under Venables. They lost six straight games at one point, and had their worst season in a quarter-century. They had a defense that allowed 40 points five times and finished 100th nationally in scoring. 

Venables faced all sorts of offseason fire, and yet, Venables was empathic that positive changes were coming. He added close to a dozen transfers and signed a top recruiting class that included Bowen and 5-star edge Adepoju Adewawore. 

In the spring, he vowed that OU would “be on another planet defensively.”

And he’s been proven right. 

The Sooners have been solid defensively all season, and while they allowed over 500 yards at nearly 7.0 yards per play, they played fast and aggressive. They are a deeper, faster, nastier unit. 

Saturday was 60 minutes of validation for Gabriel, who many predicted would lose his job to 5-star freshman Jackson Arnold, and Venables. 

Now, OU is 6-0 without another ranked team on its schedule. The Sooners are officially in the hunt for a spot in the College Football Playoff race, and for a fan base that was unsure about the direction of its program with their second-year head coach, suddenly Oklahoma finds itself right where it usually is: Near the top of the polls as one of the best teams in the country. 

In 1999, Bob Stoops went 7-5 in his first year at OU. The very next season, Oklahoma went 13-0 and won the national title. 

Dare to dream, Sooners.