Week one of the 2022 college football season is officially behind us. Our first glimpse of the new look Sooners offense was certainly a treat. Dillon Gabriel looked calm and collected playing in the Palace for the first time. He completed 65% of his passes for 233 yards and 2 touchdowns.
It’s safe to say that Dillon Gabriel won last weeks matchup and moves on to the next QB battle 1-0. Let’s jump into the next matchup against Collin Schlee of the Kent State Golden Flashes. As always, we will start with Oklahoma’s QB1.
Dillon Gabriel
I wonder how many Oklahoma fans remain skeptical of Gabriel after Saturday’s performance. My guess is there are still a few out there that aren’t sold on the transfer QB just yet. I thought he did just about as well as he could have in a debut in Norman. We knew he wouldn’t be as “flashy” as we have seen in the past, yet he still managed to produce some pretty incredible plays on Saturday.
On one of those plays he glided his way into the endzone for a 12 yard touchdown run after shaking off more than just one UTEP defender. He showed he can get it done on the ground as well as through the air when needed.
So what can Gabriel improve on this week? Completing 65% of your passes isn’t bad at all. That being said, he missed some easy ones and made a couple of bad reads as well. We can most likely chalk a lot of that up to nerves. I’d expect a more accurate version of Dillon Gabriel this weekend.
Collin Schlee
Kent State did play two quarterbacks last weekend (both threw INT’s) but Collin Schlee received a majority of the snaps. It’s safe to assume he will be QB1 once again this weekend when they face the Sooners. Schlee is a redshirt junior who made the first start of his car last week. He threw for 178 yards completing only 50% of his passes for 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions. He also had 8 rushes for a total of 47 yards. He did play in six games last year including two games against teams who were ranked in the top 10.
Schlee is a lot like Gavin Hardison from UTEP. He can make you pay with his athleticism when given time, but overall he isn’t the most accurate or consistent guy. If the Sooners can keep him contained and uncomfortable in the pocket I don’t believe he will be able to have an impact on the game.
Dillon Gabriel Wins Again
Get used to it, Gabriel is going to win a lot of these this season. Washington was able to score 45 points on Kent State. This means the Oklahoma offense is going to have a lot of fun on Saturday. The Golden Flashes won’t be able to keep up defensively with the speed of the OU receiving group. We will see the Sooners put on a show once again in preparation for the matchup on the road against Nebraska the following week.