The difference a week makes on the football field can completely alter the trajectory of a season.
Oklahoma showed its character at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium on Saturday night, notching a 23-7 road win against No. 24 Florida in one of the SEC’s most iconic venues, according to a report from si.com.
Brent Venables made the decisive move to fire Ben Arbuckle and appoint tight ends coach Jason Witten as interim offensive coordinator. The shaken-up OU offense finally showed some life in The Swamp. The Sooners scored on three of their four drives in the first half before putting together a historic drive that sealed the victory.
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The fired-coach bump is real. As si.com pointed out, Witten accomplished a feat that eluded Seth Littrell, Joe Jon Finley, and Arbuckle throughout any SEC matchup: putting points on the board during the opening two possessions. The first half looked organized and featured a solid plan, which served as an indictment on Arbuckle’s previous tenure.
During the Sooners’ second third down of the evening, John Mateer found tight end Rocky Beers for a 41-yard gain, which stood as the team’s sixth-longest pass play of the year. Oklahoma eventually settled for a field goal on that possession. Venables signaled his trust in Witten on the very next possession by keeping the offense on the field facing a fourth-and-1 from their own 46-yard line.
Opting for a direct snap to running back Lloyd Avant out of a heavy formation, Witten watched him barrel forward 4 yards to pick up the first down. That aggressive decision paved the way for an 84-yard, 15-play touchdown drive. The score came on a well-designed play that schemed former Florida tight end Hayden Hansen wide open in the end zone, si.com noted.
Although Witten’s first-half production resulted in 13 points—trailing the 14 points Finley engineered during his 2024 interim coordinator debut—Finley’s squad went scoreless after halftime. The offense wobbled briefly in the third quarter here as well, before Mateer’s connection with Jacob Jordan on third-and-4 earned a fresh set of downs.
That third-quarter conversion sparked a marathon march down the field. Si.com noted that the Sooners subsequently converted five more third downs to piece together a 20-play, 89-yard scoring march that consumed nearly 13 minutes of game clock. The drive featured another Avant wildcat run, Mateer’s legs moving the chains, and key completions to Avant and Jordan.
The game-sealing play almost turned into disaster when Mateer rolled right and forced a pass toward Isaiah Sategna. The ball sailed past Florida defensive back Ben Hanks III and into Sategna’s hands for a touchdown that cleared the stadium out.
Defensively, Venables’ unit suffocated the Gators to match the offensive output. Last week’s tackling issues stayed in Norman as the Sooners kept the Gator offense waiting on the sideline in the first quarter, preventing star running back Jaden Baugh from establishing any rhythm, si.com stated.
Baugh was held to 35 yards on eight carries. His lone highlight was a 15-yard touchdown run where he dove for the pylon, but otherwise, he struggled to find green grass. Oklahoma held him to 1 yard or less on three of his eight attempts.
With the ground game completely bottled up, Florida quarterback Tramell Jones Jr. could not pick apart the secondary. Jones finished 10-of-22 passing for 133 yards and two interceptions, as Oklahoma outgained Florida 351 to 203 in total yards, according to si.com.
With the victory, Oklahoma improved to 5-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play, while No. 24 Florida dropped to 5-4 overall and 3-4 in the SEC. The Sooners return home next weekend to host No. 10 Ole Miss.
