3 Sooners Takeaways: Toughness, Execution & Elite Coaching Lead To OU's Historic Upset Over Alabama

What a win in Norman! The fans needed that, the players needed that, and, above all, Brent Venables needed that.

The best part of the upset- it didn’t feel like an upset. OU controlled the game in all three phases, winning by 21 points despite being 14-point underdogs.

Related: Oklahoma Stuns No. 7 Alabama 24-3 As Arnold, Robinson Rush For Over 100 Yards

Here are Chris Williams' takeaways: 

Jackson Arnold is tough as nails 

How many times did we see Jackson Arnold take a beating from the notoriously physical Alabama defense, and just pop right back up to do it again? The kid put his head down and ran right through the middle of the defense time and time again, racking up 131 yards on 25 carries.

Yes, the gunslinger from Denton carried the ball as many times as the rest of the team COMBINED. And yes, that was the plan coming in. Offensive Coordinator Joe Jon Finley said after the game, “It wasn't an accident, I can promise you that.” 

So, Jackson shows how tough he is physically, but how about the mental toughness of Jackson? Benched in the middle of the season, and used as a scapegoat. He could’ve sulked. He even could’ve decided to sit the rest of the year out and redshirt- save himself some eligibility to use somewhere else.

Instead, he stayed the course. By all accounts, he continued to show up day after day and work his tail off. It wasn’t all smooth sailing once he got the job back, either. The fumble that led to Missouri’s dramatic win a week ago was brutal. And Jackson took a lot of criticism for it. And all he did was come back a week later and upset one of the best teams in the nation.

The kid has character and I think the adversity he has worked through this year will only make the rest of his career even better (HOPEFULLY, in Norman). 

Reaction: Sooners Knock Off Alabama In Norman, Fans Storm Field For First Time Since 2000

Oklahoma’s defense has the IT factor 

If I told you five years ago that Oklahoma’s defense would hold Alabama to just three points (which no defense has done to the Tide since 2004), you would call me crazy. You may think OU could knock off the Crimson Tide, but you’d assume it was an offensive shootout.

Instead, a defensive masterclass. I believe Danny Stutsman, Kip Lewis, and Kobie McKinzie give OU the best inside linebacking group in the country. Then you add a healthy Dasan McCullough to the mix, and it is a beautiful thing to watch. 

Of course, your backers are only as good as your D-Line. From top to bottom, seniors to true freshmen, the Oklahoma defensive line stood firm, eating up blocks and letting the linebackers run free.

The most impressive stat(s) to me were holding Heisman candidate quarterback Jalen Milroe to just SEVEN rush yards, and the entire Tide offense to 70 yards on the ground. The defense also forced that Heisman candidate to throw three second-half interceptions.

Venables said, “The gameplan was outstanding. The players executing was even better. Just a real work of art.” 

How fun was it seeing true freshman Eli Bowen get the pick on a screen play to open the second half? BIG TIME from a young guy.

DC Zac Alley said, “Just the development. The way he prepares. He doesn’t look like a freshman in anything he does. He is already a pro and it is exciting to see him continue to grow.” Alley also joked, “I thought he was going to score... he has to get better juke moves, like Kip.”

Which brings us to Kip Lewis jumping the route on the outside and taking it back for a touchdown. Kip put on 20 pounds over the offseason and you wondered if the extra physicality inside the tackles would take away some of his speed playing sideline to sideline- spoiler alert, it hasn’t.

Have you ever seen a linebacker move like that?

Amazing to see how elite the defense can be, for 60 minutes, when the offense controls the ball, giving the D a breather and keeping that group out of precarious situations. 



The Game Plan was PERFECT  

I don’t use that phrase lightly. But as I go back through the game I cannot find any area in which the coaches made poor decisions or set the team up to fail.

Early on, Joe Jon Finley and Kevin Johns worked in shuffle passes, delayed handoffs, and read options. Most of these didn’t break for explosive plays, but what they did accomplish was vital.

They made the Alabama Defensive line hesitate. A group that makes a living five yards deep in opponent backfields couldn’t pin its ears back. They were forced to think and read blocks, giving an O Line that was heavily overmatched a chance to get some push.

As Venables put it, the play calling “did a good job of keeping Alabama off balance.” To be clear, this game plan couldn’t have succeeded without Arnold playing as intelligently, efficiently, and as tough as he played. 

As mentioned above, the defensive gameplan, and the way it was executed, was like an art. What do you do when you are playing a quarterback that has physical tools that look like they were created in a lab? You get him in his head.

DC Zac Alley said, “We tried to mess with the reads and the quarterback to try to shut him down the best we could. Our guys prepared with a lot of purpose.” Venables added, “They had answers for Alabama every step of the way.” 

Joe Jon Finley certainly turned some heads with the game he called, and, barring another solid performance at LSU, he may be coaching his way into a full-time Offensive Coordinator position somewhere! 

Xavier Robinson has a bright, bright future 

This is a bonus takeaway because I am so excited for Xavier Robinson. Truth be told, the News 9 Sports team is made up of Xavier Robinson fans.

We got to cover him as he dominated at Carl Albert- it seemed unfair. A three-star prospect out of high school, you wondered how he would do against college defenders who are bigger, faster, stronger.

He doesn’t run like a kid who was in high school a year ago. And my favorite part- he showed he can do it both ways. His first touchdown was him slipping a tackle in the backfield and showing his speed, turning the corner on a fast Bama defense and reaching the pylon.

Touchdown number two: all power, putting his head down and punching it in from a yard out. 

Joe Jon Finley raved about Robinson after the game: “So proud of him. That guy comes in to work every single day... He deserves everything he is getting.” 

Once fellow freshman Taylor Tatum figures out his ball security issues, those two could be a nasty one-two punch for the Sooners for years to come.

(If it were me, I would have Adrian Peterson reach out to Tatum to talk about ball security. Peterson overcame his own fumble issues during his illustrious career. His tips, and the confidence it would give Tatum to hear from him, could be a game changer!)