3 Sooners Takeaways: Oklahoma's Wide Receivers Impressive

The non-conference eye test is complete for the Oklahoma Sooners, and all-in-all, they passed.

On Saturday, it was with flying colors in a 66-17 win over the Tulsa Golden Hurricane. Crimson and cream colors to be exact. OU improved to 3-0 for the 55th time in program history, and the 19th since 1999, the year Bob Stoops came to Norman.

Brent Venables' bunch head to Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati next week. The Bearcats did not pass the eye test this week, and in fact didn't even win. Cincinnati fell to Miami (Ohio), 31-24, in overtime.

Truth be told, the eye test doesn't mean much in the Big 12, and it sure won't in the SEC. However, the Sooners sure did put up some pretty numbers against Kevin Wilson's team.

1. The Sooners' 66 points were the most in a true road game since their 66-59 win over Texas Tech.
2. Oklahoma registered 595 yards of total offense.
3. OU ended the day with five interceptions, the first time the Sooners have done that since 2003.
4. Oklahoma scored on 9 of 11 possessions.
5. QB Dillon Gabriel went 28 of 31 for 421 yards, five touchdowns and a 251.2 pass efficiency rating.

Takeaway 1: The Wide Receiver Room Is Stacked For The Sooners

The win over Tulsa marked only the second time in Oklahoma history that three Sooners' wide receivers compiled more than 100 receiving yards each. Jalil Farooq had 126, Nic Anderson had 120, and Andrel Anthony had 112. The only other occurrence was in the 2012 Bedlam game, a 51-48 overtime win for the Sooners. That day, Jalen Saunders had 162 yards, Justin Brown had 146, and Kenny Stills had 103.

We had seen evidence in the first two games of Anthony and Farooq being stellar, but the Tulsa game was Breakout Saturday for redshirt freshman Nic Anderson. He's a 6-foot, 4-inch receiver from Katy, Texas, who saw action last season against Kansas State, TCU, and Florida State.

He became the first Sooner freshman to haul in three touchdown catches in a game. Heck, all three of his catches were for scores: 28, 42, and 50 yards.

Oh, and a pretty cool note: His older brother is former OU and Cincinnati Bengals running back Rodney Anderson.

One other note: Saturday was the first time that senior Drake Stoops had multiple TD receptions in a single game.

Takeaway 2: How Good Will LB Danny Stutsman Ultimately Be?

When you think about the great Sooners defenses of the Barry Switzer and Bob Stoops eras, you think of greats like Rod Shoate, Dewey Selmon, Daryl Hunt, Jackie Shipp, Brian Bosworth, Dante Jones, Joe Bowden, Rocky Calmus, Torrance Marshall, Teddy Lehman, Curtis Lofton, Rufus Alexander, and Travis Lewis.

Does Windermere, Florida, native Stutsman belong on that list? Might he soon?

Not only was the junior named the Walter Camp Defensive Player Of The Week last week, he got his car towed after the win over SMU. He made his presence known quickly Saturday with a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown to give the Sooners a 21-0 lead with 3:34 left to play in the first quarter.

Danny talked about it after the game.

Oh, and in case you were wondering: Stutsman has 185 tackles for his career, just 345 shy of Oklahoma career leader Daryl Hunt.

Takeaway 3: Wherefore Art Thou, Tawee Walker? And Jackson Arnold Is Not Blake Bell.

Forgive if a definitive answer was given, but how exactly did Tawee Walker go from 21 carries and 117 yards last week against SMU to not a single carry on Saturday against Tulsa?

Not that the Sooners needed Walker on Saturday in a 66-17 rout, but you would have thought heading into Big 12 play, he would have gotten some work. Instead, Jovante Barnes gained 68 yards on 13 carries, and Gavin Sawchuk 25 yards on nine.

And Jackson Arnold, one carry for no yards.

We get that he wears No. 10 like the 'Belldozer,' Blake Bell.

He is not Blake Bell.

Bell is 6-foot, 6-inches and 251 pounds.

Arnold is 6-foot, 1-inch and 205 pounds.

And he's too valuable to the future of the Oklahoma offense to risk injury on a play like that.

The Sooners need a bruiser, somebody with no fear who's ready to ram through a brick wall to get that yard or two when it counts.

Why wouldn't Stutsman be perfect for that role?