How Gavin Sawchuk's Emergence as Oklahoma's RB1 Helped Close Out Tense Win at BYU

The Oklahoma coaching staff knew someone would emerge as RB1.

But figuring out who it would be seemed to take forever.

Eventually, from a field of four contenders, Gavin Sawchuk has put himself in position for the Sooners to display an elite running back every week.

Sawchuk did it again on Saturday against BYU, rushing for 107 yards on 14 carries and helping the offense salt away a tight 31-24 victory with some tough runs in the fourth quarter.

He broke so many tackles on his 16-yard TD burst to put OU ahead for good that some observers might have thought it was low-to-the-ground, tackle-breaking teammate Tawee Walker carrying the football, rather than the smooth, fleet-footed Sawchuk.

Sawchuk said he didn’t surprise himself as he bounce off numerous tacklers, changed direction twice and finally pulled away from traffic for the score.

“Not at all,” he said. “Just trying to keep my feet. Trying to score a touchdown. That’s the goal. May have looked a little awkward, but that’s the goal, just trying to keep my feet. Trying to run through trash and just get in the end zone.

“You gotta be able to run through trash. That’s one thing we’ve emphasized in the running back room this whole season, is not only just being able to make the right reads, but running through trash, making plays out in open space, winning your one-on-one battles. So that’s the emphasis we’ve been focusing on.”

The 5-foot-11, 207-pound Sawchuk came to OU from Littleton, CO, with track speed, and a year into his college career had built something of a track reputation. Tough yards were not necessarily his specialty.

Those carries instead seemed to go to sophomore Jovantae Barnes, who put together a strong freshman season in 2021 running through tackles, or to junior college transfer and walk-on Tawee Walker, whose low center of gravity, powerful legs and excellent balance make him a hazard to engage, or to senior Marcus Major, who had carved a niche in his career for plowing through contact.

But Sawchuk can get low, too, and he has strong legs, and it turns out he’s not averse to contact. And he has something his backfield mates don’t have — another gear that allows him to reach top-end speed quickly.

That has shown up in Oklahoma’s last four games, as he’s delivered a run of at least 29 yards (29, 30, 30 and 64) at least once every game. Those long runs were just missing for DeMarco Murray’s group over the first half of the season.

“He was huge,” wideout Drake Stoops said Saturday. “He made some really big runs. He bursted one there on that last drive to kind of get us down into plus territory and kind of release the pressure a little bit and that was big. But, I mean, he did a great job running through trash all day, making guys miss and just doing his job and complimenting the pass game and the run game.”

“What I loved,” said offensive coordinator Jeff Lebby, “is that the first guy never tackled him. I don't think the first guy tackled him all day and he got better as the game went on and with the situation that we were in, we needed that and he produced and he made it happen.”

Sawchuk finally got healthy enough last year to rush for 100 yards against Florida State in the Cheez-It Bowl, and he averaged 6.2 yards per carry in two games.

But through the first five games of the season, Sawchuk was averaging just 2.5 yards per carry as Murray rotated between his runners, looking for someone to step up. Sawchuk had just 45 yards on 18 carries as he tried to come back full speed from a preseason hamstring injury.

Then three weeks ago, something clicked for Sawchuk.

After starting against UCF and rushing 10 times for 63 yards and a touchdown, he ran for 111 yards and a score on 13 carries against Oklahoma State, then went for 135 on 22 attempts against West Virginia.

“He runs through tackles,” offensive guard McKade Mettauer said. “Him being able to run the ball like that is important for us. Counting on the pass game and really being a 50-50 team run and pass and that really opens up a lot of our big, long bombs that we’ve had. I think it’s important. And yeah it just opens up the playbook when we’re able to run the ball. We’re not so one dimensional. So I mean we can throw the ball and run the ball.”

His numbers were good again in Provo — three straight 100-yard games is impressive at a place like OU — but it was his clutch production in the second half, with a young quarterback taking snaps, that made the difference Saturday.

In the third quarter, he ran three times for 42 yards, including a 29-yarder. And in the fourth quarter, he carried four times for 39 yards, including the 16-yard TD on third-and-1 to make it 31-24, and a 19-yarder on second-and-10 to ignite the Sooners’ final series.

“That took a lot of the air out of the stadium,” Mettauer said. “There was a lot of pressure and then we broke those two big runs and it gave us a lot of confidence and took some of the pressure off our shoulders.”

Quarterback Jackson Arnold, a true freshman who didn’t expect to play again this season but came in to begin the third quarter after starter Dillon Gabriel was injured, said having a 100-yard running back — especially one who can close out a game like Sawchuk — helped him settle in.

“Big-time,” Arnold said. “He had those two big carries — I know we didn't score on that drive, but just to come out on that next drive, we had that same juice and we were able to go out and score on that third-and-1 … which was huge.”

“Just keep hammering away, maybe wear ‘em out,” head coach Brent Venables said. “Find a seam, find a hole, pop a run, break a tackle, you know?

“Early in the season, we didn't break a ton of tackles. And at times, we have. But consistently, that second and that third level have not been our friend there in running the football. But late in the game, that's when you want to be your strongest. Late in the season, that's when you want to be your strongest. So, couldn't come at a better time, some of the things that he was able to do there late in the third and the fourth quarter.”

For a couple of weeks in the middle of the season, Walker appeared to have emerged as the Sooners’ best ballcarrier. He compiled 100-yard games against SMU (117) and Kansas (146). But Walker also fell out of favor with the coaching staff — in the doghouse, some might say — and then suffered an ankle sprain late in the Kansas game.

That allowed Sawchuck an opportunity to step up — he got his first start against UCF, when Walker was serving an “in-house suspension,” and rushed 10 times for 63 yards — and he’s taken hold of it.

“It’s great. Great to be part of this team,” Sawchuk said. “To be really supporting these guys and having a major role in the team. It’s earned like everything else. You earn it in the practice fields, you earn it. I see everybody working hard. Whoever’s out there, I’m going to have complete trust in what they’re going to do and trust that they’re going to perform on the field.”

“He's done a really good job of just being back in playing shape,” Lebby said. “It's taken awhile, but said it I think last week after the game: he is playing his best football, and proud of him for, man, just staying the course. Look forward to continuing to lean on him when we need him.”

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