Slowing Down OSU's Ollie Gordon is 'a Great Challenge' for Oklahoma but Can Be Done

“I’m not fixin’ to just sit up here and just make a special case because of what he’s done,” said OU noseguard Isaiah Coe. “He’s been good. He’s been straight. I ain’t gonna act like I haven’t noticed it. But the pride we got to stop the run first of all. He just happens to be the next opponent.”

“A taller running back,” said cheetah linebacker Dasan McCullough. “Has some speed to him too. Explosive. So shoot, we’re really just going to have to limit his legs. Get as many guys to the ball as we can.”

It’s pretty much the same strategy Kansas, West Virginia and Cincinnati have deployed the last three weeks — with disastrous results.

• Against the Jayhawks, Gordon ran for 168 yards and caught six passes for 116 yards — just the fifth FBS player since 2000 to hit those totals — with two touchdowns.
• Against the Mountaineers, he rolled to 282 rushing yards — the most by an FBS player this season — and scored four TDs.
• Against the Bearcats, Gordon slashed for 271 yards on the ground — the second player in program history to surpass 250 rushing in back-to-back games — and two TDs.

And those are just in the last three games. Gordon actually has a streak of five straight 100-yard games since Mike Gundy figured out how to feature him (he averaged six  carries for 36 yards and scored twice in the Cowboys' first three games combined). Gordon ran for 121 on 18 carries against Iowa State and 136 and a TD on 21 attempts against Kansas State.

“Ollie Gordon has just been fantastic,” head coach Brent Venables said. “He’s got power, he’s got speed, he’s patient. He’s got great quickness. Lateral quickness. And he’s explosive. He can run right through you and run right by you. Averaging eight yards a carry in conference play. So, great challenge for our guys.”

The 6-foot-1, 211-pound sophomore from Fort Worth is the only FBS player in the past 10 years to surpass 250 yards from scrimmage in three straight games, and he’s the only Power 5 player this year with multiple 200-yard rushing performances.

“We just have to make sure we wrap up and kill the engine,” said cornerback Woodi Washington. “We have to get into his legs and not try to tackle him too high.”

“He gets a lot of carries,” McCullough said. “He’s a great running back — big, tall, so I mean, shoot, he just kinda has all of the, like, ability to make all those plays happen. So he has some speed too, breaks a lot of tackles. So we’re just gonna have to do a good job with him.”

Jeff Lebby, Dillon Gabriel and the Oklahoma offense can certainly do their part against an OSU defense that ranks 13th in the Big 12 and 105th nationally in total yards allowed (409.3 per game), 11th and 101st in rushing yards allowed (170.4) and 12th and 90th in passing yards allowed (238.9). If the Sooners can sustain drives, that will chew up clock and shorten OSU’s total possessions. If they can score quickly with big plays, that will light up the scoreboard and put pressure on Gordon, quarterback Alan Bowman and the Cowboy offense to keep up.

But even against a porous defense, that may be asking a lot from an OU unit that struggled to get going at times against the likes of UCF and Kansas the last two weeks.

“I think just continue to trust the coaches and what they have planned out for us and just executing at a high level,” Gabriel said. “I think naturally when we’re rolling, it’s usually everyone’s touching the ball and everyone’s getting going. I’d just say just continue to trust coaching and execute.”

In last year's 28-13 OU win in Norman, the Cowboys stumbled out of the gate to a four-touchdown deficit and Gordon carried the football just seven times for 13 yards. That would be a dream scenario for the Oklahoma defense again, but that doesn't seem likely.

Maybe Saturday evolves into a high-scoring shootout. Or maybe it devolves into a low-scoring slugfest. Or maybe one team gets rolling and the other can’t pick itself up and the final Bedlam meeting becomes a blowout.

Both teams still have a clear path to the Big 12 Championship. No. 9-ranked OU is 7-1 overall and 4-1 in Big 12 play, while No. 22 OSU is 6-2 and 4-1.

One thing is certain: Gordon will be the centerpiece, just like he’s been for more than a month. Stop him or significantly slow him down, and the Sooners can win. Miss tackles and don’t swarm to the football, and Gordon could notch another historical performance.

“Shoot, it’s really just about wrapping up,” McCullough said. “I mean, guys were in the position to make the tackle (against UCF and KU), so it’s really just about wrapping ‘em up and keeping ‘em wrapped. So that’s about it. I got trust in the guys that they’re gonna do that this week.

“I think it’s gonna be a great challenge for us. I think we are definitely up for the challenge too. Guys just gotta refocus, recalibrate and kind of get back physical. If we come into this game more physical than them, I don’t really see it being an issue for us.”

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