COLUMBIA, Missouri — It’s all bad.
The Sooners fell to Missouri, 30-23, on Saturday night, dropping them to 5-5 on the season and 1-5 in conference play. They now head into a bye week before ending with a two-game stretch against Alabama and LSU, putting their 25-year bowl streak in serious jeopardy.
With a lot on the line, the Sooners cut the rotation on both sides of the ball against Missouri. Here’s a look at how the snaps and performance grades shook out, per Pro Football Focus.
(Editor’s note: The offense played 62 snaps. The defense played 74).
QUARTERBACK
Jackson Arnold — 62 snaps (35.7 performance grade)
RUNNING BACK
Taylor Tatum — 29 (60.5)
Xavier Robinson — 26 (74.2)
Sam Franklin — 9 (54.5)
WIDE RECEIVER
Deion Burks — 55 (52.8)
Brenen Thompson — 54 (51.7)
JJ Hester — 42 (52.4)
Jalil Farooq — 27 (55.1)
Zion Ragins — 3 (54.1)
Jacob Jordan — 1 (57.9)
Ivan Carreon — 1 (60.0)
OFFENSIVE LINE
Spencer Brown — 62 (70.3)
Heath Ozaeta — 62 (63.7)
Troy Everett — 62 (59.4)
Febeci Nwaiwu — 62 (58.3)
Logan Howland — 62 (54.2)
DEFENSIVE TACKLE
Gracen Halton — 39 (53.8)
Damonic Williams — 37 (74.4)
Jayden Jackson — 32 (52.6)
Da’Jon Terry — 21 (57.6)
David Stone — 8 (58.9)
DEFENSIVE END
R Mason Thomas — 53 (73.4)
Ethan Downs — 50 (67.2)
Trace Ford — 26 (64.5)
Caiden Woullard — 23 (66.4)
LINEBACKER
Danny Stutsman — 74 (74.2)
Kip Lewis — 44 (50.9)
Dasan McCullough — 36 (56.6)
Sammy Omosigho — 22 (67.2)
Kobie McKinzie — 16 (68.2)
Lewis Carter — 4 (79.6)
CORNERBACK
Eli Bowen — 70 (63.4)
Jacobe Johnson — 38 (58.3)
Woodi Washington — 27 (55.9)
Dez Malone — 25 (69.2)
Kani Walker — 15 (66.0)
SAFETY
Billy Bowman — 74 (70.2)
Robert Spears-Jennings — 51 (64.9)
Peyton Bowen — 29 (67.3)
— There’s two guys who standout in a positive way. The first one is Xavier Robinson.
The true freshman was nowhere near the running back rotation through the first nine games. He played 12 snaps in those first nine games and eight of them came against Maine. But with Jovantae Barnes surprisingly not traveling with the team, and Gavin Sawchuk not being available, the depth at running back was depleted. Taylor Tatum got the start and turned eight carries into 25 yards. Sam Franklin got a carry for three yards.
But it was Robinson who was the standout. He not only had the highest performance grade on the offense, but he led the team in carries (9), rushing yards (56) and yards per carry (5.2). And the wildest part is that Robinson had just two carries before the Sooners force fed him in the fourth quarter, which eventually led to Taylor Tatum‘s touchdown pass to Jackson Arnold.
His performance on Saturday, and against Maine, is enough to question why Robinson hadn’t played a bigger role earlier in the season.
— The other guy is Danny Stutsman. He played every snap and finished with 19 tackles, 12 more than anyone else. He had the highest tackling grade (87.4) and the highest run-defense grade (80.9).
It’s been a rough season, but Stutsman has played his guts out.
— The Sooners really cut down on the rotation on both sides of the ball. The defense played 23 guys. The offense played 18. That meant little or no playing time for young guys like Michael Boganowski, Jaydan Hardy, Zion Ragins, Ivan Carreon, Zion Kearney, David Stone, Eddy Pierre-Louis and Isaiah Autry-Dent.
— Again, no snaps for Kalib Hicks and Jaquaize Pettaway. If Hicks can’t play in a game where both Barnes and Sawchuk are out, then that signals that he is far, far away from ever seeing the field in a meaningful way.
— Deion Burks and Jalil Farooq made their returns, with Burks playing nearly every snap. However, Farooq played just 27 snaps and didn’t play much in the second half.
Farooq mentioned after the game that there was a plan to limit his reps.
— Speaking of that, Farooq and Burks returning apparently put an end to the Jacob Jordan era. The walk-on played just one snap, and he narrowly dropped a pivotal third-down target.
However, considering he was the most consistent part of OU’s passing offense the last three weeks, it was peculiar to see him on the sidelines for most of the game.
— Jacobe Johnson and Eli Bowen again got the start at cornerback. Johnson (38 snaps) again nearly outsnapped Kani Walker (15 snaps) and Dez Malone (25) combined.
— With Jacob Sexton, Jake Taylor and Michael Tarquin out, the Sooners played the Howland-Ozaeta-Everett-Nwaiwu-Brown unit for all 62 snaps. Brown finished with the highest grade of that bunch, though that doesn’t necessarily match the eye test.p
— Arnold (15 of 24 completions, 74 yards, 0 TD) finished with a 35.7 grade, the fifth-lowest grade among FBS quarterbacks in Week 11. His 30.3 passing grade ranked fourth lowest.
