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Once again, Oklahoma must find a response.
The Sooners’ habit of following wins with losses was taken to another level on Saturday.
Brent Venables’ team got embarrassed by South Carolina, as both sides of the ball no-showed in Norman.
OU now heads to Florida with seemingly its entire offensive staff intact despite the unit floundering for the past two years under offensive coordinator Ben Arbuckle.
Here’s how to take in this weekend’s matchup.
Nobody in this matchup had a good day last Saturday.
For Oklahoma, the game was basically over at halftime.
LaNorris Sellers and Matt Fuller shredded the Sooner defense, totaling 521 yards and rushing for more than 200 yards on Owen Field.
As bad as the defense played, the offense was somehow worse.
Arbuckle’s unit entered halftime with 71 yards, barely outpacing the team’s 54 penalty yards.
The head coach who preaches on and on about standards apparently needed to see more, however, as no changes were made at quarterback.
OU’s offense kept plugging away with John Mateer at the helm, and it finally found a foothold in the game after falling behind 42-16 early in the fourth quarter.
The Sooners dominated garbage time to make the final score and stats appear much better than they actually were.
The Gators didn’t fare much better against Georgia.
The Bulldogs raced out to a 24-0 halftime lead and coasted to victory over their rivals in Atlanta.
Quarterback Aaron Philo threw two interceptions, and when he was replaced by Trammell Jones Jr., the Florida backup also threw a pick.
Georgia called off the dogs and rolled back to Athens with a 27-8 victory.
Everything with Florida’s offense starts with running back Jaden Baugh.
He’s carried the ball 152 times for 801 yards and 13 touchdowns. When the Gator offense is at its best, Baugh is humming.
Through the air, Dallas Wilson and Bailey Stockton have been the favored targets.
Wilson has 31 grabs for 417 yards and three scores, and Stockton has 35 catches for 365 yards and two touchdowns.
The defense is paced by linebacker Myles Graham. He has totaled 55 tackles, including 3.5 sacks. Both defensive lineman Emmanuel Oyebadejo and linebacker Jayden Woods have totaled 4.5 sacks so far this year.
The Sooners and the Gators have met twice, both in the postseason.
Oklahoma rolled Florida in the most recent matchup, the 2020 Cotton Bowl, 55-20.
But the Gators won the most consequential matchup in the series.
Tim Tebow led Florida to a 24-14 victory over OU on Jan. 8, 2009, in the BCS National Championship Game to deny Bob Stoops his second national title.
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